FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
5/4/05
"Imagine if you died in your sleep tonight and woke up tomorrow not even knowing you were dead," said Matthew Shepherd, writer and co-creator of Dead Eyes Open, the new six-issue mini-series coming from SLG in July. "What would you do when you found out?" Shepherd continued. "And when other people discovered you were a living corpse? That's the premise of the comic, from the perspective of a loving father who comes back and wishes he hadn't."
Psychologist John Requin isn't your garden-variety undead, but there's really no way to get on with your life when you're technically dead. His patients are beginning to suspect something is wrong, his daughter won't let him near her, and now he and other "Returners" are being hunted down by vigilante groups. The world is in chaos, and the Returners need a spokesperson for their plight. Is John Requin that man? Or is the deal the U.S. government is offering him just an empty appeasement? The afterlife of millions depends on him.
Matthew Shepherd has teamed up with artist Roy Boney, Jr. to tell John Requin's story in the comic book mini-series Dead Eyes Open. Boney has gained what he describes as "a modestly sized, yet intensely loyal, audience" with his online comic Plugin Boy. In Dead Eyes Open, which is his, and Shepherd's, first published comic, he employs a dark, heavily inked style that portrays the decay of both the Returners and the society in which they live.
"I see Dead Eyes Open as 1960s civil rights meeting today's right-wing paranoia, except it's discrimination against the Undead," said Boney. "I love blood and guts as much as the next guy, but sometimes it's nice to have a 'thinking person's' comic. At least I hope the series makes people think about things a little more seriously."
Shepherd and Boney explore the religious and political ramifications of the recently dead returning to life and plan to show how society changes as it comes to terms with Returners and the development of a Returner subculture. The result is the depiction of a complex and volatile society and the exploration of many of our culture's prejudices and paranoias. Dr. John Requin's story, however, also keeps the focus on the Returners on an individual level as it depicts how he copes with his own resurrection.
"In all of the best zombie stories, the zombies act as sort of fomenting agent for issues already present in a society," said SLG editor-in-chief Jennifer, "and that's what happens in Dead Eyes Open, but Matt and Ron have made the Returners aware of the effect they're having. The result is very dark, but also very human."
Dead Eyes Open is a six-issue mini-series published by SLG Publishing, debuting in July 2005. There is a preview at SLG Publishing's website, www.slavelabor.com.
