Chad Burdette
From Ethan Sacks and All-Star Lineup of Artists, with filmmakers Brian DeCubellis and K.S. Bruce, comes DARK HONOR a Gritty, High-Stakes Crime Thriller Set in a City on the Brink, from Image Comics
The city is in lockdown. The streets are empty. And the underworld is up for grabs! Coming this spring from Image Comics’ imprint Syzygy Publishing is DARK HONOR—a razor-sharp crime thriller set in New York City at the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic, where the virus isn’t the only unseen threat.
Written by Ethan Sacks (Star Wars: Bounty Hunters, Old Man Hawkeye), K.S. Bruce, and Brian DeCubellis, this five-issue series marks Bruce and DeCubellis’ first foray into comics after a successful run in film—most notably their work on Trust (2021), a top-10 Netflix hit in 20 countries, and Manhattan Night (2016), starring two-time Academy Award winner Adrien Brody.
The series is brought to life by the “Ocean’s 11 of artists”, featuring interior art and covers from the powerhouse creators of Fico Ossio (Black Lightning, No One Left To Fight), David Messina (Ultimate Spiderman, 3 Keys), Gabriel Guzman (Lady Earth, Predator), Jamal Igle (Molly Danger, The Wrong Earth); featuring colors by colorist Raciel Avila, and letterer JAME.
Ethan Sacks, K.S. Bruce, and Brian DeCubellis sat down with Comic Watch to talk about Dark Honor:
Comic Watch: Tell me about your Comic Book journey as readers and creators so far.
Ethan:
I’m a former journalist who made either a career change or a midlife crisis (take your pick) into comics eight years ago. But I’ve been reading them all my life. I learned to read at the age of four with The Flash comics, and came of age during that golden period in the ‘80s when The Watchmen, X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, Alien Legion, etc. I fell into the chance to write a spec script at Marvel – my pitch was a murder investigation into Greedo’s death at the hands of Han Solo done as a homage to Rashomon – and that led me to get the chance of a lifetime, writing Old Man Hawkeye. I am now probably best known for writing Star Wars comics. I recently released an Image creator-owned series called A Haunted Girl, co-created with artist Marco Lorenzana and co-written with my daughter, and influenced by her real-life battles with depression and suicidality.
Brian DeCubellis :
My journey as a comic reader was not the guiding force to my being a comic creator. I came to it through my journey as a filmmaker. I’ve been telling stories as a
director, producer, and writer my whole career, so thinking in storyboard images is a natural way into thinking about comic storytelling. The entry point was really in
collaboration with K.S. Bruce on a screenplay that we completed but put aside because the timing was not right to take the steps to make the movie. It was K.S.’s idea to consider making it into a comic book.
K.S. Bruce:
I have been a comic lover ever since I was old enough to read. And a movie lover. Brian and I had made two films together, and wrote a movie script that seemed right to bring to life as a graphic novel. Our long friendship with Ethan led us to work with him as he adopted it for the comic medium. Along with the cinematic story, we also wanted to add other touches, like the feel of Japanese woodblock and Samurai art, to certain key battle scenes.
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Comic Watch: What is the premise of Dark Honor, and Ethan, how did you get involved with filmmakers Brian DeCubellis and K.S. Bruce?
Brian:
The premise of Dark Honor is that there has been a secret warrior society in New York since the end of WW2 that protects the 5 crime families of the underworld. In the early days of COVID-19, March 2020, a criminal mastermind hits NYC, executing a plan to exploit the chaos of the lockdown in an attempt to take over.
K.S. Bruce:
Dark Honor is meant to be both a great story in itself and an allegory and "memory box" for what Covid felt like for New Yorkers as it first appeared. Grigor, our villain, shows up in NYC in March 2020, as Covid did; a wave of unstoppable destruction. Then, the empty streets, prisoners being let free, abandoned mansions, crematoriums being fired up, street riots for social justice… all of it, as happened. Plus, a new hero, Rain, to fight back on behalf of all of us.
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Comic Watch: Who are the main characters, and how did you approach writing them?
K.S. Bruce:
The main characters are Grigor … Covid personified, an unstoppable force determined to take all. Josef … an aging and noble leader of The Hundred, the warrior
subculture that had protected the NYC crime families for decades. And, most of all, Rain … his adopted daughter, paroled from prison, and rising to protect her father, and battle to the end.
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Comic Watch: The story is set during COVID-19. Did Ethan’s work on The Covid Chronicles help get you into the mindset to write a story set during the pandemic?
Ethan:
A lot of those touches of realism were already written into the movie script by K.S. and Brian before I jumped on board the project. That said, as someone who reported on COVID-19 for NBC News during the early days of the pandemic, I was able to add in the odd detail here and there.
The three of us are New Yorkers and lived it – the creepiness of empty streets in Manhattan, the constant sound of ambulances, the scarcity of toilet paper, the panic.
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Comic Watch: Who are the rest of the creative team, and how was the creative process working with everyone?
Ethan:
Part of my role in this band was to be the comic book consiglieri who helped, along with our awesome editor and publisher Chris Ryall, to get some of the moving
pieces in place. At the top of the list was being an artist whisperer. Because we’re an independent comic, we could have our best shot at getting A-list artists by having some of Marvel and DC’s best – Fico Ossio, David Messina, Gabriel Guzman, and Jamal Igle – draw a single issue or two issues between their day jobs. They all loved the story. That’s how we got a murderers' row of great artists, which makes this book that much more awesome. It looks fantastic. We were ambitious and punched above our indie weight.Letterer JAME is someone I work with on my creator-owned projects, and colorist Raciel Avila joined with Fico’s recommendation.
Brian:
We could not be more lucky or thrilled to have such a powerhouse of talent to bring the vision to life. It looks better than we could have dreamed.
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Comic Watch: Which character(s) do you find the most intriguing and enjoy writing, and conversely, are there any that were harder to write or capture the voice for?
Ethan:
Fortunately for me, most of the characters in Dark Honor were already full-formed and rich in terms of motivation, voice, and personality, jumping off the page of the original movie script. What nips and tucks I made along the way were largely to make it fit the new format of comics. Dialogue in certain spots had to be pared down to allow the beautiful art to do some of the talking.
My personal favorite fluctuates issue to issue, but right now I’d say Grigor, as I gravitate towards charismatic villains.
Brian:
Part of the fun of writing the original screenplay was creating very distinct characters with their own voices. In writing for the comic, we pulled some of that dialogue, but we also created new scenes and lines. Ethan got the voices of the characters right away, which made his take so great for the additions or amendments.
The three of us had fun proposing new lines or character beats, but luckily Ethan had the expertise in dialing it in so sharply from his first pass. The characters in the comic really feel like the ones K.S. and I created in the screenplay, and that’s a very satisfying feeling of seeing them realized with the great art and color, and lettering.
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Comic Watch: Being a different type of story then the Star Wars and Superhero stories you have done, where there any challenges or things you found challenging?
Ethan:
There’s more overlap than differences, as far as I’m concerned. Rain may not have superheroes or fly an X-Wing, but she’s a flawed character with a big heart and
clenched fists who’s trying to find her way in a tough world. I relate to her in the same way I related to Old Man Hawkeye or the Star Wars bounty hunter, Valance. As for writing a noir for the first time, it tapped some of my experience as someone who once reported on crime at a New York newspaper. None of it was too challenging. It felt natural.
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Comic Watch: What’s the best advice you ever received about writing comics (and who was it if you remember), and what advice would you, if possible, tell your younger self?
Ethan:
I have a running list that I keep of pieces of wisdom that I’ve learned from comic legends, old journalism mentors, fellow writers, and editors. I call it my Code of Bushido. And while there are too many to list here, I’ll highlight two of my favorites. My first professional editor, at a local community newspaper where I interned in college, Jimmy Rutenberg, now at the New York Times, told me to “know my audience.” And to write for them, not for myself. Because they are the ones who need to understand and appreciate what I’m trying to convey. I think that holds true for comics, too. To tell a story, you have to know and appreciate and entertain your audience.
Then there was this gem from then- Editor in Chief Axel Alonso when I was new to comics and just starting on Old Man Hawkeye: “You’re never as bad as your worst reviews and you’re never as good as your best reviews.”
That was right on the mark. All about maintaining perspective and an even temperament as you ride the waves in this business.
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Dark Honor #1 hits shelves on May 28 from Image Comics’ imprint Syzygy Publishing
