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Oni Press has announced a four-issue comic adaptation of Night People, the provocative "neon noir" (no, that's not a typo) novel by Barry Gifford, the co-writer of David Lynch's Lost Highway and the author of the novel that Lynch based his earlier film Wild at Heart on.
The series, which runs to 30 pages each issue, is written by The Enfield Gang Massacre's Chris Condon, and drawn by a different artist every issue, starting with Brian Level, and followed up by Eisner Award winner Alexandre Tefenkgi, Artyom Topilin, and Marco Finnegan.
Each issue of the series tells one of four linked tales. There are six cover variants and you can see the first three in the gallery below by (from left to right) J.H. Williams III, Joëlle Jones, and Jacob Phillips.
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Oni Press's statement describes #1 as a "tale of desperation, fanaticism, and murder" that follows two ex-convicts and lovers, Big Betty Stalcup and Miss Cutie Early, who set out to use "their newfound freedom to purify the world of men's evil influence... and leave a trail of mutilated bodies in their wake."
Of the new series Gifford said, somewhat cryptically:
"Night People is beyond noir, a parable that embodies both a revision of the past and riddle for the present, informed by the Church on the One Hand and the Church on the Other Hand that portends a future wherein whomever is left on the planet are cast forth on an even more mysterious and perilous voyage on a ghost ship sailing into the Sea of Red. As evidenced by this powerful graphic representation of my novel, the quest for a safe harbor is neverending." To which we can only nod furiously and try to look like we know what he's talking about.
Here are some more covers, this time from Brian Level, Joëlle Jones, and J.H. Williams III.
"Each issue is unique in terms of story, so it makes sense to have each issue have a different, unique artistic approach," said Condon of his collaborators. "I'm so thrilled to see the artistic powerhouses Oni Press has brought onboard to tackle this adaptation with me. The way Barry's book works is that you never know what turns it will take or what characters you'll be following in any particular chapter. We've utilized that approach in this adaptation, and I think we're crafting something that should be exciting for readers and will have them coming back issue after issue to see where this wild story is going to go next."
Night People #1 is published by Oni Press on March 6, 2024.
If you've a taste for crime comics then you should definitely check out our interview with Walter Hill and Mike Benson about their new thriller series, Cain.
