In Darling #1 by Michael Fleizach and Todd Hunt, readers are invited to step through a door into the underbelly of the drug epidemic in 1980s New York City, featuring street graffiti art by David Mack Mims and letters by Zack Turner. Today, The Beat has your first look at Darling, which will be arriving at your local comic shop on June 30th, 2021, from Source Point Press.
Fleizach and Hunt, who are also the co-hosts of the Super Nintendads Entertainment Podcast, introduce us to the story of Francis Darling, an anti-hero who stumbles into the drug-fueled machinations behind the kidnapping of an 8-year-old girl. But can Francis – or the readers – trust his drug-addled perspective?
As you’ll discover in the preview pages included below, the story of Darling is inspired by journals left behind by Fleizach’s late brother, who died of a heroin overdose in 2012. In the foreword, it’s explained that these journals became his method of connecting with his departed brother, eventually leading to Darling.
Thirty percent of the proceeds from the comics sales will be donated to the support of drug and alcohol addiction recovery programs (and if you’re struggling because you’ve lost someone to addiction yourself, the opening pages of the comic even assure you that you aren’t alone and include an email address where you can get in touch with the creators).
You can get your first look at the comic in the preview pages below. Be sure and give The Beat a shout-out and let us know what you think of this view through the looking glass darkly, either in the comments section on this page or on social media @comicsbeat, and let us know if you’ll be heading to your LCS to pick up Darling #1 when it arrives in June 2021!
