Coming in February is a new mini-series from writer Ryan Ferrier and artist Daniel Bayliss called KENNEL BLOCK BLUES. The new BOOM! Studios book is still a couple months away, but Ferrier and Bayliss want you to know why you should pick this comic up. Here's their five reasons to grab KENNEL BLOCK BLUES.
5. The Art Is Jaw-Dropping
Simply put, Daniel Bayliss is one of the most inventive, stylish up-and-coming artists today. To say “up-and-coming” is a disservice though, as with his work in Kennel Block Blues shows he is simply doing it. He’s bringing life to these characters, to the walls of Jackson State Kennel, in a way that no one else could. And any limits we’ve got as a team?
We’re kicking them down like a door. From some of the craziest spreads and splash pages to unbelievable, hallucinatory cartoon fantasies, we’re not playing it safe by any stretch. Throw in the vibrant, rich colors of Adam Metcalfe, who’s handling the duality of Kennel Block Blues with brilliant strokes, and the perfect, tone-building lettering of Colin Bell, and I’d say we’ve got a book that doesn’t look like anything else on the shelves.
4. We Will Not Be Held Prisoner By Style, Genre, or Tone
If there’s one thing that Kennel Block Blues isn’t, it’s typical. This is not a “prison book” or a “talking animal book.” Kennel Block Blues is so many things in one, and creatively we’re embracing the best parts of all of them to make something new and unique. At its core, it’s a book about being torn away from everything you’ve loved, and the unending desire to get back to it. To them. It’s a statement about reality that happens to feature some of the brightest and wildest animals we could conjure—from the devastation of animal shelters to the utter shambles of prison systems. It’s a musical inspired by the Fleischer Brothers and Disney and Looney Tunes, and everything we grew up loving. Each issue is something new, be it a heist, a revolution, or a cartoon nightmare full of devils and lollipops. With Kennel Block Blues, the most important part of a story is that you feel something—and we’re aiming for all the feels. All of them.
3. Oliver’s Losing His Mind…and He’s Taking You With Him
Our main character, Oliver, is a pretty complex, complicated fella. We wanted to take his story a step further, and bring the readers well inside his head. Oliver has a…unique way of seeing the world, particularly when he’s under great stress. There’s no shortage of that in prison. In Kennel Block Blues, we literally see his world transform into the most chaotic, crazy, cartoon wonderland fantasy…or the most depraved and terrifying of nightmares. Everything turns to song and dance, and often at the least opportune times—but the results are totally wild and we can’t wait for readers to see life through Oliver’s eyes.
2. You Can’t Have Heartbreak Without The Heart
Everyone on Team Kennel Block Blues believes in making comics that mean something to us, that have something to say, and this is no exception in the least. Aside from being totally bonkers most of the time, we’ve got big hearts (Ryan keeps his in an old coffee tin above the cereal). Kennel Block Blues is really important to us in that it captures so many facets of our emotions. It’s thrilling and hilarious one moment, and crushing and dark the next. There’s a high-energy song and dance one page, and a violent twist on another. But most importantly, we are a passionate team with a knack for storytelling, that wants to include parts of our everyday reality in our book. To make you think and talk, to make you smile, to make you gasp. Ultimately to connect you to something, be it a character that reminds you of someone you loved, or an injustice outside your doorstep.
1. You Will Fall In Love With These Animals (Even Though A Couple Of ‘Em Will Kill Ya)
Life Spoiler Alert: Prisons have human beings and animal shelters have animals, and there isn’t one “type” of personality in either! These are microcosms with their own social groups and politics and emotions, and we’re building something you can hang your hat on. The mortal to the bricks in Jackson is our cast of characters, and we believe there’s someone for everyone to love, from Oliver the happy-go-lucky Boston terrier with a penchant for musicals, and Sugar the take-no-nonsense chihuahua determined to lead her pack, to Pickles the evil-genius-smooshy-faced cat and Fluppers the unfortunate-looking-former-lab-rabbit. For the inmates of Jackson Kennel, everyone has something on the line, and everyone brings something to the table. We wanted to create a true ensemble cast that tugs on your heartstrings. Falling in love with fictitious characters is real, don’t resist it. Totally normal.
Kennel Block Blues #1 (of 4)
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer: Ryan Ferrier
Artist: Daniel Bayliss
Cover Artists:
Main Cover: Daniel Bayliss
Incentive Cover: Nick Pitarra
Price: $3.99
On Sale: 2/3
What’s to Love: From Oz to Shawshank Redemption, we just love great prison dramas. But what if the prison in question is an animal shelter? Ryan Ferrier (Curb Stomp, D4VE) and Daniel Bayliss (Translucid) combine the tradition of great anthropomorphic stories like Wild’s End and Blacksad with the madcap twists of Six-Gun Gorilla and Chew in their new series Kennel Block Blues.
What It Is: Oliver is a good dog. A family dog. But without warning, he’s sentenced to Jackson Kennel, where he’s instantly placed on Death Row with the rest of his fellow inmates, awaiting a lethal appointment on The Table if salvation doesn’t come. He’ll need help escaping the Kennel, but when the stress of prison life builds, he starts escaping reality instead, imagining a fantasy world of cartoon friends. It’s time to break out...into a musical number?
KENNEL BLOCK BLUES comes to stores on February 3, 2016.
