Kill A Man

UEER MALE CULTURE MEETS MIXED MARTIAL ARTS

A brand new original graphic novel from writers Steve Orlando and Phillip Kennedy Johnson featuring art by Alec Morgan and lettering by Jim Campbell.

In the early days of Mixed Martial Arts, kickboxer icon DJ Bellyi is beaten to death in the ring after yelling a homosexual slur at an opponent, while his young son James watches in horror from the stands.

Sixteen years later, young James Bellyi has become an MMA star in his own right, with top-tier endorsements and an imminent title shot. But when James is outed as gay by an opponent in a press conference, he loses everything: his title shot, his fans, his team, even his family. To fight his way back, he turns to the only one left in the world willing to train him: Xavier Mayne, the man who killed his father.

Says Johnson: “We’re living in an important and dynamic time in American History, when we have the power and responsibility to decide what kind of nation the United States is going to be going forward. Telling a story with such an unlikely crossover — male queer culture and MMA culture — is Steve’s, Alec’s and my way of making that decision for ourselves.”

Steve Orlando's first book ever was poorly drawn in fifth-grade classroom pencils on Xerox paper, and featured a doughboy with superpowers, and names changed from trademark purposes. He was a precocious child. Today he writes and produces comics, including Virgil, Crude and stories in the Eisner Award Nominated Outlaw Territory at Image Comics. He launched Midnighter and took part in Batman and Robin Eternal and CMYK: Yellow at DC Entertainment. Find him at your convenience deep down the rabbit hole of discussing wine, spirits, or mythology.

• Extremely relevant story right now, as culture in general and sports culture in particular is coming to grips with masculine archetypes who are insisting to be allowed to be who they are.

• Though action packed and very much a personal story, can stand on the shelf alongside recent graphic novels that address key moments from the history of the fight for civil rights, like March and They Called Us Enemy.