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Chris Condon & Shawn Kuruneru Utter THE GODDAMN TRAGEDY #1 at Oni Press – Coming May 2025!
Don't Leave the Trail….
PORTLAND, OR (November 7, 2024) – IN THESE WOODS, FEAR EVERYTHING – EVEN EACH OTHER. Oni Press – the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher of groundbreaking comics and graphic novels since 1997— is proud to unveil THE GODDAMN TRAGEDY #1 – a vicious and vengeful account of one of the Old West’s darkest episodes from those that lived to tell it from breakout writer Chris Condon (Ultimate Wolverine, That Texas Blood) and artist Shawn Kuruneru (Fishflies). A tense and entirely self-contained 48-page, one-shot graphic novella coming to comic shops everywhere in May 2025, THE GODDAMN TRAGEDY #1 returns the writer of THAT TEXAS BLOOD to his Western roots as realized through the lavishly destructive painted artwork of fast-rising star Shawn Kuruneru.
Ellen Janson is here to set the record straight about the highly publicized, oft-sensationalized journey her family undertook in 1846.
Ellen sets out with her mother, Irena, and her father, Leo, on the treacherous road west in search of a better life. But when her father chooses to split off from the party, taking an untested shortcut through the mountains, can their small family survive the elements, the wildlife—and each other? Or will their journey become nothing more than another goddamn tragedy?
“I had been reading about the tragic Donner Party of 1846 and an idea struck me: there's a story here to tell, one that could capture the psychological tumult a family endures as they are faced with an impossible decision: kill...or be killed,” said writer Chris Condon. “We all know how the Donner Party played out, but we don't know how things work out for the Janson family and that's a story that the masterful Shawn Kuruneru and I are all too excited to tell. Thankfully, we've found a great home for this one-shot of survivalist terror at Oni Press who excels at telling gut-wrenching tales from beyond the pale."
"The Goddamn Tragedy is a gritty thriller with an atmosphere akin to The Shining,” said artist Shawn Kuruneru. “For the past two years I’ve been drawing Westerns, starting with my own comics Cave Grave and Poor Moon, then Fishflies #6 for Jeff Lemire. As a fan of Chris’s writing on That Texas Blood, I am excited to bring this story to life with ominous color washes, rough line-work, and eerie shadows to slowly reveal the impending doom of the Janson family."
THE GODDAMN TRAGEDY #1 is the next in a series of five all-new, genre-defying projects from acclaimed creators for Spring 2025 set to be revealed by Oni Press in the month ahead:
TOP SECRET TOP SECRET by TOP SECRET & TOP SECRET | February 2025
TOP SECRET by TOP SECRET & TOP SECRET | March 2025
FREE FOR ALL #1 by Patrick Horvath | March 2025
PLAGUE HOUSE #1 by Michael W. Conrad & Dave Chisholm | April 2025
THE GODDAMN TRAGEDY #1 by Chris Condon & Shawn Kuruneru | May 2025 May 2025
THE GODDAMN TRAGEDY #1
WRITTEN BY CHRIS CONDON
ART & COVER BY SHAWN KURUNERU
ON SALE MAY 2025 | $6.99 | 48 PGS | FC | ONE-SHOT
About Oni Press
Founded in 1997, Oni Press has a 25-year history as one of the industry’s most respected and acclaimed publishers of award-winning comic books and graphic novels with titles including Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim, K. O’Neill’s Tea Dragon Society, Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt's The Sixth Gun, Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer, Ezra Clayton Daniels' Upgrade Soul, Brenna Thummler’s Sheets trilogy, and many hundreds more. In 2019, Oni Press merged with Lion Forge Comics – the Eisner Award-winning independent comic book publisher founded by Academy Award-winning producer and entrepreneur David Steward II – to create one of the largest, independent libraries of comics content anywhere in media. The Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group now exists as a publishing subsidiary of Steward’s diversified global media company, Polarity.
The Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group publishes more than 60 original and licensed graphic novels annually, in addition to an extensive list of periodical comics.
Don't Leave the Trail….
PORTLAND, OR (November 7, 2024) – IN THESE WOODS, FEAR EVERYTHING – EVEN EACH OTHER. Oni Press – the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher of groundbreaking comics and graphic novels since 1997— is proud to unveil THE GODDAMN TRAGEDY #1 – a vicious and vengeful account of one of the Old West’s darkest episodes from those that lived to tell it from breakout writer Chris Condon (Ultimate Wolverine, That Texas Blood) and artist Shawn Kuruneru (Fishflies). A tense and entirely self-contained 48-page, one-shot graphic novella coming to comic shops everywhere in May 2025, THE GODDAMN TRAGEDY #1 returns the writer of THAT TEXAS BLOOD to his Western roots as realized through the lavishly destructive painted artwork of fast-rising star Shawn Kuruneru.
Ellen Janson is here to set the record straight about the highly publicized, oft-sensationalized journey her family undertook in 1846.
Ellen sets out with her mother, Irena, and her father, Leo, on the treacherous road west in search of a better life. But when her father chooses to split off from the party, taking an untested shortcut through the mountains, can their small family survive the elements, the wildlife—and each other? Or will their journey become nothing more than another goddamn tragedy?
“I had been reading about the tragic Donner Party of 1846 and an idea struck me: there's a story here to tell, one that could capture the psychological tumult a family endures as they are faced with an impossible decision: kill...or be killed,” said writer Chris Condon. “We all know how the Donner Party played out, but we don't know how things work out for the Janson family and that's a story that the masterful Shawn Kuruneru and I are all too excited to tell. Thankfully, we've found a great home for this one-shot of survivalist terror at Oni Press who excels at telling gut-wrenching tales from beyond the pale."
"The Goddamn Tragedy is a gritty thriller with an atmosphere akin to The Shining,” said artist Shawn Kuruneru. “For the past two years I’ve been drawing Westerns, starting with my own comics Cave Grave and Poor Moon, then Fishflies #6 for Jeff Lemire. As a fan of Chris’s writing on That Texas Blood, I am excited to bring this story to life with ominous color washes, rough line-work, and eerie shadows to slowly reveal the impending doom of the Janson family."
THE GODDAMN TRAGEDY #1 is the next in a series of five all-new, genre-defying projects from acclaimed creators for Spring 2025 set to be revealed by Oni Press in the month ahead:
TOP SECRET TOP SECRET by TOP SECRET & TOP SECRET | February 2025
TOP SECRET by TOP SECRET & TOP SECRET | March 2025
FREE FOR ALL #1 by Patrick Horvath | March 2025
PLAGUE HOUSE #1 by Michael W. Conrad & Dave Chisholm | April 2025
THE GODDAMN TRAGEDY #1 by Chris Condon & Shawn Kuruneru | May 2025 May 2025
THE GODDAMN TRAGEDY #1
WRITTEN BY CHRIS CONDON
ART & COVER BY SHAWN KURUNERU
ON SALE MAY 2025 | $6.99 | 48 PGS | FC | ONE-SHOT
About Oni Press
Founded in 1997, Oni Press has a 25-year history as one of the industry’s most respected and acclaimed publishers of award-winning comic books and graphic novels with titles including Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim, K. O’Neill’s Tea Dragon Society, Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt's The Sixth Gun, Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer, Ezra Clayton Daniels' Upgrade Soul, Brenna Thummler’s Sheets trilogy, and many hundreds more. In 2019, Oni Press merged with Lion Forge Comics – the Eisner Award-winning independent comic book publisher founded by Academy Award-winning producer and entrepreneur David Steward II – to create one of the largest, independent libraries of comics content anywhere in media. The Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group now exists as a publishing subsidiary of Steward’s diversified global media company, Polarity.
The Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group publishes more than 60 original and licensed graphic novels annually, in addition to an extensive list of periodical comics.