Writer and artist Geof Darrow and colorist Dave Stewart will return to the world of Shaolin Cowboy in May with a new seven-issue series, Shaolin Cowboy: Cruel to Be Kin.

The new story, which Dark Horse Comics will launch on May 18, finds the world of the Shaolin Cowboy gripped by a pandemic of violence and the Cowboy himself dealing with homeschooling as well as the usual monsters. The new series will have variant covers by a number of well known artists: Mike Mignola and Alice Darrow will do covers for issue #1, Frank Quitely and Ed Piskor for issue #2, Stan Sakai and Steve Skroce for issue #3, Duncan Fegredo and Jim Rugg for issue #4, Katsuya Terada for issue #5, James Harren for issue #6, and Tsui Hark for issue #7.

Darrow started Shaolin Cowboy in 2004, and it was originally published by Burlyman Entertainment, the comics publisher formed by the Wachowskis, of Matrix fame (see “Matrix Creators Delve Into Comics”). Darrow won a 2006 Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist for his work on the series, and Stewart won a Best Coloring award in 2015 for his work on Shaolin Cowboy and other series. Dark Horse began publishing Shaolin Cowboy in 2011, including two new series by Darrow, and collected the series as three paperback volumes in 2020 (see “Dark Horse Books to Release Complete ‘Shaolin Cowboy’”).

Click Gallery for issue #1 covers!