Exclusive: Visit Post-Apocalyptic Kentucky With ‘Warlords of Appalachia’ (It’s Slightly More Terrifying Than Regular Kentucky) [SDCC 2016]

If you're a fan of American dystopias, post-apocalyptic revenge thrillers, and unusual names, then today has brought a piece of news that's going to make you very happy. As part of the run-up to Comic-Con International in San Diego, Boom Studios has announced Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Jonas Scharf's upcoming Warlords of Appalacha.

Set in the not-too-distant future after a second American Civil War, when the Commonwealth of Kentucky has refused to repatriate to the country, the story follows National Guardsman, mechanic and former MMA fighter Kade Mercer as he sets out to rescue his captured son. Check out preview pages and character designs from Scharf below, exclusive to ComicsAlliance!

Johnson may already be familiar to readers as the writer of Boom's Last Sons of America, or possibly from his other job as a trumpeter in the US Army Field Band, but Scharf is a newcomer tasked with bringing the backwoods Braveheart-meets-Hunger Games reality of 2041 to the page. The story will see an America divided and crushed under the heel of floppy-haired blowhard President Oren Roth (seen above) and the rise of Kade Mercer as a "feudal lord" of Kentucky.

Here's the official solicitation:

Warlords of Appalachia #1 (of 4)

Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Artist: Jonas Scharf
Cover artists:
Main Cover A: Massimo Carnevale
Main Cover B: Robert Sammelin
Incentive Cover: Tyler Crook

Format: 32 pages, full color
Price: $3.99
On sale: October 12, 2016

Synopsis:

• Southern Bastards meets Dune in mid-21st century America.

• After the New Confederacy is crushed in a second Civil War, only Kentucky holds out, not recognizing U.S. sovereignty.

• This leads to a particularly brutal crackdown in a small mountain town called Red Rock, where a mechanic and reluctant folk hero named Kade Mercer rises up to become the first feudal warlord of Appalachia.

• Features 28 pages of story content.