RIGHT STATE is a race-against-time political thriller that explodes beyond the boundaries of genre to explore the meanings of race, class and identity in America, written by Mat Johnson with art by Andrea Mutti (THE EXECUTOR). Johnson is the recipient of the United States Artist James Baldwin Fellowship, The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and author of the acclaimed graphic novels INCOGNEGRO and DARK RAIN as well as the recently published novel Pym among others.

In the week leading up to a major campaign speech, the Secret Service discovers that an extremist militia group is plotting to assassinate America’s second African American President. The best chance to avert this crisis is to infiltrate the group. RIGHT STATE follows an ex Special Forces commando turned conservative media pundit, who takes the assignment and goes undercover. What follows is an adrenaline fueled race against time to stop a President from dying and a country from being ripped apart.

A blend of shattering social and political commentary with a page-turning story, RIGHT STATE will be in stores in August 2012, just in time for the fall 2012 election.

A crime thriller set in the days before, during, and following hurricane Katrina, DARK RAIN: A New Orleans Story by Mat Johnson and artist Simon Gane is on sale in comic book stores now and will be available at bookstores tomorrow.

Here's what the critics are saying:

"Alternately funny and moving, but always focused on a very sharp but simple story. . . . More than a couple of moments . . . almost brought tears to my eyes. In the end the book is very optimistic, offering hope to those who choose to do the right thing." -HUFFINGTON POST

“Johnson's masterful tale of loss and redemption is a real treat. Read and savor it before some sharp Hollywood producer makes a movie out of this rich gumbo of characters whose humanity and dignity fuel their fight for survival. Gane's deceptively lithe art captures action and emotion with wit, grit and grace.”
–THE MIAMI HERALD

"Captures images of Katrina more vividly than CNN dared at the time. . . . DARK RAIN is the story of two men fighting the elements and their own past. Much more than the story of a bank heist, DARK RAIN is a 21st century parable told in words and pictures.” –CRIMESPREE Magazine

“A pretty ripping heist/caper story. . . . A really well-crafted story. This is a movie waiting to happen. . . Simon Gane’s art captures both the majesty and little moments that a great director might.” –UNDER THE RADAR

"After reading DARK RAIN, I can honestly say that Mat Johnson has become one of my favorite comics writers. INCOGNEGRO wowed me a couple of years ago, and DARK RAIN is equally impressive. ... Johnson draws both the good and bad of the post-Katrina landscape in his characters, while Simon Gane's pen and ink artwork enhances the story without ever overpowering it." -LARGEHEARTED BOY

"DARK RAIN manages to entertain and inform about the human condition -- it's a well-grounded look at the different ways humans react to situations. Simon Gane's art is a perfect accompaniment to Mat Johnson's tale." –WESTWORD (Denver)

And THE RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER features and interview with Simon and Mat. Read it here.

DARK RAIN: A NEW ORLEANS STORY, Vertigo’s new graphic novel, hit stores yesterday, just a couple of weeks shy of five years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

So, I had this whole, big angry diatribe about Katrina planned here, but the more I thought about DARK RAIN, the more sense it made to just skip the preaching. I’m sure you’re all very disappointed. But that sort of thing really isn’t what this book, written by Mat Johnson with art by Simon Gane, is about.

So what is DARK RAIN actually about? Well, it’s a story about a bank heist, yes. It’s a race-against-time crime thriller, sure.

But it’s really about people who could easily be you or me. Save for a tough break here and there. It’s about their hopes, their pain and joy, their dignity.

So just as Mat and Simon’s story pays tribute not only to the spirit of the human beings who endured Katrina, but to the human spirit itself, I’d like to pay my own small tribute to the people who bring you this book.

Of course, it all starts with Mat. Since he wrote INCOGNEGRO, he and I had been looking for a new graphic novel to work on together. Mat’s never short of good ideas, but when he sent me a brief proposal, at the time titled “Congo Square” (after the New Orleans location often thought of as the birthplace of African-American music), I knew we’d found the one. Just the concept hooked me: two guys desperate to get in to New Orleans at the same time everyone else is desperate to get out.

To bring Mat’s story to the page, we needed an artist who understood that the city of New Orleans was as much a character in this story (now titled DARK RAIN) as the characters themselves. Simon Gane jumped to mind quickly. When Simon drew an earlier Vertigo series called “The Vinyl Underground,” he brought a moody realism and depth to the city of London. That was the quality I was looking for. But Simon is, himself, English. Could he do for a uniquely American city like New Orleans what he’d done for London?

He allayed my concerns when he volunteered to fly to New Orleans and experience it for himself. And he did. And it shows.

Mat and Simon had some brilliant collaborators. Lee Loughridge gave extra depth and dimension to Simon’s artwork with gray tones and (at the inspired suggestion of Karen Berger) blue tones as well. This is a book about water after all. Pat Brosseau lettered the book with the same flair that he’s brought to such Vertigo books as THE QUITTER, THE ALCOHOLIC and THE EXTERMINATORS. Finally, Art Director Louis Prandi and Cover Designer Nessim Higson and fashioned a book jacket that evokes the perfect sense of foreboding, desperation and hope conveyed by Mat’s writing and Simon’s art. And Vertigo's own Sarah Litt kept the whole operation running on schedule, among many other crucial tasks.

Not unlike what it took (and continues to take) to bring New Orleans back, it took a community of people to bring this book to you.

Somewhere along the line, there may even have been an editor involved.

So there you go. 100 percent diatribe-free. As it should be, because the book that Mat, Simon and the rest of the crew have created will stand on its own, on this fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and for much longer, as a reminder that we can never give up the hope that exists inside us all, even in the most desperate days.

People are talking about DARK RAIN: A New Orleans Story an original graphic novel by Mat Johnson (Incognegro) and artist Simon Gane, on sale this August. Check out the preview, previously posted here, on Graphic Content.

“Mat Johnson’s unflinching, macabre sense of humor is perfectly in tune with New Orleans, and Simon Gane’s eye for character and detail brings the region in all its glory and degradation to vivid life.”
—Josh Neufeld, writer/artist of the New York Times bestseller A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge

“DARK RAIN has the twists of The Treasure Of the Sierra Madre, the political punch of When The Levees Broke and the character interplay of The Defiant Ones. Mat Johnson’s unique voice holds the whole thing together and makes it fresh and new.”
—Reginald Hudlin writer of Black Panther, director of Boomerang

“Part political novel, part heist tale, part love story, DARK RAIN is a stiff cocktail that will knock you down and set you up. Mat Johnson’s ability to use the medium of the graphic novel to create powerful blunt objects, modern myths, that carry on coded conversations with an immense array of cultural artifacts ranging from the literary to the cinematic is second to none.”
—Alice Randall, New York Times bestselling author of author of The Wind Done Gone and Rebel Yell

“At once heart-stopping and heartbreaking, DARK RAIN shows us what happens when good people avert their eyes as crimes are committed and then rationalize what they've done. Mat Johnson as always displays his deft and savage touch in injecting humanity into history.”
—Mark Winegardner, New York Times bestselling author of The Godfather Returns