‘Hip-Hop Family Tree’ Creator Sets ‘Red Room’ Comics Anthology

Red Room Promo

Not content with creating the acclaimed Hip-Hop Family Tree and redefining X-Men history with Marvel’s X-Men: Grand Design, award-winning cartoonist Ed Piskor is setting his sights even higher with his new project, a 12-issue shared universe anthology series under the title Red Room, to launch later this year from indie publisher Fantagraphics.

“Red Room is a cyberpunk, outlaw, splatterpunk comic that you can’t unsee once you feast your eyes on the mayhem,” Piskor said in a statement. “Think of Red Room as modern day E.C. Comics, infused with the dream of Black Mirror. These are subversive, stand alone stories that are all part of a larger, twisted narrative.”

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As demonstrated by his earlier projects, Piskor is a creator fascinated with different presentations for his work. As a result, Red Room is already planned to be released in multiple formats. Initially to be published in the standard 32-page comic book format — with an extended 64-page first issue — the series will later be collected in three trade paperbacks, each collecting four issues of the initial run.

“We’re thrilled to both be continuing our relationship with Ed, who’s given us the perfect opportunity to get back into the monthly comic book periodical business,” added Fantagraphics associate publisher Eric Reynolds; the company had previously released Hip-Hop Family Tree “Red Room peels back the curtain on a shadowy side of humanity. The series is chock full of graphically horrific imagery, punctuated by Ed’s sharp sense of humor, gorgeous cartooning, and dynamic storytelling.”

Red Room will launch in May.