Zac Thompson and artist Nicola Izzo are teaming up for an arctic neo-noir crime thriller from BOOM! Studios. The Beat can exclusively reveal Blow Away, which follows wildlife videographer Brynne in the aftermath of seeing a heated argument between two climbers end in murder. Set on Canada’s largest island, the remote Bafflin Island in the northeast, this cinematic page-turner features sweeping landscapes and terrifying twists.
“Ever since I first watched Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, I’ve dreamt of telling a paranoid thriller story. Blow Away is that dream made manifest through an incredible collaboration with Nicola,” said Thompson in a statement. “We’ve crafted a neo-noir mystery about obsession and the slippery and subjective nature of the truth. Really, it’s a big love letter to Brian De Palma and Alfred Hitchcock where suspense is the driving force on every page.
“But beyond all of that, Blow Away is the story of a wildlife videographer who may have recorded a murder,” Thompson continued. “We’re arguably living in the most obsessive, post-truth era where regular people are routinely turned into subjects of collective scrutiny. So what happens when you explore those ideas in a place that is entirely removed from that culture? Does something still bleed through? Can a person whose job it is to see patterns really trust their eyes?”
Izzo added, “It’s great to work on a project that allows me to explore the comic book medium in such a cinematic way. I owe this to Zac’s multi-layered writing that creates suspense and interest at a FANTASTIC pace. I have always been fascinated by movies and comics where the direction is used in a three-dimensional way that focuses on storytelling and where the environment is an active part of the narrative. I hope all my passion for it translates to the page.”
Blow Away is slated to debut in April, with issue #1 covers by Annie Wu, Tyler Boss, and Tula Lotay and Dee Cunniffe, seen below.
“Isolation, paranoia, misinformation. These are important benchmarks of a good noir story, and are the core pillars of Blow Away,” said series editor Elizabeth Brei. “Zac and Nicola are telling such an engaging, tight story. They are a team made for each other and are bringing something very different to crime comics with this one.”
Blow Away #1 will be available in print and digital on April 17. Pre-order at your local comic shop.
