Described as “a blood-drenched love letter to Samurai fiction in a chilling tale of guilt, trauma, and vengeance,” The Devil’s Red Bride #1 promises plenty of battles, blood, and revenge set in the world of 16th century Japan. Read the full synopsis from Vault Comics:
16th century Japan. The fates of warlords ebb and flow like tides of blood, none more than the Aragami Clan who follow their lord clad in the ‘Red Devil’ mask into every battle. But when Lord Aragami succumbs to illness, his daughter, the fierce Ketsuko, hatches a plot to save her people, no matter the cost…
Years later, as Ketsuko wanders the heaving battlefields of her ruined homeland, she discovers a chance to avenge the terrible wrong done to her clan, even if it means stepping back onto a road steeped in slaughter.
From writer Sebastian Girner (Shirtless Bear-Fighter!, Scales & Scoundrels) and artist John Bivens (Creature Feature, Spread) comes a blood-drenched love letter to Samurai fiction in a chilling tale of guilt, trauma, and vengeance.
Written and co-created by Sebastian Girner (Shirtless Bear Fighter, Scales & Scoundrels) and with art by co-creator John Bivens (Cult Classic: Creature Feature, The Spread), the new title offers colors by Iris Monahan and letters by Jeff Powell. Tim Daniel is on designs and fans can look for covers from Bivens, Nathan Gooden, and a Daniel/Gooden entry.
Girner said in a statement:
“Recently a well-known clip from an interview with David Bowie was making the rounds on social media again. In it he is asked every artist’s favorite question about their ‘creative process.’ Bowie, ever to his credit, delivers a short and concise answer that always stuck with me, where he likens starting a new project to wading deeper and deeper into the ocean, and once you’re just at the point where your feet don’t touch the ground, where you’re just outside of your comfort zone, that’s when you’re ‘in a position to do something really exciting.’ The Devil’s Red Bride then would be my attempt to swim out well past even that point until I’m a just tiny speck floating over a fathomless aquatic abyss. Also there are sharks in the water! All that to say that I’ve never been more excited (and disturbed) to write a story as I have this one. Into it flowed a lifetime of my fascination with revenge-as-motivation, of Samurai and Japanese history in general, and sprinklings of dark fantasy and supernatural horror to round out what I hope to be a full comics five-course.”
Bivens added:
“The Devil’s Red Bride is samurai-revenge-supernatural-grindhouse-comic. I’m not sure if that is a new genre, but I like to think it’s one we haven’t seen that often. If a person was trying to figure out a “this book kind of reminds me of this” statement while recommending to a friend, I offer what was going through my head as I worked on this…The movies I think of when drawing these pages are ONI BABA, EL MARIACHI, and EVIL DEAD 2. The soundtrack playing in my background is a mix of hard-core noise and Japanese 70’s funk. Moments in the story remind me of reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark for the first time. Sebastian has crafted an awesome story, and I am grateful he asked me to help visualize it. I hope that people either think, “They couldn’t ever translate this to film.” or “I wish they would make this into a movie, but damn it would have to be unrated.”
The Devil’s Red Bride #1 is set to release on October 14. Check out an exclusive, extended preview here.
