Family Guy writer/executive producer Patrick Meighan, The Life After/Lil’ Kaiju artist Gabo and Jupiter Jet‘s Ashley Robinson have teamed up on a gritty new webcomic, She Kills. Did I mention it was gritty? It is, and it’s also NSFW and not for kids. But the history it’s delving into is interesting.
“She Kills is a project born out of my 10 years of research into mid-19th century California,” Meighan said in a press release. “It uses a violent historical episode (the descent and death of LA sheriff James Barton) as a backdrop to tell a fictional mother-daughter story, driven by a strong female protagonist… a woman fighting to determine her own family’s destiny in a time and place when to do so was a revolutionary act. Because I decided to tell this story from the point of view of one of LA’s native workers, I sought an elder from one of the local First Nation communities, who graciously read every single draft of the series, giving me guidance that was truly invaluable to the story’s context, and which shaped what She Kills has become. Now I can’t wait to share it with the world.”
Here’s how the press release describes the series:
She Kills has one knife, one daughter, and zero yū-ah’s to give. Based on historical events of the indigenous southwest, She Kills struggles to survive lynch mobs, lawless psychopaths, and worst of all her daughter, Joaquin Dos, who is about to turn 13. Dos will soon learn what kind of person her mother really is. And She Kills will learn just how far her daughter is willing to go to claim her independence. With violence and evil trying to drive a wedge between them at step, if they survive, will the fury leave deep, debilitating scars?
The first issue went up on their site for free this week; you can also find it for 99 cents on comiXology. They plan to release the next two installments in May and June.