Image Comics Imprint Syzygy Publishing has announced Dark Honor. A charming crime thriller brought to life by the talented trio of Ethan Sacks (Ghost Girl, Old Hawkeye, Star Wars: Bounty Hunters) and filmmakers Bruce and Brian Decubellis (Trust, Manhhhhtan night). Lightning, no one will fight), David Messina (The Ultimate Spider-Man, Three Keys), Gabriel Guzman (Lady Earth, Predator), Jamal Igl (Molly Danger, Wrong Earth), Colorist Raciel Avila and Letterer Jame.
Dark Honor is a fascinating crime series set in New York City, New York during the early part of the pandemic. This marks the first venture into the comic book realm for Bruce and Deco Belis’ first venture into the realm of comic book, with the exciting five-island series debuting on May 28, 2025. The original plan was to adapt the story to the film, but it became clear that the comic series was the ideal way to tell this story.
According to Image’s landing page, Bruce wrote the comic, “Dark Honor may be fiction, but the background is real. With streets in the sky, prisoners, and unknown disasters originally written in New York, the hopeless scramble for survival is realistic.
Beat caught up with Dark Honor co-creators Dedubellis and Adapter Sacks to discuss things like stories for upcoming comics, decisions to set at the start of lockdown, and work with a queue of killer artists.
Ollie Kaplan: What was your experience with Image Comics Imprint Syzygy Publishing and its creative director, Chris Ryall?
Ethan Sachs: I’ve just finished working with Chris and Saisy in the once-in-a-lifetime project for me, a Ghost Girl, given the theme and advocacy of mental health and the opportunity to work with my daughter Naomi Sachs. So when I was approached to adapt Dark Honor, he was the first person I could reach out to as a potential publisher. Chris is now a friend, but he is also a savvy comic book veteran who gets unique ideas and helps develop stories from outline stages to printing presses. I can’t say enough of the finest about him.
Brian Decobellis: Chris Ryal was perfect for this material not only from an editorial perspective, but also for teaching KS and me during his first experience in comics. Chris was kind and patient while navigating production.
Kaplan: Not only is the mask functional, it also looks pretty bad for people, especially comic book people. With mask ban laws in place in several states, what do you think about using entertainment, such as comic books like Dark Honor, to normalize masks or to encourage others to respect the needs of high-risk people?
Bag: The creators and I all lived in New York City throughout those darkest times. We all knew that our first counterpart was being pushed into the breaking point. We all heard of the never-ending ambulance siren caravan. We all stood on the rooftop at 7pm and slammed the pot in honour of our doctors and nurses. We were all walking down the empty streets. We all ran to the grocery store hoping to bring nothing back with our masks and with us. I personally have lost two friends to this terrible illness and know many high-risk friends and family whose lives are changing forever. This is a cool crime story, but we are also evoking a historical crisis that will shake up our cities and the world. I don’t preach much in this comic. First and foremost, it is entertainment, but readers can also draw deeper themes from the book.
Kaplan: Chapter 1 of Dark Honor begins on March 13, 2020, when Trump declared the Covid-19 pandemic a national emergency. However, in “From the Creator,” readers learn that KS and Brian have a personal connection to the date. What was behind the decision to set a dark honor in Manhattan as NYC citizens fled from the residential dormitory near the city?
Dedubellis: The night before I wrapped my filming in the second movie trust, I remember the date very clearly. The next morning we headed to Grand Central Station for rush hour. KS and I were focused on filming the film. It seemed we had been awakening from our dreams, but we were out in a nightmare. So, as a New Yorker, running away from the city and seeing the atmosphere of danger around us was a compelling environment for the new film ideas we began to talk about. There was all these new regulars that lived in lockdowns and permeated our dark honor story. It was oddly energising the writing.
Kaplan: Covid-19 had a major impact on prisoners and the US prison industrial complex. For readers who may not know its history, can we provide some background on the real-world foundations of Chapter 1 events?
Bag: That’s what happened in real life. In the first beginning of New York’s Covid-19 surge, in a hopeless scramble of social distancing, Mayor de Blasio of the time ordered prisoners from city prisons where repeated risks of crime were low. I don’t want to overestimate how deeply I go to that particular aspect of its fateful spring and summer history in a comic book miniseries. But these realistic details are burned into dark honors.
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Kaplan: Is the Dark Honor theme particularly relevant today?
Dedubellis: We’ve just celebrated the fifth anniversary of the start of the pandemic, and at that point we can look back a little more clearly. However, the theme of dark honor is related to being universal five years later. Good and evil, protecting each other, standing up for each other, and for greater ideas, justice and honor, everything is a timeless theme.
Kaplan: How was your collaboration with artist Fico Osio, colorist Raciel Avila and Letterjame?
Sax: I have had the honor and joy to work with FICO Ossio (Black Lightning) on several projects in the past, tied to the popular Viking supernatural board game and including the recently released epic Blood Rage Graphic Novel. FICO is a budding superstar, as DC Comics fans are currently discovering.
But there are other All-Star artists we have on board. I would like to say that there are a line of murderer artists in this crime comic, including David Messina (The Ultimate Spider-Man), Jamal Igle (The Wrong Earth), and Gabriel Guzman (Dr. Afra). For independent books like us, we chose to navigate our schedule with Big 2 publishers, seeking a great talent or two. This allowed me to swing for the fence. Dark Honor will be one of the best looking books on the shelf. That’s a promise.
Raciel Avila, who not only does the colour see you, but also smells the city of New York City, is the rhythm section of our supergroup. Jame is someone I used to work with and is a talented, professional letter.
Dedubellis: There’s no good enough to say about FICO, David, Gabriel, Jamal, and their abilities and working. Each of these guys is rich in talent and it was pure joy to work with our story panel to bring their excitement with so many ideas. Each brought something else to the table, making it a dark honor for what it was.
Kaplan: Ethan, what is your job as an adapter?
Sachs: KS and Brian have already come up with Helluva’s premise with rich characters, cool action beats and persuasive settings that didn’t require much heavy on my part. My biggest contribution was to translate the story intended as a film into a series of stories that can be told in five issues. To put it in Hollywood terminology, let feature films act as epic television miniseries. But I also played my second role in the band. As a whisper in a comic book. That is, they put together the art team, pitched to sizes, and showed how comic formats were used to these talented films and TV creators.
Kaplan: Brian, you, KS Bruce originally wrote the story as a script, but Bruce said, “There was so much raw feel to the film.” What were the advantages of telling this story in a comic series instead of a movie? How did the original story change during the adaptation process?
Dedubellis: One of the first advantages was the ability to work as stories in noir fiction, action, thrillers and crime stories. This is because the comic book world has a different baseline context than films. It’s not inherently realistic. It’s exaggerated and a phor. Also, the production timeline was much smaller, so I was able to tell this story quickly. The original story wasn’t that different. Several plot points from the script were omitted to fit the pacing and story into five issues. Some small additions like Grigor’s father subplot. The ending was the most creative change of all, but not dramatically. It was fun to reimagin what was originally scripted.
Kaplan: Ethan, you’ve started journalism. Brian, you’ve started a movie. Given that you have told stories in other media, what is the unique aspect of sequential art storytelling?
Sachs: I want to say I had two great careers. First as a journalist, secondly as a comic book writer. On the surface, there is not much overlap, but the way to communicate with your audience in the medium of your choice is storytelling. It’s a format with a big difference. Jim Lutenberg, one of my editors in my first journalism internship (as a university student), was now with the New York Times, who taught me to write letters to viewers, not myself. Reader, why is this important to you? That’s the same for comics too. The way you pat the story and reveal the motivations of your characters are all part of a puzzle that captivates the reader’s imagination. What I particularly like about comics is the collaborative nature of the media, working with the art team to connect with readers. When everything is passionate about the page, the results can be magical.
Decubelis: Visually presenting a story in a frame composed of frames with or without dialogue is very similar to the storyboarding process for designing shots in a film, creating the overall story. However, since the medium of comic books is very different from the film, each panel lacks time and movement, it is not clear how much time each panel will spend on each panel. Therefore, clarifying action and story points in a very economical yet fun and powerful way is a unique distinction.
Kaplan: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Dedubellis: For KS and me, this was truly a joyful ride to your dream Porsche. Working with Ethan, Chris and world-class artists to help us realize our stories was an explosion. We have a lot of gratitude to our team. I want to do it again.
Dark Honor #1 is available on Comic Book Shops on Wednesday, May 28th, 2025. It can also be used on many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.
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