With “Undone by Blood: Or Shadow of a Wanted Man” wrapping up this week, AfterShock Comics have already promised a return to Zac Thompson, Lonnie Nadler and Sami Kivelä’s neo-Wild West. Their second story arc, titled “Undone by Blood: Or The Other Side of Eden,” tells the tale of another 20th century outlaw guided by the tales of fictional gunslinger Solomon Eaton, moving the action from the early 1970s to the Great Depression.
“Other Side of Eden” follows Silvano Luna Del Rio, a postman from Dust Bowl-era Buttar, Texas, with a mysterious tragic past. Angry at a country that took so much from him, Del Rio plots revenge against it. The story follows him as he sets out to rob the first skyscraper. “Just like the first arc, we’re telling a story about a character who’s been ground down by life and is taking justice into his own hands in order to make things right,” Thompson says of the new arc. “It’s a western set against the backdrop of widespread poverty and unemployment, where hardship and improvisation have become a way of life.”
While the era and characters are different, Del Rio will have a familiar literary companion. Just as Ethel Grady Lane’s story in 1971 was underscored by the adventures of Solomon Eaton, Del Rio will look to the novel series for guidance. “While Ethel’s story has come to an end, there are literally dozens of stories left for Solomon Eaton, as he’s the star of a popular series of Western novels in the world of ‘Undone By Blood,’” Nadler says of the story within a story. “And those novels have influenced a number of people over the course of history, for better or worse.”
No release date has been announced as of yet for “Undone by Blood: Or the Other Side of Eden,” although it will be released next year. All five issues of “Undone by Blood: Or Shadow of a Wanted Man” are available on the AfterShock Comics website, and at other digital and physical comics stores.
