Ellis Returns to Strange Killings with Strong Medicine from Avatar
Avatar Press is pleased to announce the return of combat magician and rogue SAS operative William Gravel in Warren Ellis’ Strange Killings: Strong Medicine, a three issue mini- series by Warren Ellis and Mike Wolfer. The first new project Ellis has launched at Avatar since the highly-regarded Scars mini-series, Strange Killings: Strong Medicine joins an Avatar Press lineup which includes work from Ellis, Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, Frank Miller, and others. Issue #1 of the mini-series will be solicited in the April 2003 Previews for items shipping June.
“Strong Medicine is an old-fashioned occult detective story based on an actual unsolved case: a boy’s torso washed up on the banks of the Thames, bearing the hallmarks of a ritual death for the purpose of muti — African shamanic medicine,” says creator Warren Ellis. “In a London already unusually charged with racial tension, combat magician William Gravel is blackmailed into solving the crime before it triggers off mass violence.”
“Only Warren Ellis and Mike Wolfer could make this sharp, potent mix of Strong Medicine go down so smooth,” notes Avatar Press editor-in-chief William Christensen. “It gets right down there in your gut before you know what hit you. As I’ve said before, Ellis and Wolfer are one of the top creative teams working in comics right now. With Strange Killings: Strong Medicine, they once again demonstrate a mastery of the way comics storytelling can work at its best. Strange Killings is a re-defining exploration of an area of comics just as The Authority and Scars are, and anyone who wants to know where comic book horror, magic, espionage thrillers, and even pulp- style crime noir are headed should be reading this book.”
“Collaborating with Warren Ellis on the Strange Killings saga continues to be the most comfortable and creative working experience in which I have ever been involved in the field of comics,” adds artist Mike Wolfer. “With each successive mini- series, the storytelling bar is raised a little bit higher and I’m sure you’ll agree that in the political horror arena, Strange Killings does not disappoint.” (…complete press release and artwork)