AfterShock is bringing an unfortunately topical story of a city adjusting to crisis as their new normal with their series “Maniac of New York,” from writer Elliott Kalan (“Spider-Man and the X-Men”), artist Andrea Mutti (“Port of Earth,” “Hellblazer”), and letterer Taylor Esposito (“The Black Ghost”).
The story is set in a New York City that has spent four years being preyed upon by an inhuman, unkillable and unstoppable masked slasher named Maniac Harry. Faced with a seemingly unsolvable problem, the authorities opt to ignore him. When he begins killing his way through the NYC Subway system, trauma-haunted political aide Gina Greene and disgraced NYPD detective Zelda Pettibone go rogue in an attempt to stop him.
Kalan elaborates in the press release, “‘Maniac of New York’ is a horror story about how crisis situations become our new normal. A slasher movie-style unstoppable killer is marauding through New York City, and since nobody knows how to solve the problem, everyone in power has given up and decides to just live with New Yorkers occasionally being hacked to death by an axe-wielding maniac.”
A longtime New Yorker, the now West Coast-residing Kalan says the book comes partially from his love of the city. “I love New York in the way only a true New Yorker can – with a burning desire to see it fictionally destroyed,” he said. “I’ve never felt previous horror stories really took advantage of the nightmare opportunities the city has to offer, so it’s been exciting to play with all that. And I’ve loved watching Andrea bring it to life with his art after years of the idea living in my head.”
He cites multiple points of inspiration for the horror story, including his childhood disappointment in Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, which he said “promised a citywide metropolitan bloodbath and delivered a couple shots of Jason walking through Times Square in a bad mood.” The first arc, he notes, is heavily indebted to his favorite film, 1974’s The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
“Maniac of New York” #1 is due to hit shelves in February 2021. You can find a first look at Mutti’s art from issue one below.
