ComicsPRO ’25: Oni unveils “Rough Cut” covers for three titles

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Yet more publishers have been rolling out their ComicsPRO exclusives and news, and Oni Press has a bunch of very limited editions which they are calling “Rough Cuts.”  (Disclosure, Oni Press is sponsoring the Beat’s ComicsPRO coverage this year.) The exclusive to retailers versions spotlight trhee of their hot new releases for 2025, all by notable creators: OUT OF ALCATRAZ #1 by Eisner Award nominees Christopher Cantwell (Iron Man, Briar) & Tyler Crook (Epitaphs from the Abyss, Harrow County), FREE FOR ALL #1 by Eisner Award nominee Patrick Horvath (Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees), and PLAGUE HOUSE #1 by acclaimed writer Michael W. Conrad (Double Walker, Wonder Woman) & Ringo Award winner Dave Chisholm (Miles Davis & The Search for Sound). 

As tasty as they are, all three Rough Cuts are limited to only 500 copies, and only available for retailers who attend Oni ComicsPRO roundtables. Sad face. But here’s a sneak peak at the titles: 

OUT OF ALCATRAZ #1

Born from one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the 20th century, this taut and breathtaking original limited series launches with a double-sized, 48-page debut from Eisner Award–nominated writer Christopher Cantwell (Plastic Man No More, Briar) and Eisner Award–nominated illustrator Tyler Crook (Harrow County, The Lonesome Hunters)!

Convicts Frank Morris and Clarence Anglin have washed ashore in San Francisco after surviving their infamous escape from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in June 1962. They soon meet their gruff and disappointed handler, a mysterious young woman who’s also running from something, and hope to quickly get their way north to the border—if they can even make it out of Modesto alive. As a dogged federal manhunt and chance encounters threaten the desperate convicts, everyone involved is about to discover the same bloodstained truth: life on the run is an even more hellish prison than Alcatraz could have ever been.

OUT OF ALCATRAZ #1 INTERIOR ART BY TYLER CROOK

FREE FOR ALL #1

From Eisner Award–nominated writer/artist Patrick Horvath (Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees) comes a 56-page, self-contained one-shot that delivers a brutal new vision of capitalism by combat . . . 

In the future, the World Finance League exists to benefit all, randomly choosing those from among the billionaires and trillionaires of the world and presenting them with a choice: either donate half of their assets to the common good—or defend them in ritual combat.

Reigning champion and real estate magnate Ted Brooks has 22 victories under his belt—defending the wealth he schemed and stabbed to get—when he is forced to face his ex-wife, Luella Dominguez, in a fight to the death. Luella has been training, waiting for this moment. But will she have what it takes to defeat the man who would do anything—absolutely anything—to keep his fortune?

It’s every shareholder for themselves when death and bankruptcy collide in Free for All #1, a giant-sized, one-shot spectacle of commerce and carnage coming this March from Eisner Award–nominated cartoonist Patrick Horvath!

FREE FOR ALL #1 INTERIOR ART BY PATRICK HORVATH

PLAGUE HOUSE #1

HOUSES AREN’T THE ONLY THING THAT ARE HAUNTED. . . . This spring, architect of terror Michael W. Conrad (Wonder Woman, In Bloom) and 2024 Ringo Award–winner Dave Chisholm (Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound) begin a deep and disturbing excursion into 21st century–horror with a new kind of tale that will rebuild the four walls of the American ghost story from the foundation up . . . 

Thirteen years ago, Orin McCabe was a family man living a privileged life in the suburbs. Today, he’s condemned to death row for murdering his entire family in an unexpected fit of hammer-wielding brutality. In the aftermath of his heinous crime, it’s fallen to a trio of eclectic, but dedicated, ghost hunters—Jacob, the holy man; Holland, the skeptic; and their leader, Del, a true believer in the occult and worlds beyond—to surveil the abandoned McCabe home in search of proof for the existence of the undead . . . and whatever supernatural source may have possibly fueled McCabe’s inhuman massacre. But this ill-matched and uneasy squad of investigators is about to discover something much more terrifying than any ordinary spirit. . . . Something much more pernicious, much more contagious, that if not contained, could take full advantage of America’s unquenchable appetite for violence and deliver a plague of blood unto us all . . . 

PLAGUE HOUSE #1 INTERIOR ART BY DAVE CHISHOLM

The standard editions of these titles will also be available.

OUT OF ALCATRAZ #1 FOC: 2/24/2025
ON SALE MARCH 19th 2025 | $5.99 | 48 PGS. | FC

FREE FOR ALL #1  FOC: 3/3/2025
ON SALE MARCH 26th, 2025 | $7.99 | 56 PGS. | ONE-SHOT

PLAGUE HOUSE #1  FOC: 3/10/2025
ON SALE APRIL 2nd 2025 | $4.99 | 32 PGS | FC


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