Image Comics announced You’ll Do Bad Things, a new, six-issue horror series from writer Tyler Boss, artist Adriano Turtulici, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. You’ll Do Bad Things #1 hit shelves March 26th with a main cover by Boss and variants by Turtulici, Jenna Cha, and Marcos Martín. The book is already entering its second print.
Here’s what Image Comics had to say about the series:
In You’ll Do Bad Things, it’s been ten years since the release of He Came in with a Smile, the true crime smash hit that chronicled the brutal murders committed by the Nursery Rhyme Killer. But in the decade since its release, its author Seth Holms hasn’t produced another title. He wants to write a story with a happy ending, but every time his fingers clack across the keyboard it always ends in his character’s death. Worse yet? These tales of blood and barbarity that flow so freely from Seth’s mind are starting to happen in real life.
As a kid with the legal last name Butcher, I was absolutely raised to love horror. But my dad rounded it out with plenty of other nerdy shit including comics. Growing up I wanted horror comics to be more, I never got the appeal of the movie adaptations like Halloween and Fright Night. To see books like Maniac of New York, Archie Horror and even Red Room sold at my local shop has been so exciting.
How did you get into comics? Was being an artist always the plan? Being a writer?
I’ve been reading comics for as long as I can remember. Started with the Sunday newspaper strips and my Uncle Jack got me a collection of Calvin & Hobbes for my first communion. I recall being annoyed to get a book instead of cash. Kids, lol. But I didn’t have a comic shop nearby where I grew up, so all the actual comic books I read were second hand from flea markets and garage sales. My Grandma would grab me random handfuls of stuff she saw and that is what I got. It was probably what sparked a bit of the creative problem solving lever in my brain. I’d get two issues of a Batman comic in the middle of a story and wouldn’t have the beginning or the end, so I would make up what came before and after. I’ve also always been an avid drawer, but it wasn’t until I was maybe 15 I had the realization “Oh, I could do this as a career?”
Do you tackle both roles the same way, or are they different beasts? Do you have a preference for one over the other?
I don’t think I have a preference, though I’ve been drawing longer so I know how to problem solve that craft quicker than a writing roadblock. It’s kind of funny, because I used to think they were totally separate beasts, but now I’ve realized I approach both practices with the same approach. Writing used to seem so mysterious to me, probably in the same way drawing is for some writers, but to me at least, the process of where you start is the same. You start with just your basic shapes, right? A square, a circle, maybe a triangle and then you give it dimension by adding more shapes to it, refining the overall structure. Once you feel like it’s structurally sound, then you start adding the details, the things that make it specific. Bring in the texture and color now to bring it to life, give it a voice. Then you refine, refine, refine. They’re very different crafts, but the process of them is really quite similar. I’d challenge more comic writers to try and draw their own comics. I think they’d be surprised at how great a comic they can draw themselves.
And how was it to do everything on Dead Dog’s Bite?
A lot lol. Really happy I did it and felt rewarding to answer that self imposed challenge, but it was really lonely honestly. I had my wonderful editor Brett Israel with me, but I really couldn’t “blame” anybody but myself if the book didn’t land with people and that was a lot to deal with. My wife caught me sleep walking a bunch and my anxiety was through the roof day in and day out. It’s funny now looking back because it’s just a comic book right? Who gives a fuck. But it made me really appreciate my relationships with my collaborators more. That comradery.
Do you have a deal in the works between New Balance and Image Comics to tie into the new book?
HAH. Actually had to go back in and change the names of the shoes for fear of legal repercussions. But I wish. Those shoes look so comfortable. Good for lawn mowing and people with flat feet.
How did you link up with Adriano Turtulici on You’ll Do Bad Things?
I actually saw his work from a friend (Michael Walsh) posting his portfolio to his instagram stories. Sort of a lightning bolt moment where I saw it and immediately was like “Oh this is the guy.” I originally thought I’d draw Bad Things myself, but as soon as I saw Adriano’s work I knew I wanted to make the book with him.
Any plans for a follow up on Dead Dog’s Bite?
No plans on that. That book was really specifically meant to be a bit of graphic novella. Something a little short and sweet. The curtain comes up and we meet Joe, and when the curtain comes down she’s somebody else. And that’s that.
What about true crime inspired You’ll Do Bad Things?
I’m a big true crime consumer. Have been most all my life. Even still the morality of it as a genre of entertainment is just too ripe a topic to include in a slasher comic. I remember being on some kind of trip with my family as an 8 year old. We were at a Motel 6 or a Super 8 or something and we always slept with the TV on. The 1990’s version of a white noise machine. But some program was on telling the Zodiac story. From the word “cab driver” I was enraptured by it and couldn’t wait to find out whodunnit at the end of the episode. Only, they never caught the guy. He was still out there and that idea had never crossed my mind as a kid. That a story could not have an ending.
What was the Giallo half’s inspiration? Any specific titles you looked toward, or any you intentionally avoided?
It’s sort of all of it and none of it. Listening to Ennio Morricone scores and really trying to inhabit that space. Dario Argento and Sergio Martino are the most obvious touch points, but it’s more in mood and color than specific pastishes of theirs or their contemporaries’ works. We have knife wielding psychos and naked people and the neon colors you’d want/expect from the genre trappings. But we’re also trying to tell a true crime mystery story that the readers may be able to solve before the curtain call.
You and Matthew Rosenberg have become a dynamic duo, how did you guys come together?
We met working at a comic shop in NYC together. Matt’s a born and raised New Yorker and I came there for school. Just so happened the apartment I was renting also happened to be just a couple of blocks from where he lived. Cosmic happenstance.
Are there any ideas y’all pitched that were denied over the years?
Our first book 4 Kids Walk into a Bank was denied by every publisher, including Black Mask when we were pitching it. It wasn’t until Matt had a hit with We Can Never Go Home that people would answer our emails on the book. Now it’s gonna be a movie starring Liam Neeson. Life’s weird.
How was the book tour for you guys?
The tour was awesome. You spend all your time alone in a room making these things wondering/hoping it will connect with some people and to go out and meet the people reading and enjoying the books is such a privilege. To visit all these different shops and see how each one is different and what their approach is to selling comics. A real pleasure.
When can we expect one of your works to be adapted for TV?
4 Kids Walk into a Bank will be in theaters sometime soon! More news coming on that…
How was the Furthest Place 7” run for you? Are there plans to continue it with every issue?
Absolutely not haha. It was a great idea that has been fraught with every imaginable nightmare thing that could happen with them. Pandemic, vinyl shortages, Adele, pressing plant stamping machine shortages, you name it. The Diamond bankruptcy being the latest fresh hell in a series of hitting every pitfall this project could have hit. But the music is cool!
Last word is yours
Thanks so much for your time and I hope anybody reading this will check out my books You’ll Do Bad Things, What’s the Furthest Place from Here?, Dead Dog’s Bite, and/or 4 Kids Walk into a Bank.
You can find You’ll Do Bad Things at all of the cool comic shops, or you can buy it online. Issue 2 and the second print of Issue 1 both come out at the end of April. Tyler Boss can be found here. And most importantly, you can buy a big ass knife, gimp mask and black leather gloves here.
