The blood-soaked chaos of Babs is back, and so is the creative team that made it one of the most gloriously unhinged fantasy comics of the last several years. With Babs: The Black Road South launching tomorrow (January 14), I spoke with writer Garth Ennis about the return of barbarian hellraiser Babs and her partner-in-chaos (Izzy) for a brand-new six-issue action-comedy adventure.
In said interview, Ennis breaks down how the series continues to balance savage humor with character-driven storytelling, why giving Babs money is the worst possible idea, and how instinct — not overthinking — still guides everything from the violence to the satire. As the duo’s latest gladiator victory sends the pair hurtling down the brutal Black Road South toward the wasteland of Mordynn, Ennis also reflects on what makes Babs tick, his creative trust with artist Jacen Burrows, and why fantasy works best when it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Courtesy of AHOY Comics.
AIPT: When Babs launched, it felt like a smart comedy disguised as a filthy one, but in a good way! Was that always the core mission — using vulgarity and excess as a delivery system for sharper character work and social commentary? Or, did that balance evolve as you wrote the first series?
Garth Ennis: It’s first and foremost an adventure story with occasional notes of satire, that was how I set it up from the beginning. Probably a bit less of the latter this time around, I wanted to spend the time taking a closer look at Babs — delving into her character by means of a run through her past.
AIPT: Babs: The Black Road South opens with a wonderfully barbaric problem as Babs and Izzy suddenly have money. Why is “financial success” such a dangerous narrative engine for these characters, and what does it let you satirize that endless poverty and struggle wouldn’t?
GE: It quite naturally immediately goes wrong for them, which is what sets them on the Black Road South. Really, my No. 1 priority is the story, not any kind of commentary.
AIPT: One of the most striking elements of Babs #1 was how openly it skewered overly online, grievance-fueled masculinity within a sword-and-sorcery setting. Do you find fantasy a particularly useful genre for commenting on modern culture, precisely because it’s so far removed on the surface?
GE: Not particularly, beyond the notion that a certain section of the audience are drawn to exactly that kind of hateful incel bullshit. But that’s equally true of sci-fi and superheroes, and probably to some extent horror and crime as well.
AIPT: You’ve written iconic violence across many genres, but Babs has a gleeful, almost cartoonishly cruel edge to it. How conscious are you of calibrating the violence here to be funny first, brutal second — rather than the other way around?
GE: Not very. This is first and foremost a question of instinct, so it’s a matter of proceeding without planning. The story and characters always come first, the rest fills itself in almost automatically.
Courtesy of AHOY Comics.
AIPT: With Babs: The Black Road South, we’re promised a much bigger world — new locations, monsters, and lore. How do you approach expanding a fantasy setting without sanding down the raw, nasty charm that made Babs feel so immediate and rude in the best way?
GE: Again, instinctively. You go with what feels right. It’s not really a question of labeling different aspects of creativity and then applying them in a set sequence, although I imagine AI is being refined to try to do just that.
AIPT: Your collaboration with artist Jacen Burrows feels essential to Babs landing as comedy, especially through facial expressions and physical acting. How much do you write with Jacen’s visual instincts in mind, and where does he surprise you on the page?
GE: It’s a matter of trust — I know he’ll give me the best work he can, he knows I won’t ask the impossible. I seem to be keeping him entertained; he pretty much does something I love on every page.
AIPT: There’s a long tradition of grim, self-serious sword-and-sorcery, but Babs happily lives alongside books like Barbaric and Rat Queens in this newer wave of adult fantasy that embraces humor. Do you see this as a reaction against nostalgia-heavy fantasy, or just creators having more fun with the genre?
GE: I’m not familiar with those titles beyond having heard of them, so I can’t really comment. When it comes to tendencies and so on within the industry, I prefer to leave that to pundits and other specialists. I can tell you that Babs definitely veers away from the grim, humorless tradition in fantasy that seems to take itself so terribly seriously, which when you’re talking about elves and hobbits and so on is a major mistake.
Courtesy of AHOY Comics.
AIPT: You’ve worked with AHOY Comics across multiple projects now. What does AHOY give you editorially or tonally that makes a book like Babs possible in a way it might not be elsewhere?
GE: I don’t think it’s anything specific to AHOY; Babs would be the same book no matter where it appeared, just because whenever I get even a whiff of editorial interference I run a mile, and most people know to avoid that with me. But AHOY is certainly an excellent home for the book, with smart, engaged people helping us put out the best story possible.
Tom Peyer and Stuart Moore are old friends, Babs seems to fit in well with the ethos they’ve established at AHOY (action, humor, brains), and I imagine we’ll be doing plenty more together for the foreseeable [future]. I have a new book with them later this year that isn’t a million miles away from Babs in tone, if not subject matter.
AIPT: Babs has survived gladiator pits, monsters, and the Black Road itself. But what is the single most humiliating, petty, or deeply annoying thing that could genuinely ruin her day before she even draws her sword?
GE: Funny you should say that, I was thinking about just such a scene just the other day, and as things stand now it’ll appear in the third series- that’s still a ways off, but it’s cooking away nicely.
Babs: The Black Road South #1 launches January 14, 2026.
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