Earlier today, Oni Press sent over a mysterious teaser image. On it was a man’s face, vivisected, with the phrase, “In the future, the only thing left to fight for is yourself” emblazoned on it in what looks like label tape. And in case you couldn’t figure out from the distinct art style, it’s by Patrick Horvath, best known for IDW’s Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees.
So what is this mysterious book? Well, we know the answer — because Horvath told us at New York Comic Con. So if you don’t like mysteries, turn away here.
Ready? Here we go. During a longer conversation with Horvath about the Beneath the Trees sequel Rite of Spring, he also plugged this upcoming Oni Press graphic novel. And as it turns out, it’s a book we’ve already discussed with Horvath, before.
“We have the book that I self-published digitally, called Free For All, back in 2020, that was fulfilled on a Zoop campaign,” Horvath told Comic Book Club. “The printing for that’s coming out imminently. And then, based off of that campaign, Oni reached out, and they asked if there was any future for that book that I had planned. And I was like, ‘I mean, I’m just printing it and then we’re done with it.’ They were like, ‘Would you like to put it out with us?’ And I was like, ‘Yes, I would.’ So Oni is putting out the book… It’s coming out [in] March 2025, and it’s going to be the one-shot story. It’s like a graphic novella. And I’m super excited that Oni is going to give it a home after we fulfill it with all the awesome people that supported it on Zoop.”
Having read the book, it’s not only as excellent as you’d expect from Horvath but also extremely different from Beneath the Trees, far more satirical and very of the moment. Specifically, it’s about a gladiatorial arena where all the fighters are billionaires. They’re chosen at random, and given the choice to keep their wealth and fight to the death, or donate half and keep living their lives as normal.
It’s pretty great, and if you missed it the first time around, or on Zoop, even with us spoiling the surprise you can start to get hyped about what’s coming in March 2025 from Oni… Particularly because they always do an excellent job with the printing. The book may not be free for all, but it’ll be worth the money. Check out the full teaser, below.
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