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NYCC EXCLUSIVE COVER

WritteN bY Chris MISkIEwICzArt bY PAlle SChMIdt

THOMAS ALSOP No. 1 (of 8), June 2014. Published by BOOM! Studios, a division of Boom Entertainment, Inc., 5670 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 450, Los Angeles, CA 90036-5679. Thomas Alsop is ™ & © 2014 Boom Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. BOOM! Studios™ and the BOOM! Studios logo are trademarks of Boom Entertainment, Inc., registered in various countries and categories. All characters, events, and institutions depicted herein are fictional. Any similarity between any of the names, characters, persons, events, and/or institutions in this publication to actual names, characters, and persons, whether living or dead, events, and/or institutions is unintended and purely coincidental. BOOM! Studios does not read or accept unsolicited submissions of ideas, stories, or artwork.

DesigNer sCott NEwMaN AssistANt eDitor JAsmiNe aMIRI eDitor iAN BRILLsPeCiAl thANks to ChiP MOShER, mAtt GaGNON, DAfNA PLEBaN, AND PAul BOSChE

CreAteD bY Chris MISkIEwICz AND PAlle SChMIdt

letteriNg bY DeroN BENNEttCover bY PAlle SChMIdt

vAriANt Cover bY DeAN haSPIEL Color bY AlleN PaSqUELLa

NeW York ComiC CoN exClusive Cover bY Peter SNEjBjERG

I also have a thing for cemeteries, abandoned buildings, industrial waterways, and places from generations past that are still hanging on in crumbling defiance against the lackluster glass and steel towers of the modern age. As a teenager it was common to find me wandering along the decrepit shores of Brooklyn’s broken bottle coastline and the collapsing piers of the East River. I’d climb fences, trespassing, just so I could get to a new section of the shore to sit alone and stare at the towers of Manhattan. But this aspect of my personality isn’t limited to NYC. I do a similar walk in every place I visit. London. Italy. Germany. Spain. And recently in Copenhagen while visiting Palle, I found myself lost in the abandoned army base of Christiania, home to over 500 squatters. I wandered alone at night through its dark corners jotting down the words in my head, while trying to find something from a time before. But somehow no matter what city it is, I always have a way of finding a cemetery. The initial idea for Thomas Alsop came to me a few years ago while I was on one of my cemetery walks. I was watching my friend’s dog, Jake, this fantastic Russian Wolf Hound whose company I often miss. My local park had been invaded

by a group of hipster kids who set up a game of croquet in the main field. So I thought about where I could go to have some time alone with the dog and let him off the leash.

I ended up going to Calvary Cemetery located in Blissville, Queens just a mile away from where I live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I figured it was as close to a park as we were going to get. Calvary is one of the oldest cemeteries in the United States covering 365 acres, as well as being the final resting place to over three million souls. It’s massive, located on a hilltop that overlooks Greenpoint, the East River, and Manhattan. I know it well from breaking in at night during my high school years with various groups of friends. Our goal was simple. Try to get to the Johnston Mausoleum at its center without being spotted by the groundskeeper. Mind you, the groundskeeper knew this was happening and would wait in his truck on the darkened paths, then turn his lights on gunning it towards us with the screeching of tires. This would be followed by the “cha-chunk” sound of an air rifle and a “whoosh” of rock salt fired in our direction. It was terrifyingly good fun, and somehow none of us ever got caught. On this particular day I walked Jake along the perimeter of the cemetery through an area

thomAs AlsoP

StRaNGE CItIzENS BLOGCHAPTER ONE: WHO IS THOMAS ALSOP?

I love New York...

that’s famous for the amount of mobsters buried there, when we came upon a smaller gated family cemetery that I had never seen. Each of the remaining headstones dated back to the 1700s. They were in disrepair, as you would expect, but sunken into the ground in front of where Jake had decided to sit was one that caught my eye. I moved the dead grass away to read the name. Richard Alsop – One Month Old. 1701. Stunned by the date, I tried to imagine what the surrounding land must have looked like. It was amazing to me that something so old could be situated where we were.

Jake and I moved on, and later that day he uncovered a litter of kittens born under a headstone. We stayed with them for an hour. The tiniest one came out to get licked from head to toe by the dog. The next day I returned to find that the mother had bugged out with the litter leaving the one Jake licked behind. Without a choice, I took her home and named her Ghost Cat, who is much older now and sleeping on the desk beside my computer while I write this. Weeks passed and I couldn’t get the name Richard Alsop out of my mind. So, I began my research. The Alsop Farm and family cemetery were purchased in 1845 with an adjoining 115 acres. I researched how Newtown Creek was once wild with game, Indians, and

wolves. I kept researching the area, and once again I found myself walking along forgotten shorelines looking for traces of what had been. Only this time, every bit of it felt like magic, and there in the back of my mind stood this Dutch figure from the past staring back prodding me to tell a story. I tried to throw Richard in something else I had pitched with Dean Haspiel that didn’t go anywhere. But, it laid enough groundwork for me to build a tale of a noble cursed family who protected New York. And although I’ve lived my life here, that’s when my real research began. I delved deeply into the history of NYC, its waterways, and hidden corners. Of any gem I could find. I became drunk with its past. And then one day it happened. A bus drove by in midtown advertising a reality ghost hunter show, and everything clicked. I went home and wrote the first line of the comic book you’re now reading. “What is Thomas Alsop? Who is Thomas Alsop?” And so, Strange Citizens, I hope you come along with Palle and I to find out exactly who he is.

Chris MISkIEwICz