Rick Remender (The Scumbag, Grommets) and Kieron Dwyer (Sea of Red, Captain America) are reviving their chaotic skate-punk creation Black Heart Billy in a limited edition 25th anniversary hardcover this December, courtesy of Image Comics. This black-and-white deluxe edition collects the full original run of the anarchic cult comic, alongside a wealth of bonus material—including never-before-seen content and a brand-new afterword by Remender, written in a haze of late-night nostalgia.
First published in 1999, Black Heart Billy follows a rebellious skate-punk with a robotic head, a deep hatred for authority, and no filter. Billy’s world of punk rock, empty pools, and sarcastic commentary takes a sharp turn when a mad Nazi scientist attempts to resurrect Adolf Hitler using the body of Jerry Garcia. With San Francisco teetering on the edge of fascist-hippie doom, only Billy can stand in the way—armed with nothing but a bat, bad attitude, and a love of destruction.
Dwyer reflected on their wild creative process: “Rick had worked with me on my raunchy humor comic LCD: Lowest Comic Denominator, and when he showed me his sketch of Black Heart Billy, we knew we had something that pushed every boundary we could find. We didn’t care how it was received—we just knew it made us laugh harder than anything else.”
Remender added, “No character means more to me than Billy. This book came from the heart of the punk scene I grew up in. It was raw, absurd, and made with love—and no money. Just pure joy with my friends, trying to outdo each other with every page.”
Black Heart Billy 25th Anniversary Deluxe Hardcover (ISBN: 9781534333260) hits comic shops on Wednesday, December 17, and arrives at bookstores and online retailers, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble, on Tuesday, December 30. Fans old and new are encouraged to preorder quickly, as the print run will be limited.
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