Created by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips
So, while the world was going COVID-crazy in 2020, and their proposed series launch of their ongoing series from Image, That Texas Blood, was being indefinitely delayed, comic guys Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips whipped up a little something to tide fans over.
What they cooked up was a pulpy little digital-only detective story called Brutal Dark, featuring 1940s New York private eye EZRA CAIN, doled out in monthly installments.
They promise each noir adventure tale will be “short but sweet – 8 pages, exclusively digital and ONLY ONE DOLLAR!”
The catch? You had to become a Patreon of Chris and Jason to get it.
It was worth it, though. Everyone knows I’m a sucker for the comic work of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, gritty crime fiction, and the films of the Coen Bros, and this seemed promising.
And after reading the first issue of That Texas Blood, I was hooked. The art by Phillips was definitely up to family standards, and the script by Condon? Yowsah!
So I was in. Let’s see what these racket boys can do…
Turns out lightning could strike twice. What I saw of Brutal Dark was promising. Cain ever bears more than a passing resemblance to Dashiell Hammett, although I’m sure that’s just a coincidence, right?
Just like the fact the movie theatre he’s passing by in the second issue is showing The Maltese Falcon. Or that the action takes place in 1941, which means a certain “Day of Infamy” is just around the corner.
But then… Pffft!
The story sorta petered out, and new installments never appeared. Both Condon and Phillips pursued other projects, and I figured the story would never be completed.
Until November 2025, when fellow traveller Chris Gumprich dropped a dime on an upcoming project from the duo: the return of Ezra in The Peril of the Brutal Dark, a six-issue miniseries from DC Vertigo in February 2026.
Presumably the conclusion of the story I’d started reading years earlier, it looks like the tale features a lot more woo-woo than I’d initially expected, when it’s revealed that Ezra once studied archeology, and now seems like the logical choice to track down an ancient artifact that’s gone missing from the Museum of Natural History. No, it’s not the Black Bird — it’s the Anvil of Hephaestus, which is said to hold the power of the Greek god. But Ezra’s not the only one on the case — a secretive and dangerous cult calling themselves the Brutal Dark and possibly aligned with the Nazis also wants the dingus, and will stop at nothing to retrieve it.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Writer Chris Condon and artist Jacob Phillips are the creators of the hit comic series That Texas Blood and The Enfield Gang Massacre
COMICS
BRUTAL DARK: THE ADVENTURES OF EZRA CAIN P.I.
(2020, Patreon)
Written by Chris Condon
Art by Jacob Phillips- THE PERIL OF THE BRUTAL DARK: AN EZRA CAIN MYSTERY #1
(2026, DC Vertigo)
6 issues
Written by Chris Condon
Art and cover by Jacob Phillips
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Condon & Phillips
Their Patreon page. They’re creating comics.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith. And thanks as always to Chris Gumprich for the lead.
