Bad Karma - by Alex De Campi (Hardcover)

About the Book

After finding out Aaron Carter, an innocent man, is on Death Row for a mercenary job they did 10 years ago, down-on-their luck army veterans Sully and Ethan go on a Christmas road trip to free him. Turns out nobody's interested in Aaron's innocence, but someone is very interested in making sure Sully and Ethan don't live to see the New Year. They just didn't figure on one thing: Ethan's ex-wife Cheryl.

Book Synopsis

After finding out Aaron Carter, an innocent man, is on Death Row for a mercenary job they did 10 years ago, down-on-their luck army veterans Sully and Ethan go on a Christmas road trip to free him. Turns out nobody's interested in Aaron's innocence, but someone is very interested in making sure Sully and Ethan don't live to see the New Year. They just didn't figure on one thing: Ethan's ex-wife Cheryl.

Collects the hit Panel Syndicate action/comedy series by writer Alex de Campi (Dracula, Motherf**ker!, No Mercy, Twisted Romance) and artists Ryan Howe (True War Stories; Daisy Blackwood: Pilot for Hire) and Dee Cunniffe (Indigo Children, Emissary, Joe Fixit).

Select praise for Bad Karma:

"The plot by De Campi is gleeful pulp, complete with a climactic showdown worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, but beneath the car chases and explosions lies a deeper, darker exploration of people broken by the military-industrial complex trying to piece themselves back together. Howe has a knack for capturing the body language of old friends, and his clean, firm inks and simple yet dynamic page layouts, with bold coloring by Dee Cuniffe, move the action along at full speed. De Campi is emerging as a top-notch writer of non-superhero action comics, with a gift for collaboration. This outing will thrill fans of the genre." --Publishers Weekly

"Beautifully told and illustrated, Bad Karma surprises with humor and heart. A great story of good people trying to rigth a past wrong." -Duncan Jones, director, Moon, Mute, World of Warcraft, Source Code

"Bad Karma perfectly illustrates how misguided decisions of the past, regrets over what went wrong, and our own pervasive traumas will always, always catch up to us, often in pyrotechnic ad painful ways. This is a story that trades in the hyper-real of now, our own fractured culture and its crumbling decorum and ideals, and it does not relent. A must-read for the unflinching story and art that forces you not to look away or ignore the truth." -Christopher Cantwell, co-creator, Halt & Catch Fire; writer, Dr Doom, Iron Man

"Comedy, violence, socio-political commentary, Bad Karma has it all. An absolute blast to read!" -Steven S. DeKnight, showrunner, Daredevil, Spartacus; director, Pacific Rim 2

'With a biting wit and stylishly expressive art, Bad Karma is both explosive and heartfelt - the kind of action-comedy Hollywood doesn't make any more." -Cliff Chiang, artist and writer, Wonder Woman, Catwoman: Lonely City

"Steeped in contemporary Americana, Bad Karma beautifully depicts the highs and lows of loyal friendship." -Declan Shalvey, artist and writer, Time Before Time, Bog Bodies, Old Dog

"I never served in the military and I haven't even been to Boston before, but I recognize the characters in this comic. Unlike so many individuals drafted with a set of easy identifiers and characteristics, Ethan, Sully, and Cheryl walk into the first few panels of Bad Karma as fully-realized people." -ComicBook.com

"Bad Karma wonderfully combines pain, humor, trauma, and black ops mercenary work into a story that is at times thrilling, heartbreaking, hilarious, innovative, and above all else... human." -Joe Henderson, showrunner, Lucifer

Review Quotes

"The plot by De Campi is gleeful pulp, complete with a climactic showdown worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, but beneath the car chases and explosions lies a deeper, darker exploration of people broken by the military-industrial complex trying to piece themselves back together. Howe has a knack for capturing the body language of old friends, and his clean, firm inks and simple yet dynamic page layouts, with bold coloring by Dee Cuniffe, move the action along at full speed. De Campi is emerging as a top-notch writer of non-superhero action comics, with a gift for collaboration. This outing will thrill fans of the genre." --Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Alex de Campi writes comics. She is best known for her critically-acclaimed teen survival thriller NO MERCY and the groundbreaking, digital-native comic VALENTINE. Her bestselling, criticially-acclaimed comics and graphic novels TWISTED ROMANCE with various artists, MAYDAY with Tony Parker, NO MERCY with Carla Speed McNeil, DRACULA MOTHERF**KER and PARASOCIAL with Erica Henderson, BAD KARMA with Ryan Howe, and SCRAPPER with Cliff Bleszinski and Sandy Jarrell are all published by Image Comics. She was nominated for an Eisner for her first comic work, Smoke, and it's all been downhill from there. Alex also directs music videos, and has worked with acts as diverse as Grand Duchy (Frank Black / Violet Clark), Joan As Police Woman, and Amanda Palmer to the retro-fabulous Puppini Sisters.

Alex's background is a three-whisky conversation and involves several continents. She is a single mother of an awesome daughter; they live in the Stephen Kingdom (Downeast Maine) with two dogs. She has an opinion on nearly everything. You can peruse them, along with stupid photos and memes, at @alexdecampi on most social media.