Writer Jordan Thomas and artist Chris Matthews will team up on Mugshots, a new miniseries coming from Mad Cave Studios in May. They’re joined by letterer by Lucas Gattoni on a crime series with a distinctly English flair.
Set in Brighton, the story starts with a kidnapping and soon devolves into “family trauma, betrayal, murder and revenge.”
“Mugshots is an incredibly personal story for me. It’s set around where I grew up, contains experiences I’ve had and features characters based on people I’ve known, and it’s a collaboration with one of my best friends whom I’ve known since we were 11-years-old,” said Thomas. “Mainstream U.S. comics are full of crime stories set in the States but not many set in England by English creators, so I’m excited to see the reaction to this series we’ve poured our hearts and souls into and so happy that Mad Cave are the publisher putting the book out as they never put any restraints on what we wanted to do. It’s a tough, violent, complex, and sometimes funny 36-page per issue 4-parter – not many publishers out there would let you do that. It’s gonna be wild.”
Here’s how Mad Cave describes the series:
Brighton, UK. 2008. The kidnapping of a young woman starts a chain of events that will set con artists, gangsters, killers, and corrupt police on a collision course of violence. Meet John Bannan, self-proclaimed bastard and loving uncle, in this tale of family trauma, betrayal, murder, and revenge that threatens to bring the city’s whole underworld down.
“Not only has Mugshots been a great opportunity to work with one of my oldest and best friends but also a chance to jump head first into a whole new medium,” Matthews said. “The creative freedom comics allow has been incredibly refreshing and working with Mad Cave has been a pleasure as they really put the quality of the work first. The result is a series I believe crime and comics fans will enjoy. The series itself is gritty, compelling, shocking and different to most other books I’ve seen out there. I’m excited to see what people think.”
Here’s a look at some of Matthews’ interior artwork:
And here’s the first issue’s variant cover by Fran Galán:
Look for the first issue on May 8.