'Undone By Blood': AfterShock Announces Follow Up To 'Meta Western'

The early 1930’s, the height of the Great Depression and beginning of the Dust Bowl. Silvano Luna Del Rio works as a postman in Buttar, Texas. Reeling from a tragic past, with only a gun and a western novel to his name, Silvano sets out to take back from the country that took so much from him by robbing the first skyscraper West of Mississippi. But acts of retribution are never as simple as they seem.

By Silvano’s side is an Old West novel featuring famed gunslinger Solomon Eaton. As both stories unfold simultaneously, in true Undone By Blood fashion the mythic Western informs choices in reality, for better or worse.

From the minds of Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson (The Dregs, X-Men) and artist Sami Kivela (Abbot, Tommy Gun Wizards) comes the next chapter of the neo-western that depicts the hard truths of seeking vengeance in the real world.

LONNIE NADLER ON SUMMING UP THE FIRST ARC OF UNDONE BY BLOOD:

“Undone by Blood is what we've been calling a meta Western – a look at how the myth of the cowboy has permeated our culture, and remains ingrained in our narratives of violence and retribution. The first arc told a tale of revenge that saw Ethel Grady Lane hunting down her family's killer in 1971 in the bizarre town of Sweetheart, AZ. The only help she had on this journey came in the form of an old pulp Western novel starring the fictional famed gunslinger Solomon Eaton. As their narratives intertwined, Ethel learned the hard way that sometimes reality is a far cry from what fiction leads us to believe.”

WHAT CAN READERS EXPECT FROM THE SECOND ARC? (For both new and old readers of the series)?

LONNIE NADLER: “While Ethel's story has come to an end, there are literally dozens of stories left for Solomon Eaton, as he's the star of a popular series of Western novels in the world of Undone By Blood. And those novels have influenced a number of people over the course of history, for better or worse. So, in this second arc, Sol is back in a brand new tale and interwoven with that is the story of a young man in 1930s Texas who is out for a different kind of vengeance in the form of a wild heist. We're keeping the same tone, so you can expect plenty of oddball characters and interruptions along the way. This is a perfect jumping on point as there's no prerequisite knowledge required. Really, what we're hoping to do here is bring the seasonal anthology format to comic books, in the same vein as Fargo and True Detective.”

ZAC THOMPSON: “Our protagonist in The Other Side of Eden, Silvano, is an employee of the United States Post Office Department. He's one of the lucky few to have steady employment in a time of overwhelming struggle. Just like the first arc, we're telling a story about a character who's been ground down by life and is taking justice into his own hands in order to make things right. It's a western set against the backdrop of widespread poverty and unemployment, where hardship and improvisation have become a way of life. Like the first arc, we're shining a light on America's past to reveal hard truths and tell a story about contemporary themes.”

ZAC THOMPSON’S FAVORITE UBB PAGE AND WHY:

“Well, it's only fitting that I highlight a page from Solomon's story. This big bombastic moment is in direct contrast to Ethel's quieter journey. This is the type of action she seeks and the glory that informs her quest for revenge. It's a celebration of everything we love from the classics of the Western genre. Sami and Jason worked their magic together to create a huge frantic shootout where bullets are flying in every direction but the action is seamless and easy to follow as Solomon and Willard work like a well-oiled machine to destroy their attackers. It's all capped off by Hassan's phenomenal and exaggerated lettering that helps drive the cinematic feel at the heart of Sol's story.” 

LONNIE NADLER’S FAVORITE UBB PAGE AND WHY:

“My favorite page from the first arc comes in issue #4. While there are plenty of more showy pages that Sami and Jason worked their magic on, this is the one that I keep coming back to. Pacing is something very important to me as a storyteller and I find more and many contemporary comics forgo slow moments in favor of keeping the action full speed ahead. This simple silent page shows Ethel going about town as she kills time. There's no glory. There's no heroism. There's nothing happening. And yet it tells us a lot about Ethel, her loneliness, and her attitude. In breaking up the page into thirds, almost a grid, it allows time to flow between panels, so we feel Ethel's long walk. As a result, Sami and Jason captured a sense of reality that functions as a stark contrast to the action packed fiction of Solomon's story, which really summarizes the whole book.”