Weird “Haunted Science-Fiction” ongoing comic book series celebrates the end of its beginning by entering the doomed domain of retail pamphlet comics.

Dead Man Holiday, a well-received “Haunted Science-Fiction” ongoing comic book series self published by Colin Panetta, will release its third issue on December 30th, 2009. The series’ plot centers around Thad Planck, a low-rent security guard in a flooded and abandoned neighborhood known as Little Atlantis, where there have been some strange things growing and walking around as of late. The first two issues of Dead Man Holiday can be downloaded for free at the comic book’s website, DeadManHoliday.com. The fittingly aloof blurb for the new issue reads: “Little Atlantis is getting weird. So when a straw (in the form of a falcon carrying a dismembered hand) breaks the camel’s (our man Thad Planck’s, that is) back, the camel decides to strike back and show the weirdness who’s in charge. But not before making a sandwich. Can Thad keep Little Atlantis in check? Not without a little help from his friends. Or maybe just not at all.”

The release date of the issue is December 30th, 2009 which is Diamond Comic Distributor’s “No Ship Day”. This will be Dead Man Holiday’s premier into retail comic book stores, previous issues having only been available in print directly from the creator and as free PDF downloads on DeadManHoliday.com.

The PDF of the new issue of Dead Man Holiday will be available for free download on January 30th, 2010. The issue is finding its way into retail stores through a partnership with Indy Comic Book Week, a group of comic book creators who intend to fill retail stores’ otherwise empty shelves with their own independently produced material in lieu of Diamond’s usual Wednesday delivery. Dead Man Holiday will be available in several states and at landmark comic book stores Midtown Comics, Jim Hanley’s Universe and Lone Star Comics. A complete list of retail locations carrying Dead Man Holiday is available on the comic’s blog.

This issue of Dead Man Holiday features 35 pages of hand painted, black and white story and guest art from underground genius Ted Seko and independent comic book community leader Javier Hernandez (available only in the print version). Although this is the third issue of Dead Man Holiday, it’s numbered “negative one” (the first two issues were negative three and negative two, respectively). This is the last issue of Dead Man Holiday before it crosses into positive numbers and starts its series proper (issue #0 will be a collection of the negative issues). Series creator Colin Panetta started in the negative numbers to give himself a head start on the all important issue number one.

Previous issues have received positive reviews from The Comics Reporter, Ain’t It Cool News and Kleefeld on Comics.

“This comic is going to be a difficult for me to review, as I only have the slightest idea what’s going on it. And I think that’s the intention.” -Andrea Speed, comiXtreme

“Dead Man Holiday is a surreal sojourn through a bleak world of wild science and spooky creatures. Akin to watching Scooby-Doo on acid…” -Steven Surman, ComicNews.Info

The three negatively numbered issues of Dead Man Holiday will be collected into graphic novel format, and serialized into webcomic form in the first half of 2010. Dead Man Holiday #1 will be released late that same year.

For more information visit DeadManHoliday.com or IndyComicBookWeek.com.

Tags | dark-scifi, horror comics