It’ll be three years tomorrow since Pretty Deadly, the Eisner-nominated series by writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artists Emma Rios and Jordie Bellaire, published a new issue. Thankfully, fans learned today that the long wait for a continuation of the saga of Deathface Ginny is nearly at an end. Image Comics announced the supernatural western series will return in September with Pretty Deadly: The Rat #1, the first issue of a new five-issue miniseries.
The description of the new story arc doesn’t provide a lot of detail, aside from establishing a time period for the tale. The Rat takes readers away from the old western setting of the previous two tales, bringing them forward in time to the early 20th century and “the dark and deadly golden era of Hollywood.” The possibilities of the new setting, and a potential blending of the western and noir genres, is exciting, and may bring in new readers who avoided the series initially because of an aversion to westerns. I know I was hesitant to read it initially for that reason, but the strength of DeConnick’s scripts and the lush, terrifying beauty of Rios’s artwork quickly changed my mind. I’m excited to see what the team does in this new series.
Check out Rios’s wraparound cover for the debut issue of the new series below. Pretty Deadly: The Rat #1 is scheduled to hit stores the first week of September.
Updated 6/24 11:15 AM: Image has released more information on the return of the series, including additional details about the future of Pretty Deadly. The full release is below.
PORTLAND, Ore. 06/24/2019 — Image Comics is pleased to announce the return of the critically-acclaimed Pretty Deadly series by Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain Marvel, Bitch Planet) and Emma Ríos (I.D., Mirror) this September. This new installment in the popular, mythic fantasy series is titled The Rat and will be set during the classic Hollywood golden era.
This new story arc will be the midway point in the Pretty Deadly series, with the following volumes four and five’s themes already planned out. “The Rat tells a story of art, addiction, and loss, against a backdrop of an emerging Hollywood,” said DeConnick. “Arc 4, The Butterfly, will look backward to reveal Alice’s origins, and Arc 5 will push the series to its conclusion in the Great Depression. I am so grateful to have this book, and Emma’s partnership, back at the forefront of my life.”
Ríos added: “I’d never do it justice, but The Rat is a love letter dedicated to the fascinating work done by Lotte Reiniger, Svankmajer and the Brothers Quay. The book is steering me from raw violence to subtle horror, and I’m feeling it.
Pretty Deadly: The Rat #1 (Diamond Code JUL190083) will be available on Wednesday, September 4. The final order cutoff for retailers is Monday, August 12.
Pretty Deadly, Vol. 1: The Shrike (ISBN: 978-1607069621) and Pretty Deadly, Vol. 2: The Bear (ISBN: 978-1632156945) are available now at local comic shops, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indiebound, and Indigo.
