Via IGN, Oni Press have unveiled four new series beginning in early 2024. They consist of “Jill and the Killers”; “Cemetery Kids Don’t Die”; “Night People”; and “Akǫgun: Brutalizer of Gods.”
– “Jill and the Killers,” a four-issue murder mystery by writer Olivia Cuartero-Briggs and artist Roberta Ingranata. It follows Jill Estrada, a teenager returning to school after the disappearance of her mother, when her friends become obsessed with the true crime game Box Killers. When that month’s theme starts to echo a series of disappearances in town, “Jill and her friends must uncover the truth behind these mysterious crimes before one of their own becomes the next victim.” Issue #1 releases in January.
– “Cemetery Kids Don’t Die” a futuristic, four-part spin on the teen horror genre by Zac Thompson and Daniel Irizarri. It follows four kids who spend their nights playing the VR game Nightmare Cemetery, “until one of them doesn’t wake up,” and “finds their consciousness locked inside a horror game that is anything but imaginary. Now, the three remaining Cemetery Kids must navigate the game’s forbidden landscape to rescue their friend… and pray that the secret lurking at its center doesn’t follow them home.” Issue #1 releases February.
– “Night People,” a four-issue adaptation of Barry Gifford’s 1992 crime novel by writer Chris Condon, and various artists, including Brian Level, Alexandre Tefenkgi, and Artyom Topilin. The story comprises “four interlocking tales” of “intoxication, lust, and spontaneous violence from New Orleans to Egypt City, Florida, and back again,” with the first issue centering on two lesbians on parole who embark on a murder and kidnapping spree to make the world a better place. Issue #1 drops in March.
– “Akǫgun: Brutalizer of Gods,” a dark fantasy by Murewa Ayodele and Dotun Akande (“I Am Iron Man”). Set on the ancient continent of Alkebulan, the series is described as an origin story for its Conan the Barbarian-inspired title character, and “a mythic cycle of cosmic destiny and unrelenting warfare colliding man against god.” The book, consisting of three oversized issues, begins in April.
The books’ announcement comes nearly a year after Hunter Gorinson became president and publisher of Oni Press, following a year of lay offs and internal turmoil at the company. He says, “We’re setting out to redouble the mission that has made Oni one of the most innovative and influential publishers of the past quarter century: to produce utterly distinctive, wholly unrestrained, and singularly provocative series by creators with a relentless passion to make stories that can’t be told in any other medium. These are maximalist comics made for maximum impact.”
Oni Press will be highlighting these books, alongside Cullen Bunn and Jesus Hervas’s previously announced body horror series “Invasive” (debuting December) at New York Comic Con, during the Oni Press: Class of 2024 panel on Saturday, October 14 at 3:15pm. In the meantime, head to IGN for artwork and more from all of these comics.
