Just because his last name is Crook doesn’t mean Tyler Crook is an actual criminal. But I guess it takes one to know one as he’ll team up with writer Christopher Cantwell for the new Oni Press comic book series, Out of Alcatraz.
The five-issue mini focuses on what Oni calls, via press release, “one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the 20th century”: three convicts who may or may not have escaped Alcatraz.
“The possible escape from Alcatraz by three men in 1962 is one of those mythic loose threads in history, one that captured my imagination a long time ago,” said Cantwell. “Out of Alcatraz is my obsessive ruminations about what might have become of them if they really did make it off that island and out of the bay, and has turned into this American parable about what it means to be free and if any of us ever really can be. Watching Tyler render this tense, violent, and human story so beautifully with his visionary eye and hand has been one of the high points of my career as a writer.”
In the book, convicts Frank Morris and Clarence Anglin have already escaped the notorious penitentiary when they encounter their mysterious handler, a woman who is also on the run. They all aim to head north to the border, but first they have to make it out of Modesto alive.
“To me, Out of Alcatraz is a classic ’60s crime/road movie,” added Crook. “These convicts, free of the world’s most secure prison, are confronted with the prisons that they create for themselves through their own worst instincts. This results in a tense narrative full of great characters and set in a fascinating time and place. Working with Chris has been amazing – we are both working our butts off to make this the best comic we possibly can.”
The double-sized 48-page first issue Out of Alcatraz #1 hits stores in March of 2025. You can check out a preview, below.
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