AfterShock to Launch Supervillain Comic 'Patience! Conviction! Revenge!'

When you’ve been dumped by your crime syndicate and abandoned in the desert, there’s only one thing for a good former criminal mastermind to hope for. Or, as the title of the new AfterShock Comics series about this very scenario puts it, three things: Patience! Conviction! Revenge!


The crime comedy launching in September is, according to writer Patrick Kindlon, “funny and self-aware, but committed to a dark overall theme,” as well as “visual and fun, free from the shackles of good taste.”


Kindlon is known as the lead singer of both Self Defense Family and Drug Church, as well as the writer of There’s Nothing There and co-author of the critically acclaimed We Can Never Go Home. He has a very succinct description of the plot of the new series. “A criminal genius is forced out of his organization. Instead of starting a Pilates studio, he dedicates himself to revenge,” he tells Heat Vision. “Years have passed; he's amassed an army of robots and is set to march on a glittering cyberpunk Las Vegas with the sole intention of crushing old friends under his boot.”


The series, he continues, stems from a lifelong affinity for the genre. “I’m a big fan of crime. In comics, books, movies, and sometimes in real life,” he says. “I didn't want to tackle a crime story myself until something really spoke to me. Without incriminating myself, I'll tell you this is my most personal work to date. I never thought I'd say that about a Warren Ellis meets Elmore Leonard robot crime/revenge series, but comics is a crazy place.”


Patience! Conviction! Revenge! sees Kindlon working with AfterShock Comics for the first time, an experience he appreciates in suitably understated manner. “It's a team of literate adults who aren't afraid of ideas. I couldn't ask for anything more,” he says. “Ideas are run through a filter of ‘Does this serve the theme?’ rather than “‘Does this stay safe?’” He’s even more enthusiastic when it comes to his art team, praising the “revelatory art and colors on the part of Marco Ferarri and Patrizia Comino, including a rare attention to background and detail.”


The first issue of Patience! Conviction! Revenge! will be available digitally and in comic book stores Sept. 19.