Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Ríos announce the second story arc of their hit fantasy western series

Image Comics is pleased to announce that bestselling writer and artist duo Kelly Sue DeConnick (BITCH PLANET, Captain Marvel) and Emma Ríos (PRETTY DEADLY) will once again captivate readers with the second story arc of their ethereal fantasy western story PRETTY DEADLY.

"The thing about the first arc that we most wanted to preserve was that sense of ‘myth space,’” said DeConnick. “As we move from a general American West landscape—we refer to it between the five of us as ‘the Myth of Lemon’—into events of a more specific historical nature, we didn’t want to lose that feeling. We didn’t want to to have that shock of the real, as though Ginny just walked into a Starbucks, you know? So we have had to take our time. And also to get the research in—the boy, Cyrus, is an African American kid and so I’ve gotten to do a lot of reading about the role of the Harlem Rattlers. It’s breathtaking stuff.”

In this second story arc of PRETTY DEADLY, the mantle of Death has fallen to a little girl, Sissy, who, along with her tattered band of reapers, is tasked with gathering souls whose time has come, or come and passed. An old woman has a dying request. Her son has been missing for more than a year, gone east, and from there to fight in the trenches overseas. She wants to see the boy one last time before she passes. And so Deathface Ginny is dispatched through clouds of mustard gas to find the young man, but between her and her quarry, atop bitter black mount of twenty hands, sits the Reaper of War himself.

“I’ve made no secret of what a privilege it is for me to work with Emma Ríos—the thing about Emma is that she’s the full package, she doesn’t need a writer, and so it is a real gift that she chooses to spend some of her valuable time collaborating with me,” added DeConnick. “I am forever grateful. And coming back to seeing Pretty Deadly pages come in… it feels like coming home.”

Ríos added: “Kelly Sue will always inspire me. When working together I can only think about getting more refined, and stronger, so I can blow her mind away just like she does with mine. It's perfect partnership for life. One of the things I feel most proud of, from what we managed to do in the first arc, was finding the fairy tale within the western setting. Now this gas spitting dragon, called war, looks even more appropriate.”

“It’s been a long wait, but Pretty Deadly is finally back!” said Eric Stephenson, Publisher at Image Comics. “Everyone who loved the first arc is in for a real treat with what Kelly Sue and Emma have cooking this time around. It’s definitely well worth the wait, and what’s more, I think allowing everyone the time they needed to make this happens is one of the things that makes Image so unique. As readers and fans, we all want things to progress as quickly as possible, but the best art happens when those crafting are ready and trying to pretend otherwise only undermines the finished work.”

The second story arc is set to launch with issue #6 from Image Comics in September 2015.