As part of his eight-book deal with Comixology Originals, Scott Snyder will once again team with artist Jock for The Book of Evil, a “visionary serialized horror story” that blends Snyder’s prose with Jock’s illustrations.
The story follows four young friends growing up in world where over 90 percent of the population are born as psychopaths, but they don’t know it until they become a teenager. Despite the danger, the four friends “set off together on a journey that will take them down the roads and rivers of this transformed America in the hope of finding a place where goodness still lives.”
Snyder shared more about it in his newsletter:
“It imagines that not long from now, 92% of the population start being born sociopaths. Nobody knows why, nobody knows if it’s a toxin or a mutation or evolution. But suddenly, the vast majority of people being born present as sociopaths when they hit adolescence. So when you’re about 13 or 14, you switch over into either being part of the majority, a psychopath, or you’re one of what they call ‘subs,’ a ‘subhuman’ person who still has the vestigial limb of empathy or compassion or a conscience, and you’re relegated to the terrible hard labor of this world. So it’s a really dark book,” he said. “I’m very, very, very proud of this one. It’s prose with spot illustrations and it’s presented as the journal, like an artifact by a kid in this world named Homer, who’s growing up with his three best friends in the slums that they keep kids in until they present one way or another. And it’s about an adventure they have to try and escape all of the terrors of this future.”
According to Comixology:
Homer is a curious, quiet, and determined 12-year-old boy—and an artist. The story of Book of Evil unfolds in first person narration from Homer’s point of view, featuring his journal entries, alongside his illustrations from his journey—as well as excerpts of a cartoon strip called “The Book of Evil.” This popular cartoon featured an everyman named Everett who time traveled, met heroic figures of the past, and murdered them in hyper-violent ways. Was the cartoonist telling a story to entertain? Or was he leaving clues in “The Book of Evil” for those, like Homer and his friends, looking to change the world?
“This is a project Scott and I have been talking about for years and I’m thrilled to see our first issue debut with Comixology,” Jock said. “We always talked about presenting Book of Evil in a truly unique way, with illustrations and design bolstering Scott’s incredibly evocative writing. Joined by the brilliant Emma Price on design, we hope it gives readers an engrossing experience, unlike anything we’ve made before!”
The first issue arrives next Tuesday. Check out some pages from the first issue below:
