Oni Press Announces ‘The Goddamn Tragedy’ By Chris Condon And Shawn Kuruneru

Chris Condon is an old hand at Westerns, thanks to the critically acclaimed Image Comics series That Texas Blood. And now he’s headed back to the Old West one more time for Oni Press, with The Goddamn Tragedy #1.

Written by Condon with art by Shawn Kuruneru, the one-shot focuses on a woman named Ellen Janson who, years later, decides to set the story straight about the tragic journey her family took in 1846.

“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 Condon via press release. “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.”

Ellen, along with her mother, Irena, and father, Leo, set out to travel to the west for a better life. But, per PR from Oni, “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?”

And more importantly: will they eat each other? Come on, you know you were all thinking about it. Be honest.

“The Goddamn Tragedy is a gritty thriller with an atmosphere akin to The Shining,” added 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.”

Oh, they ate. The Goddamn Tragedy #1, a 48-page one-shot, hits stores in May 2025.

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