Read PHANTOM ROAD #1 For FREE!

In March artist Gabriel Walta (The Vision) and I launched a new ongoing sci-fi/horror book from Image Comics called PHANTOM ROAD. The book is coloured by the amazing, Eisner-winning Jordie Bellaire, lettered by Steve Wands and edited by Greg Lockard.

The book is a real genre mash-up with horror elements mixed in with weird sci-fi and also an investigative/FBI angle. This is my chance to write a big, long-running series in the vein of some of my favourite Vertigo books of the past like Preacher and Sandman, but also it mixes in my love of shows like The X-Files, Twin Peaks.

Here’s the “official” write-up on the series…

Dom is a long-haul truck driver attempting to stay ahead of his tragic past. When he stops one night to assist Birdie, who has been in a massive car crash, they pull an artifact from the wreckage that throws their lives into fifth gear. Suddenly, a typical midnight run has become a frantic journey through a surreal world where Dom and Birdie find themselves the quarry of strange and impossible monsters.It’s grindhouse horror meeting high-concept supernatural fantasy in this bold new series from JEFF LEMIRE (Gideon Falls, Sweet Tooth) GABRIEL HERNÁNDEZ WALTA (The Vision, Hellboy and the B.P.R.D), the Eisner Award-nominated creative team behind the bestselling Sentient series.

I mention these classic, long-running Vertigo books because many readers and retailers seem to think that Phantom Road is a mini-series and not an ongoing book. And, the lower orders and sales numbers on the series so far seem to reflect that. I know that this is partially my own fault. The problem with putting out a lot of books, like I do, is that it’s hard for people to read everything. And I’ve done a number of shorter-running Image book over the last couple years, so it’s easy to assume Phantom Road is another mini-series like Primordial or even a 13-issue run like Little Monsters.

But I really believe in this book and want to make sure everyone knows we are planning for a long-running series that readers can really invest in. I have the series plotted as 50-issues, and if sales can support us, I fully intend on getting there. I’ve spent the last three years prepping this series, building the world, the mythology and the characters and I cannot wait for readers to see where we end up going.

Gabriel and Jordie are both doing incredible work on this book. Gabriel, I think, is doing he career best stuff here and pouring his heart into every panel. He’s just finishing up artwork on issue #7 now and I have scripts done through issue #10. I’m plotting out Issues 11-15 now and will write those over the next few months.

You may have seen that Image Comics is doing Walking Dead mash-up variant covers for the month of October. Unfortunately that is a skip month for us, but we didn't;t want to be left out of the fun. So , Gabriel and I did a Phantom Road/Walking Dead cover of our own anyway, seen for the first and only place right here! This was so fun to do. We decided to jam on the artwork and Gabriel did the pencilled art then I inked him! My Sweet Tooth partner, Jose Villarrubia coloured it.

I love Phantom Road and I want to write it for a long, long time. If you haven’t been reading the series, and you like what you see here, please consider ordering the collected edition of Volume 1 from your local comic book shop or book store. We could really use the support on this one to be able to tell the story we dream of telling.

So, spread the word! Phantom Road needs you!

And as some extra incentive here is a PDF of the entire first chapter for FREE! Enjoy!

Pr 01

11.1MB ∙ PDF file

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