A Man Turns to Crime in Pandemic-Set Crocodile Black

A macabre noir thriller is set to unfold in BOOM! Studios’ latest title, Crocodile Black. The new book by writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Incredible Hulk) and relative newcomer artist SOM (Brigands) will arrive in May 2024.

Crocodile Black asks the question: what would make a person become a criminal during a modern pandemic? Set during the worst of COVID-19, Danny is a young man who wants to escape his circumstances and the lack of control he has over his own life. While on a delivery job, Danny sees something that changes him forever.

“Crocodile Black is a story about dark reinvention. It’s about hidden trauma, unchecked obsession, the power that masks give us, and a dead man’s black crocodile-skin boots. It’s about a COVID-era kid with no prospects finding something he never knew he wanted, and using it to become someone he never knew he wanted to be: a dangerous man,” Johnson said.

“At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was fascinated with how many people left behind jobs they hated or college programs they were never that interested in, and pursued paths they’d been afraid to before,” Johnson said. “Crocodile Black is a thought-provoking, disturbing take on that phenomenon. It’s a story I hope will leave readers asking themselves, ‘Given the opportunity, could I be capable of great things, too… or terrible things?’”

“Crocodile Black is a story about dark reinvention. It’s about hidden trauma, unchecked obsession, the power that masks give us, and a dead man’s black crocodile-skin boots. It’s about a COVID-era kid with no prospects finding something he never knew he wanted, and using it to become someone he never knew he wanted to be: a dangerous man,” SOM said.

The first issue of Crocodile Black will arrive in comic shops on May 8, 2024.