Royal City Volume 1: Next of Kin

In his most ambitious and most personal
project to date, JEFF LEMIRE spins the captivating and engaging story of a
family from the small factory town of ROYAL CITY and the ghosts that haunt them.


In a return to the literary and
thematic territory of Lemire's breakthrough graphic novel ESSEX COUNTY,
ROYAL CITY follows Patrick Pike, a fading literary star who reluctantly returns
to the once-thriving factory town where he grew up. Patrick is quickly drawn
back into the dramas of his two adult siblings, his overbearing Mother and his
brow beaten Father, all of whom are still haunted by different versions of his
youngest brother, Tommy, who drowned decades
ago.

As each member of the family
struggles to keep themselves above water, it quickly becomes clear that
Tommy's death isn't the only dark secret tearing the town, and this
family, apart at the seams. Can each member of the Pike family come to terms
with their own guilt over Tommy's death, and make peace with the many
versions of Tommy that still haunt them, or will they all be dragged down below
the river along with his lingering
ghost?

ROYAL CITY promises to be a
sprawling, serialized graphic novel that will chart the lives, loves and losses
of a troubled family and a vanishing town, across three decades.


Jeff Lemire is the creator of
DESCENDER (with DUSTIN NGUYEN), AD: AFTER DEATH (with SCOTT SNYDER), ROUGHNECK,
SECRET PATH (with Gord Downie), PLUTONA (with EMI LENNOX), ESSEX COUNTY, SWEET
TOOTH, TRILLIUM, and THE UNDERWATER WELDER. He had also written celebrated
stories featuring Green Arrow, Animal Man, Bloodshot, Wolverine, Hawkeye, Teen
Titans, the Valiant, the X-Men and Inhumans for the major comic book
publishers.

Collecting issues 1
through 5.