Oni Press has revealed the various covers that will adorn the first issue of its upcoming noir fiction series Night People.
Based on the novel of the same name by Barry Gifford, Night People launches in March as part of the ONI 2024 initiative. The four-issue series teams Gifford with co-writer Chris Condon and artists Brian Level, Alexandre Tefenkgi, Artyom Topilin, and Marco Finnegan. Level draws the first issue, which features a main cover by J.H. Williams III — as well as variant covers by Joëlle Jones, Jacob Phillips, and Level himself. (Oni first revealed Level’s cover when it announced the ONI 2024 lineup back in October.)
Check out the covers for Night People #1 below:
What is Night People about?
Oni describes Night People as a “pulsating roadmap of the American subconscious that follows an uneasy company of wanted criminals, cartel killers, and lost souls.” The publisher promises “four interlocking tales punctuated by lipstick, sweat, and blood.” Each issue features 30 pages of story and no ads.
Issue #1 centers on “two ex-convicts — a pair of inseparable lovers named Big Betty Stalcup and Miss Cutie Early.” Big Betty and Miss Cutie are “out on parole using their newfound freedom to purify the world of men’s evil influence,” leaving a “trail of mutilated bodies in their wake. As the psychotic dimensions of their star-crossed romance — and the twisting paths that first led them to their fateful meeting at the Fort Sumatra Detention Center for Wayward Women — come into full view, their experiment in righteousness culminates in the kidnapping of Rollo Lamar, a kindly attorney whom Betty and Cutie abduct just to see if they can reeducate at least one man on the planet before the demise of civilization.”
Gifford and Condon discuss the adaptation
“Night People is beyond noir, a parable that embodies both a revision of the past and riddle for the present, informed by the Church on the One Hand and the Church on the Other Hand that portends a future wherein whomever is left on the planet are cast forth on an even more mysterious and perilous voyage on a ghost ship sailing into the Sea of Red,” said Gifford . “As evidenced by this powerful graphic representation of my novel, the quest for a safe harbor is neverending.”
“Each issue is unique in terms of story, so it makes sense to have each issue have a different, unique artistic approach,” added Condon. “I’m so thrilled to see the artistic powerhouses Oni Press has brought onboard to tackle this adaptation with me. The way Barry’s book works is that you never know what turns it will take or what characters you’ll be following in any particular chapter. We’ve utilized that approach in this adaptation, and I think we’re crafting something that should be exciting for readers and will have them coming back issue after issue to see where this wild story is going to go next.”
Night People #1 goes on sale March 6, 2024 from Oni Press.
