Band of Bards Comics announces BLACK GUN from Travis Hill & Richard Kemp
Series Announcement
Band of Bards Comics proudly announces the upcoming series BLACK GUN from Travis Hill (Containment Breach volume 2 from Fugitive Poems, “Let Him be to You as a Goblin: Forgiveness as the Defeat of Evil in Spider-Man Comics”) and Richard Kemp (War Priest, Don’t Ever Blink).
A noir Western loosely based on the story of Bass Reeves, America’s first Black US Marshal, BLACK GUN takes us to the politically myopic Oklahoma Territory of 1889. In a story of political intrigue, questionable loyalties, blurred lines, and taking a stand in the face of overwhelming power, Hill explores how the US mobilized corruption, coercion, and cruelty to steal land from America’s Indigineous Tribes.
Hill & Kemp, both members of the Phoenix Comics Collective, form a tandem of talent bringing a unique ability to tell a historical work of fiction that plainly asks us “What is the point of resisting?”
Hill, a PhD. candidate in American history, brings the intellectual discipline often missing from works looking back on our past. His unique knowledge and passion marry up with Kemp’s dramatic illustrations to bring an emotionally poignant tale to the world of panel & page.
Black Gun is the story of Cletus Rhodes, a US Marshal in the Oklahoma Indian Territory. When Rhodes uncovers plans to take control of sovereign land he must choose between his two adopted families: the Creek Nation or the US Marshals. After liberating himself from slavery during the US Civil War, Rhodes flees west and finds a new home and new family among the Creek Tribe. After becoming a US Marshal dedicated to the rule of law and justice Rhodes is torn between his two worlds on his final assignment before a hard earned retirement. Having uncovered crooked plots to swindle The Five Civilized Tribes out of their land Rhodes grapples with the truth that the Law and Justice are very different things.
Will Rhodes choose the Law, or Justice? Find out in 2023 as BLACK GUN comes to you in three volumes, each containing a full 80-page story arc. BLACK GUN promises to captivate readers by combining a thrilling action story with thoughtful introspection that asks the hard questions of who we are as a nation, how we built this United States of America, and what are our obligations to right the wrongs of broken treaties?
Join us as Hill, Kemp, and BoB asks “If you’re not standing with the oppressed, then just who are you standing with?”
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