“PUG OGN 
story DEREK McCULLOCH
art & cover GREG ESPINOZA
JUNE 30
104 PAGES / BW
$14.99
Six years ago, the Darlinger fight ended Jake’s career, cost him his family, and put him in a downward spiral that looked like it had no end. Now he’s doing collections for a small-time loan shark and thinking maybe it’s time he set a few things straight in the world.
From award-winning writer DEREK McCULLOCH (writer of the Eisner-nominated STAGGER LEE) and artist GREG ESPINOZA, PUG is an unsparing tale of a good man trapped in a life of brutality – 15 rounds of blood and bad memories.”
“Derek McCulloch has an unmatched talent for capturing character voice and nuance. I ‘hear’ dialogue and inflection as I read, much as I would while reading a well-written play. Greg Espinoza’s graphics are clear and simple, but convey great depths of character. Pug is beautifully crafted and moving.”
Colleen Doran, A Distant Soil
“Also making this story memorable is that McCulloch and Espinoza tell their story in a unique format. Their story unfolds in a way that echoes the pattern of a boxing match: three pages tell the story of Mahoney’s life in an indistinct ’50s or ’60s small city, while the alternating page tells the story of the evening that changed the pug’s life.
This distinctive format gives McCulloch and Espinoza’s story a unique sort of rhythm. The segments are “rounds” and “rest periods” that do an intriguing job of keeping the reader deeply involved in the story while also giving the story an interesting sort of cadence – there’s a kind of relentless drumbeat to the pattern of pages in this book that reinforces and makes inevitable the eventual fate of our protagonist.”
Jason Sacks, Line of Fire Reviews
FYI: Derek McCulloch is, in my humble opinion, the best writer in comics you should have heard of, but probably haven’t yet, even though he got an Eisner nod for Stagger Lee. He is the author of Gone to Amerikay, our original graphic novel saga of Irish immigration, coming from Vertigo.
