A Golden Age style noir, a reality show, and worldwide recognition… How far will it go?
FEB. 20, 2024, (PITTSBURGH, PA) — Bram Stoker Award finalist Rich Douek (Drive Like Hell, Sea of Sorrows) and Euro-flair artist Russell Mark Olson (Gateway City) have teamed up to bring a mysterious new graphic novel, A PHONE CALL AWAY, to Mad Cave Studios! Step into a Golden Age era comic, where a family’s tragic loss leads to financial gain through a reality show and worldwide recognition.
Fourteen years ago, Emma and Andrew Walker suffered a devastating loss when Mandy, their 6-year-old daughter, was kidnapped. Her unrecognizable body was found one week later. The case and resulting media coverage moved an entire nation to the point that everyone knew who the Walkers were. Everyone felt sympathetic…which indirectly propelled the Walker’s businesses and careers.
Years pass and the Walkers have both rebuilt their lives and prospered. As founders of The Mandy Walker Foundation, they’ve helped thousands of children around the world and have raised their new daughter, Meghan, in front of the world on a show called Second Chances. America is riveted by scenes of them coping with the loss of Mandy, but also finding new hope as Meghan grows.
Everything comes crashing down when Meghan disappears soon after her 6th birthday—on the very day Mandy disappeared 14 years ago. Emma and Andrew now have just one week to save their little girl from the tragedy that befell her sister.
“As a parent, there’s no greater horror to me than the thought of losing one of my children,” said Rich Douek. “No monster could compare, and with A Phone Call Away, I didn’t need to look for one, because the situation itself was so terrible to imagine. Truth be told, I’ve written a lot of horror stories—and they usually feature some creature from beyond the grave, or the ocean depths. But they’re also about the dark things lurking deep down in our own hearts—and Russell has managed to render those much more familiar creatures in a way that’s both satisfying, and terrifying. The drama he brings to the page amplifies every action, every emotion in the script, and I couldn’t have asked for a better collaborator on this dark journey.”
“I’ve followed Rich through his work and newsletter for some time now, and when I was offered the opportunity to work with him—well, the decision was duck soup,” said Russell Mark Olson. “A Phone Call Away is a rare thing in comics right now: a crime drama with no genre twist, just a great drama with a compelling mystery. It sits within the tradition of the Golden Age of Crime Comics but with a distinctly contemporary set-up. It’s a story that’s both of its time and prescient. I’ve done my best to use line and color to plunge the reader into darkness or to shine a light as our detectives get closer to the truth.”
A Phone Call Away is set to release August 13th.
About Author
