AfterShock Comics has announced Bylines in Blood, a neo-noir series set to debut in January 2022. Co-written by Erica Schultz and Van Jensen, with art by Aneke and lettering by Cardinal Rae, the series is set in a future in which the concept of truth no longer exists, and follows a journalist-turned-private eye investigating the murder of her former mentor.
Here’s how AfterShock describes Bylines in Blood:
The future. The very concept of truth has died. Politicians invent their own facts, and independent newspapers no longer exist. In this world, private detectives serve as ronin, searching out the hard truths that people are desperate to keep hidden.
The best of these is Satya, known as Lady Dick, a former journalist turned gumshoe who runs every lead to ground. But Satya has just received her hardest case yet: her old editor has been murdered. Someone wanted him silenced, and the trail points toward the highest bastions of power. To find justice for her friend, she’ll have to put everything – and everyone – she knows at risk.
Bylines in Blood is the first Aftershock work for Schultz, Jensen, and Aneke, and the first collaboration between the creators. Along with work as a writer and letterer for nearly every major publisher, Schultz is best known for the Ringo Award-nominated Comixology Originals series Forgotten Home with artist Marika Cresta, which is getting a print release from Dark Horse next year. Jensen is a former crime reporter and one-time Comic Book Ambassador of the United States whose comics work includes the true-crime graphic novel Two Dead with artist Nate Powell. Aneke has done work for publishers including DC, Marvel, and Dynamite, including RWBY/Justice League and DC Bombshells.
In a statement announcing Bylines in Blood, Schultz described some of the influences on her work on the series:
The Seeds by Aja and Nocenti from Berger Books is a definite inspiration, as well as Blade Runner, and even a little Sam Spade from Hammett. It’s a pulpy-neo-noir-neon-soaked story that we think a lot of people are going to think is kick ass. We sure do.
Jensen also expressed his enthusiasm about the series and praised his collaborators on the project:
I love working with these women. They’re smart and just damned good at making comics, but they’re also funny as hell. We’re having a blast.
Check out an interior preview of Bylines in Blood #1, as well as the incentive cover for the issue by Juan Doe, below. The debut issue of the series arrives in stores on Wednesday, January 12th, 2022.