The Blues Brothers will return with an all-new story for the first time since 2020, Z2 revealed today. The publisher announced The Blues Brothers: The Escape of Joliet Jake, a new graphic novel that will be co-written by Stella Aykroyd (daughter of Dan) and Luke Pisano, whose mother was John Belushi’s widow.
Joining the Blues Brothers’ kids to hammer out the script will be James Werner, a comedian and musician with ties to Hollywood. Felipe Sobreiro (The Illustrated Al) provides the art and colors. Dan Aykroyd himself will provide editorial oversight and write the foreword.
According to Z2, the project was conceived with Judy Belushi Pisano, Belushi’s widow, who, along with Aykroyd, controlled the underlying Blues Brothers intellectual property. Pisano passed away in July.
The Blues Brothers, who originally appeared as the musical guest on the April 22, 1978 episode of Saturday Night Live, was a real band with a genuine love for blues and soul music. The characters would appear in both comedy sketches and music segments on SNL, before finally transitioning to the big screen in 1980.
The band was fronted by SNL alumni Dan Aykroyd (as Elwood Blues) and John Belushi (as “Joliet” Jake Blues, who spent as much time in Joliet prison as outside of it, according to the band’s lore). A cadre of enormously talented musicians backed the band, and the 1980 film featured guest appearances by the likes of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and Cab Calloway.
“The Blues Brothers weren’t just a SNL act or movie,” Pisano said in a statement. “They were real musicians, in awe of the legends who came before them. This book is a continuation of that labor of love. This book is dedicated to my mother, Judy Belushi Pisano — the widow of John Belushi and the fierce, loving steward of the Blues Brothers legacy for over 40 years. After John’s passing, she didn’t just preserve the story — she expanded it. With the team at Z2, and with the talents of Stella and James, we finally found the right partners to make that dream turn reality. I am proud—and humbled—to continue her work in expanding this world of fun, music, and mischievousness.”
Z2 describes The Blues Brothers: The Escape of Joliet Jake as “both a love letter and sequel” to the first Blues Brothers film. It presumably takes place in between the 1980 movie and 1998’s Blues Brothers 2000, which opened with Elwood arriving at prison to pick up Jake at the end of his sentence, only to learn that his brother had died in custody.
“Elwood and Jake are precious to me, in fact, one of them is actually my Dad,” Stella Aykroyd said. “I’ve helped him sharpie ELWOOD onto his knuckles before Blues Brothers shows with ‘Brother Zee’, I’ve walked behind him as he’s made his way through a sea of fans dressed as Elwood and Jake all over the world and I’ve been his co-pilot on the road, where he’s explained to me the proper way to T-bone a car. Now, with Elwood, and the one and only ‘Sister Zee’, Judy Belushi’s blessing, Luke, James, and I take the wheel and swerve into the endless possibilities that Z2, Felipe Sobreiro, and the comic book world provide for Jake and Elwood. In many ways the antics we’ve seen from the Blues Brothers have always been perfectly suited for the comic strip; flying cars, supernatural nuns, dusting an entire apartment building worth of bricks off your shoulders, and now Felipe Sobreiro’s illustrations bring them to life once again. Our development process was guided and inspired by the stories and real life occurrences from the lives of Judy, John, and Dan and their process of conception of the Blues Brothers and using it not only for easter eggs but for plot points. I am so excited to share this whole new story with all our music-loving anarchists.”
Here’s how Z2 describes the book on its preorder page: “It’s 1997, almost two decades after the events in THE BLUES BROTHERS film and Chicago law enforcement is once again in pursuit of the notorious musical criminal, Jake Blues, after a mysterious jailbreak. On the case is up and coming detective, Robert Papageorge, whose world is turned upside down when his mother reveals that the fugitive he’s after is his biological father… While investigating, Robert receives a little help from Elwood Blues and musicians, and discovers what everyone is actually chasing: The Briefcase full of Blues, a powerful blues relic. An unlikely partnership forms between Robert and Wolfie, an orphan from the Blues Brother’s alma-mater, St. Helen’s of the Blessed Shroud. Together, they unravel a web of mysteries tied to Blues Brothers adventures with Jake and Elwood that we’ve never seen before! Get back to the heart of recidivist mischief, soul and bombastic chases. Sink your teeth into a new Blues Brothers adventure.”
As a note to longtime fans, the “Briefcase Full of Blues” is a nod to the title of the Blues Brothers Band’s best-selling album of the same name.
In addition to comedy sketches and two feature films (the second coming in 1998), The Blues Brothers have appeared on stage (as a band), in video games (the latest being in 2000), and on a different kind of stage with 2020’s The Blues Brothers: First Contact. In 1992, Aykroyd co-founded House of Blues, a chain of restaurants/nightclubs with live music; and the actual band has continued to perform without Belushi since his passing in 1982.
The Blues Brothers: The Escape of Joliet Jake will be in stores on October 7, 2025.
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