2041: a dried-up mining town in Eastern Kentucky. Following a new administration’s crackdowns on civil liberties, the United States has fought and won another Civil War. But this time, Kentucky refuses to acknowledge U.S. sovereignty, effectively making Kentucky an occupied nation within U.S. borders. When a riot and the brutal military response force his hand, a mechanic and reluctant folk hero takes up arms against the occupation, on the path to becoming the first tribal warlord of Appalachia.

Warlords of Appalachia began as an answer to the question: what if the mountains of Kentucky produced an African warlord?

2016 has been a rough year, and now the story has become much more than that.

Warlords is almost a companion piece to Last Sons of America. Last Sons shines a light on two serious issues: human trafficking and a for-profit adoption industry. But at its heart it’s a story about two brothers. Warlords is about a father’s bond with his son, but also the deep political divisions that currently define the United States. Our would-be future leaders, shootings, religious persecution, terrorism, military drones, the drug trade’s reliance on poverty… all of these are explored. It might sound like a lot for one story, but in the current political climate and set on the backdrop of Eastern Kentucky, the pieces fit together like fate.

Warlords of Appalachia is every bit the passion project Last Sons of America was; maybe more so. It’s the responsibility of artists, writers, and musicians to address the things happening in the world right now, and this book is a way for me to do that.

Returning from Last Sons of America are colorist Doug Garbark and letterer Jim Campbell, and pencils and inks are by German newcomer and super-talent Jonas Scharf. The creative team has built a world that’s strange and disturbing, but also familiar. There’s a new government, new religions, new cultures, original songs, and of course, new military tech. It’s an exciting, dangerous place, and if you know anything about Kentucky or the Civil War, you’ll find that the story is inspired by a lot of real people, places and events.

And in the end, it’s about a bad-ass mountain man’s transformation into an African Warlord.

The series begins on Wednesday, October 12^th, my second with BOOM! Studios!

I can’t wait to tell this story.