SERIES PREMIERE

Eisner Award-winning writer KELLY THOMPSON heads to Image for the first time with BLACK CLOAK, an all-new series with artist MEREDITH McCLAREN! Blade Runner style mixes with SAGA-esque drama in a delectable fantasy/sci-fi blend as two Black Cloaks try to solve the murder of a beloved prince in Kiros, the last city in the known world, before his murder tips the city into war.

The mystery begins in a spectacular TRIPLE-LENGTH FIRST ISSUE for $4.99!

Kiros is the last city in a world that survived a massive war hundreds of years ago. This war changed the social structure of the remaining civilization. Now Black Cloaks police the city, which is run by an elven monarchy.

An elf, Dace, and a Maid (mermaid), Yanha, crawl up on the beach and die.

Black Cloak Phaedra Essex walks in a coffeeshop after scaring off some wraiths, a small blackened rodent-like species. She discusses the Taka, an extinct and much cuter fuzzy species with the barista until she is interrupted with news of another death.

Theros II of Pax leads the initial crime scene investigation of the death of a high-born elf whose identity he isn't sure of, but is concerned about. Phaedra, Pax's partner, arrives and confirms that the deceased is Freyal III of Sidra, heir to the throne and her one-time fiance.

She promises to find out what happened. Pax worries that she may be too involved but she says it's important that she helps. He seems to have been killed by a Dracona dagger, a very rare and powerful weapon. Phaedra wonders if a woman was involved since the building is known for its bar and prostitution.

The bartender says that Freyal was with Dace, the elf, for a few cycles and the bar regulars knew about them. On the way out, Phaedra asks an amphibian friend, Sashenka, to help out a Maid that was in a public tank in the bar and did not look healthy.

Back at Black Cloak headquarters, Captain Gooden tells them to prioritize this case. They get a tip to check out the Lagoon.

There, they find Dace and Yanha. Yanha seems to have taken a bite out of Dace (Maids are dangerous carnivores) and then died herself. Essex suspects poison. Nida, Phaedra's girlfriend, works in forensics and takes some samples. She comforts Phaedra over the situation with Freyal. She, like the captain, is concerned that the royals will push back on Phaedra since she was exiled after the end of her engagement to Freyal. Phaedra says the new post-war laws will protect her.

Pax and Phaedra theorize that Dace's body was dumped in the Lagoon to get rid of it, but that the person who dumped her didn't know she was poisoned or they would have known the body would be rejected by the Maids. This means two people may have been involved.

Pax and Phaedra interview the guard of the Lagoon and some kids who are hanging out at the fence. The guard doesn't know anything. The kids don't have any info either but they do have a lot of anti-Black Cloak attitude.

Phaedra goes to the palace to talk to the queen, Freyal's mother. Standing outside, she remembers when they were young. They played with her Taka, Mr. Starlight, and cut their initials into a tree with a Dracona dagger.

As her mind returns to the present, she is knocked unconscious from behind. She wakes up inside. She assumes her attacker was Hadrian, her brother, who never got over her breakup with Freyal. The queen offers her sympathy for the attack and asks what happened to Freyal. Phaedra says she doesn't know. She says she just wanted to be the first to tell the queen, even though it has been 20 years since she last saw her. The queen partially lays the blame for Freyal's death on Phaedra, saying that if they had been married this wouldn't have happened.

A palace healer, Valorie, comes in to help Phaedra's wound. They know each other from when they were kids. When Valorie says Phaedra should remove her shirt to deal with the injury, Phaedra anxiously wards her off and says they can keep it on. Valorie heals Phaedra with a spell.

On the way out, Essex sees her mother and Hadrian, who still live there. Hadrian calls her a traitor but her mother still looks like she cares.

When she finally gets to the exit she runs into Pax, who was so worried about how long she was inside that he had ordered a tank to break in. He cancels it. They walk away as Phaedra critiques the royals' insularity from the population's difficulties.

They get back to headquarters, shooing away more wraiths as they do. They find a crowd inside, all of whom say they are connected to the case, but most of whom are just attention seekers. Just as they are about to start interviewing them, someone runs out of the crowd with yet another Dracona dagger and stabs Essex, severely injuring her for the second time that day.