My Next Comic Book Series—And A Special Offer For You!

Get ready for NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC. That title should tell you how hard we're going 

Edited by Sam Thielman

I CAN FINALLY talk about this, and I'm very excited to.

From practically the moment my run on IRON MAN ended, I've been developing my first creator-owned comic book series. It emerged from the despair and anger I and many others felt as ICE slouched toward its War on Terror-heralded destiny as a death squad. One day, while searching for some tranquility in a park, I wrote something in my notebook that was somewhere between a joke and an affirmation of socialist forbearance. 

When I saw no one escapes… written as a tagline—in the news biz, we call that an "eyebrow"—above The Dialectic, like there was a character called The Dialectic and you couldn't get away from him, it seemed to me like I had something. Like a potentially powerful way to express the despair and anger that characterizes the United States in 2026. And to make something out of it. 

More than a year and a few adjustments-of-concept later—it didn't work as the detective story I had originally intended, although some of that DNA survives—we have NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC. Look at that cover—beautifully, ominously rendered by co-owner and artist Antonio Fuso and brought to life by color artist Brad Simpson. Beneath a red-masked figure, an officer lies dead—an officer bearing the insignia of a winter-themed homeland-security agency. Gathered around the body, in uneasy partnership, is a weathered veteran of the agency and a young blackshirt, newly arrived and determined to remake Special Naturalization Operations, or SNO, in his image. 

NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC is an ongoing series determined to ruthlessly confront the world outside our window. Antonio and I co-created it—wait till you see this guy's character designs, his composition, and above all, his storytelling—while Brad colors it, Jodie Troutman letters it, and Sebastian Girner edits it with Maya Bollinger assisting. Boom! Studios is our intrepid indie publisher. We are betting that you want your art and your literature to confront reality, not escape from it. We intend to push the boundaries of political critique in comic books. If that sounds like you, welcome. And if you like basketball? Wow, this really is for you. 

If you're a paid subscriber to FOREVER WARS, then the first nine pages of the debut issue are already at the end of this email. By the time you get to the end of this opening scene, particularly when you see what the first five-issue arc is titled, you'll see just how hard we intend to go.

And if you're not a paid subscriber to FOREVER WARS, I'd like to offer you something. 

The first issue of NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC drops on November 4. Because of the peculiar way the comic-book industry works, I need you—lots of you—to tell the comic-book store of your choice that you want this series. You want them to order you issue #1, and each subsequent issue, by adding it to what's called your pull list (the books that you want) and that the comic book store will buy and reserve for you. (There's no consignment in comics retail, it's a huge problem, and not one we're going to resolve here. [I am actually writing a book that will explain, in part, why this is.—Sam]) You can do all that online with the tools offered by League of Comic Book Geeks, which will let you search upcoming titles, create a pull list of what you want, and connect that to whichever comic shop you like.

If you add NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC to your pull list and send me some evidence that you've done so—a photo of a receipt with identifying information duly redacted [Please do that part.—Sam], something like that, I'm not going to be the DMV about this—I will give you a year of FOREVER WARS at the paid tier. That's a $50 value. You renew after a year of NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC? So will I. Email proof of your DIALECTIC subscription to foreverdialectic@gmail.com! 

This all comes at a good time for this newsletter. On the FOREVER WARS side of this, we're going to be adding more offerings exclusively for our paid subscribers. First is going to be the return of Inside The Issue commentary editions each day a comic book of mine is released. I did this with IRON MAN and everyone seemed to enjoy it. NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC is going to be a controversial comic. It's going to prompt a lot of questions about what we meant by the various aspects of the book. We'll be addressing those at FOREVER WARS, in detail. Beyond that, I want to only say more when I know I can deliver what I'm promising—but it's exciting. 

But maybe you're not sold. Maybe you need absolute legends of the comic-book field to vouch for the book. 

Well, feast your eyes: 

"Spencer Ackerman has made his career refusing to look away. It runs through his journalism to his fiction, and NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC may well be its unflinching culmination, at least thus far. With Antonio Fuso’s art, Brad Simpson’s restrained colors, and especially the precision lettering of Jodie Troutman, the whole package hits like an iron plate — unforgiving, unyielding, and most-definitely leaves a mark. It differs in only one significant manner — this leaves you wanting more."

– Greg Rucka (The Old Guard, Lazarus)

“You can ignore reality, but reality has a way of biting back. Some subjects must be confronted, especially when fear silences many. Spencer Ackerman and Antonio Fuso’s NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC  is a brave, brutal, deep dive into blue battle lines drawn, blowback, ruses, and infiltration on the front lines of today’s street warfare.” 

-- Ann Nocenti (The Seeds) 

"NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC is a triumph; it's urgent, it's modern, it's insightful. It has a brilliant high concept - a vigilante called the Dialectic is going around killing militarized federal police -- while being much more than that. It has all the trappings of the espionage/cop genre, but it constantly upturns your expectations about who these characters are and what motivates them. It's the sort of book that could only come from someone who has spent their life studying this world, and these sorts of people. Also, it has probably the best title ever!"

– Deniz Camp (Absolute Martian Manhunter, Assorted Crisis Events, 20th Century Men) 

"NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC totally threw me for a loop! This is a book of the moment, one infused with righteous fury and a raw, ground-level thirst to fight back against the goliaths of the day--overwhelming forces of surveillance and greed. A great take on the fight as seen from the ground--a great notion as well, as we form our own systems to outmaneuver the systems of oppression. Blisteringly topical, and unflinching, with no punches pulled.”

– Steve Orlando (Midnighter, Outlaw Territory)

This series what I want my comic book work to be remembered for. If you liked what I did in WALLER VS. WILDSTORM or IRON MAN and wanted to see what I could do unrestrained by the demands of corporate IP, NO ONE ESCAPES THE DIALECTIC is where it's all been leading. And paid FOREVER WARS subscribers get to find out right now: