Dynamite Crime Unveils Ex-Con

Duane Swierczynski becomes the latest high-profile writer to contribute to Dynamite’s growing Crime Line of comic books, with an all-new thriller called Ex-Con.  This announcement arrives in conjunction with the writer’s appearance at San Diego Comic-Con as a Special Guest of the show.

“This is the first time I’m actually writing a full-on hardboiled crime comic,” says Swierczynski.  “Which is strange, because I’ve been a crime novelist for almost a decade now and love crime comics more than any other genre. Finally, thanks to the folks at Dynamite, two of my great loves are colliding inEx-Con.”

The premise of Ex-Con fits perfectly alongside Dynamite’s current roster of hard-hitting Crime Line titles, Red Team (by Garth Ennis and Craig Cermak) and Uncanny (by Andy Diggle and Aaron Campbell).  “As the name implies, we’re going to be following a jailbird freshly sprung from San Quentin after five brutal years,” says Swierczynski.  “This is a high-level con artist who thought he could out-think the cops, his marks, his competitors — pretty much everybody — and five years later, he’s still reeling.  To stay alive inside, he had to promise a favor to a convict who’s pretty much a living nightmare in a cage, and now that our man is out, he dreads having to pay up.”

Swierczynski also hints at a twist in the storytelling.  “There’s also a psychological angle to Ex-Con that I don’t want to spoil quite yet, but it’s something to do with neurology, and you’re going to see it on the very first page of the conflict.  I love crime stories with unreliable narrators… but our guy is unreliable in a completely different way.  I’m hoping readers of my crime novels (like Fun & Games and The Wheelman) will feel right at home with Ex-Con.  Likewise, I hope comic fans who have followed me through series like Punisher, Judge Dredd, and X will give this a shot, too.”

Nick Barrucci, CEO and Publisher of Dynamite, adds, “I can’t express how happy I am to finally announce our first project with Duane.  I first started speaking with Duane many years ago as he was beginning his second career in comics, adding to his prose work.  But we weren’t the only publisher pursuing him.  In speaking with him, it seemed obvious that his best road to start would be the exclusivity that Marvel was offering.  We stayed in touch, and when his exclusive was over he was free to work with us on new projects, the Crime Line seemed to be perfect for him.  Definitely worth the wait, as I feel that Duane Swierczynski is one of the smartest writers in comics today, with a huge library of mainstream powerhouses to his name.  He’s also an accomplished author of crime novels, and I can think of no one better suited for delivering gripping and brutal crime drama.  Keep an eye out for Ex-Con, it will be like no other title on the stands!”

Dynamite also announces that renowned artist Tim Bradstreet (Punisher,The Shadow) will provide cover artwork for the Ex-Con series.

Duane Swierczynski currently writes Judge Dredd for IDW, X for Dark Horse, and recently completed a run on DC Comics’ Birds of Prey. He’s also writtenCable, Deadpool, Punisher, Werewolf By Night, Immortal Iron Fist and Black Widow for Marvel, as well as Bloodshot for Valiant. Duane is the author of author the Edgar-nominated and Anthony Award-winning novel Expiration Date, as well the Shamus Award-winning Charlie Hardie series (Fun & Games, Hell & Gone), which has been also been nominated for Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards and is currently being developed by Sony Pictures Television. Duane has also collaborated with CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker on a series of bestselling “digi-novel” thrillers which include Level 26: Dark Origins, Dark Prophecy, and Dark Revelations.