Strangeways: Murder Moon Preview

Matt Maxwell has put online the first chapter of Strangeways: Murder Moon, his cowboys and werewolves Western horror story, as a preview for the graphic novel due in March.

This comic has an unfortunate history. It was originally supposed to be a series from Speakeasy; when that company folded, Maxwell decided to self-publish the work as a graphic novel. (The better choice, if you ask me.) He shares some of his thoughts on the change:

“I really wanted to make sure that the audience had a chance to get the whole story. Smaller publishers were spending a lot of money trying to keep a string of monthly-style comics going. And the reality of Diamond’s minimums made publishing in an OGN format a lot more attractive. I didn’t want to be presented with the very real possibility of having the story cut off midstream, which is why the first issue was never published by Speakeasy. The whole point of this is storytelling, and if you’re only getting through the first two acts, your audience is going to be disappointed.”

Art is by Argentine artist Luis Guaragña, with cover and chapter illustrations by Steve Lieber. The Diamond order code is JAN08 3670, 144 black-and-white pages for $13.95.