Elk’s Run Gains New Life at Oni Press

Elk's Run anniversary edition cover

I suspect many readers don’t remember Elk’s Run.

Elk’s Run was a miniseries written by the now-much-better-known Joshua Hale Fialkov and illustrated by Noel Tuazon. Fialkov self-published three issues through Hoarse and Buggy Productions in 2005. That same year, it was picked up by Speakeasy, a short-lived mid-2000s comic publisher, who put out a collection of the first three issues and issue #4.

Elk's Run anniversary edition cover

Elk’s Run then was released in 2007 as a collected graphic novel from Villard, an imprint of Random House that was getting into comics in a big way — including reprints of Flight and Mouse Guard. It didn’t last, since the imprint is now part of Ballantine Books. That was the relatively quick boom and bust period, when established publishers saw growth in comic-format material but the numbers didn’t meet their inflated goals. Even though Elk’s Run was plugged by, among others, Entertainment Weekly, the sales at the time were reportedly small.

But now, the book is coming back to print, due November 11 from Oni Press in a Tenth Anniversary hardcover edition. Not surprising, since they currently publish Fialkov’s The Bunker and The Life After.

So what’s Elk’s Run about? It’s a violent suspense tale, a “small town horror” about generational conflict. As the publisher describes it:

The small town of Elk’s Ridge was founded as a closed haven, dreamt up by Vietnam veterans looking to create a utopia: a home without violence, chaos, or corruption. And in the beginning, it seemed like it might actually work. However, years later, the town has become a powder keg. When a desperate bid for freedom results in the accidental death of a child, the town must decide what terrible acts they are willing to commit in order to preserve their way of life. And the youth of the sleepy town — those who never chose to live that life — must forsake all they know in order to stand up for what is right.

Here are some preview pages:

Elk's Run sample page 1Elk's Run sample page 2Elk's Run sample page 3Elk's Run sample page 4



2 comments

  • marty yohn

    I’m happy to see this graphic novel get another chance at an wider audience. Well structured and written, with flowing artwork, the underlying themes of xenophobia and intolerance are evermore relevant in an age of tea-party hypocrisy and screw everybody who doesn’t think like me.

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