KAARE ANDREWS

TROY NIXEY
DAVE MCCAIG
TM
 TM

DEATH RIDES A BULLET

THE BLACK SINISTER

created by TROY NIXEY & KAARE ANDREWS

Written by KAARE ANDREWS

Drawn by TROY NIXEY
Colored by DAVE McCAIG
Lettered by PAT BROSSEAU

Cover art by TROY NIXEY with DAVE McCAIG

Dark Horse Books

 President & Publisher Mike Richardson
Editors Daniel Chabon and Brendan Wright
Assistant Editor Cardner Clark Designer Patrick Satterfield
Logo Designer Charles Brock Digital Art Technician Melissa Martin

THE BLACK SINISTER

The Black Sinister™ © 2016, 2017 Troy Nixey, Kaare Andrews, and Dave McCaig. Dark Horse Books® and the Dark Horse logo
are registered trademarks of Dark Horse Comics, Inc. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the express written permission of Dark Horse Comics, Inc. Names, characters,
places, and incidents featured in this publication either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any
resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric intent, is coincidental.

This volume collects chapters 1–6 of the story “The Black Sinister: Death Rides a Bullet,”
originally published in Dark Horse Presents #26–#31.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Andrews, Kaare, author, creator. | Nixey, Troy, artist, creator. |

McCaig, Dave, colourist, artist. | Brosseau, Pat, letterer.
Title: The Black Sinister : death rides a bullet / written by Kaare Andrews ;
drawn by Troy Nixey ; colored by Dave McCaig ; lettered by Pat Brosseau ;
cover art by Troy Nixey with Dave McCaig.
Description: First edition. | Milwaukie, OR : Dark Horse Books, 2017. | “The
Black Sinister created by Troy Nixey & Kaare Andrews” | “This volume
collects chapters 1-6 of the story “The Black Sinister: Death Rides a
Bullet,” originally published in Dark Horse Presents #26-#31.”
Identifiers: LCCN 2017003667 | ISBN 9781506703374 (hardback)
Subjects: LCSH: Comic books, strips, etc. | BISAC: COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS /
Horror. | COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Superheroes. | COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS
/ Literary.
Classification: LCC PN6728.B51937 A53 2017 | DDC 741.5/973--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017003667

Published by
Dark Horse Books
A division of Dark Horse Comics, Inc.
10956 SE Main Street • Milwaukie, OR 97222

DarkHorse.com

To find a comics shop in your area, call the Comic Shop Locator Service toll-free at 1-888-266-4226.
International Licensing: (503) 905-2377

First edition: July 2017

Digital ISBN 978-1-63008-926-9

Neil Hankerson Executive Vice President Tom Weddle Chief Financial Officer Randy Stradley Vice President of Publishing Matt
Parkinson Vice President of Marketing David Scroggy Vice President of Product Development Dale LaFountain Vice President
of Information Technology Cara Niece Vice President of Production and Scheduling Nick McWhorter Vice President of Media
Licensing Mark Bernardi Vice President of Book Trade and Digital Sales Ken Lizzi General Counsel Dave Marshall Editor in Chief
Davey Estrada Editorial Director Scott Allie Executive Senior Editor Chris Warner Senior Books Editor Cary Grazzini Director
of Specialty Projects Lia Ribacchi Art Director Vanessa Todd Director of Print Purchasing Matt Dryer Director of Digital Art
and Prepress Sarah Robertson Director of Product Sales Michael Gombos Director of International Publishing and Licensing
chapter one
chapter two
chapter three
chapter four
chapter five
chapter six

My transition from movies back to
comics wasn’t without its speed bumps.
Dark Horse was great in welcoming me
back and hiring me to draw stories in
Eerie and Creepy, and a Lobster Johnson
one-shot. I enjoyed the hell out of all of
the experiences, but I still felt a little
wary of my renewed comic-booking as I
kicked the tires on new creator-owned
work. As bombastic as The Black Sinister
is, it began on shaky legs. Think more
ostrich chick and less fawn.
Everything I create starts with a
sketch . . . well, lots of sketches. I draw
constantly, and the root of TBS began as
a simple doodle of a guy wearing a mask
that’s way too tight. As I refined him, a
story began to percolate: What if the self-
appointed savior of a city was actually its
worst enemy? Basically, what if Batman
was a real a-hole? The story I concocted
was small and kind of subtle . . . and I
didn’t know what to do with it.
That’s when the mighty Kaare Andrews
swooped in and saved my bacon. As
much as I appreciated what I had, I knew
it needed more. With a strong desire to
focus on getting my drawing chops back,
I asked Kaare if he wanted to write it.
Kaare is one of my best pals, and while
sketchbook
we’ve dabbled with collaborations, we’ve
never really cut loose on something
big. I pitched him my one-line concept,
sent him some art and the name, and he
did what he does best: he fed it copious
amounts of Pop Rocks, double espresso,
and raw meat!
The story grew, and the zanier it became,
the more excited I became. Suddenly we
were writing and drawing with sticks
of dynamite, and nothing could be crazy
enough. We approached Brendan Wright
with the idea, originally conceived as
a two- or three-issue miniseries (my
confidence to do something longer
than that wasn’t quite there yet), but it
quickly became a serialized story in Dark
Horse Presents instead. We loved the idea
of cutting it into eight-page chunks and
jamming as much as we always intended
to do into forty-eight pages.
This is only a smattering of what I
sketched up for the series. There’s a
few false starts, a very early version of
the cover, and a whole lot of bonkers
sketches. Everyone involved thanks you
for picking up our slice of madness! Read
it lots and lots!!!
—Troy Nixey
 “It’s always a real pleasure to see an artist being entirely true
to their inner workings. And Troy’s inner workings (frighteningly
unique to him) are on full (wonderful) display here and
perfectly suit Kaare Andrews’s story.”

—MIKE MIGNOLA (Hellboy)

Emerson Black’s superhero identity is no secret: patrolling the

night skies as THE BLACK SINISTER, he enforces his own brand of
psychotic justice, no matter the cost. Joined by his unhinged butler
Danby, Black protects the citizens of Coal City from kidnappers,
gangs, and jaywalkers alike.

But who will protect the city from THE BLACK SINISTER?
And what happens when the mayor hatches a plan to
finally rid Coal City of its deranged antihero?

Collects the complete story from the pages of

Dark Horse Presents.