Comixology has announced the latest title coming to their Unlimited stable of exclusive digital comics. We Only Kill Each Other is a historical crime series from writer Stephanie Phillips, artist Peter Krause, colorist Ellie Wright, letterer Troy Peteri, and cover artist Dave Johnson. The five-issue series will launch on Comixology Unlimited in November, with a print release from Dark Horse Comics to follow in 2022.
In the latest installment of her newsletter, Phillips described We Only Kill Each Other as follows:
When rival mobsters Levi Solomon and Jonas Kaminsky are arrested, the D.A. offers them a chance to clear their records by working together to disrupt the Nazi movement and its leader, Fritz Julius Kuhn, who proclaims to be the American Führer. With World War II on the horizon, Nazi sympathizers and fascists have taken root on American soil in alarming numbers, intending to push the U.S. towards an alliance with Germany. When the lone hope of stopping the American Nazi movement falls to Jewish-American gangsters currently entrenched in a violent turf war, Solomon and Kaminsky find that there’s only one thing they hate more than each other: Nazis.
Based on true events, WOKEO is the story of unlikely heroes working to change the course of American history.
We Only Kill Each Other is Phillips’s latest foray into comics based on historical events. Her Dark Horse Comics series The Butcher of Paris with artists Dean Kotz and Jason Wordie was also set during World War II, specifically the Nazi occupation of Paris, and told the story of the hunt for a serial killer who preyed on those attempting to escape from the Nazis. In her newsletter Phillips described what attracted her to this particular story:
Like Butcher of Paris, I was drawn to this story because I’m really interested in Jewish history and finding ways to present aspects of that history in ways that audiences haven’t yet seen. Jonas Kaminsky is someone highly conflicted about his religious upbringing, even to the point of dismissing all religion. Jonas’ position is one I highly relate to after growing up Jewish and then stepping away from religion as I got older. Unlike me, however, Jonas actually feels animosity towards his heritage.
Phillips is also careful to clarify in her newsletter that We Only Kill Each Other is “alternate history where events are reconstructed in ways that they didn’t happen in real life (or, at least in our reality).”
The series is the first collaboration between Phillips and Krause, and the first Comixology Originals series for either the writer or artist. Another new series illustrated by Krause, the AHOY Comics title My Bad written by Mark Russell and Bryce Ingman, is also set to debut in November.
Check out a preview of Krause’s artwork, as well as a promotional logo for the series, below, and head over to Phillips’s latest newsletter for character introductions and some fun info on where the title came from. We Only Kill Each Other #1 (of 5) is due out from Comixology Originals on Tuesday, November 16th, with the other issues following monthly. A print collection of the series from Dark Horse Comics will land in stores on Tuesday, April 19th, 2022.