Exclusive! FEATURING BRAND NEW RUFUS DAYGLO ALAN MOORE JUDGE STEVE DILLON HENRY FLINT DOM REARDON STORY CHRIS WESTON

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FC (FREE COMIC COVER) 2012.indd 1 08/02/2012 15:39 His name is Ichabod and he was a killer. That Later on, of course, he much cannot be denied. would be known as Ichabod Azrael. An unusual moniker.

Some say that was his birth name. Others say that history passed that mantle upon him on account of his actions and the legend that grew thereof.

These things should not concern you, however. Part One

script All that matters at this juncture is that his name was Ichabod... rob Williams art Dom reardon ... and he was a killer. letters ellie De Ville

I wish I could tell you that Ichabod’s father was taken to drink or discipline by belt and fist. That life immediately treated the boy as it would a loathed enemy.

But, the way I heard it, his upbringing was a hard but normal one for the age.

I guess some people are just born mean.

The next dawn Ichabod Stories vary over when Ichabod owned twenty new horses... first drew the blood of another. ... or so the song went. I even heard a song one night by a campfire that told how his ‘babtism’ saw him facing down twenty rifle-packing men on horse- back armed with only one pistol.

P.08-13 (ICHABOD AZRAEL 1).indd 8 08/02/2012 15:50 He ran with a notorious group of bushwhackers in the virgin days of the War Between the States.

A great deal of mayhem and mis- hap occurred at their hands. Many pro-Union men visited kingdom.

Many brave men of the South did similar. Eventually, Ichabod chose to set out alone. His Missouri companions, unnerved by the severity of his continued presence, did not argue with his choice.

In a landscape of chaos, the clarity of a cause can often become obscured.

Some just seized the opportunity to kill with impunity.

God-fearing families gathered their These were dangerous possessions and fled the region so they They were days of heavy dark- days to be abroad. might find some semblance of safety. ness. Loss was a kinsman to all.

Many souls were lost.

P.08-13 (ICHABOD AZRAEL 1).indd 9 08/02/2012 15:50 Ichabod’s notoriety grew. And that is not a good thing for an outlaw.

Eventually, the city of Corinth held one funeral too many at his hands, the loss of an idealistic new lawman being the final capacious wound.

And so Bloody Bill Sterling and his boys were hired.

Killed more men than marriage, so Bloody Bill’s legend went.

His was an unerring aim, almost super- natural in nature and available for hire to any cause, regardless of its moral merit.

A reckoning was coming for Ichabod.

Yet the ghost of luck rode with him One man I spoke to claimed he a while longer, for it was then that knew the real truth of Ichabod’s Of course this was nonsense. he disappeared. No word was heard invisibility – that he had a secret of him for a full four months. love who would take him in for long periods and offer him solace. Some posited that he was killed. Finally defeated in a knife fight by That she, a rare natural beauty a monstrous strong Injun, I heard. of angelic grace, was the only thing on this Earth that could tame his clawing rage and give him something akin to peace.

Others said that the devil himself took him in that winter to finalise the minutiae of a previously agreed legal contract.

P.08-13 (ICHABOD AZRAEL 1).indd 10 08/02/2012 15:50 AL EWING HENRY FLINT SIMON BOWLAND

THE DAY THE PART ZOMBO DIED ONE

P.15-19 (ZOMBO III 1).indd 15 08/02/2012 15:51 P.15-19 (ZOMBO III 1).indd 16 08/02/2012 15:51 P.15-19 (ZOMBO III 1).indd 17 08/02/2012 15:51 P.21-26 (RO-BUSTERS).indd 21 08/02/2012 15:53 P.21-26 (RO-BUSTERS).indd 22 08/02/2012 15:53 P.21-26 (RO-BUSTERS).indd 23 08/02/2012 15:53 SCRISCRIPPT

COLOURS COLOURS

CHRIS WESTON ELLIE DE VILLE

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE EMERGENCY! THIS LOOKS LIKE A GREEN PEDESTRIAN PALM? JOB FOR... SCRISCRIPPT

COLOURS WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING, YOU COLOURS DUMBOS?

YEAH, UH... REMEMBER THE ... BECAUSE WHEN YOU SOD OFF, WORDS OF THE GREEN \ WON’T BE WEIRDO! THERE TO KEEP GET TO THE PEDESTRIAN YOU FROM KERB, ALWAYS PALM... HARM... STOP, STOP, STOP... !

AW, PISS OFF, YOU PERV!

‘KIDS TODAY...’

P.27-31 (GREEN PALM).indd 27 08/02/2012 15:55 ... THEY’VE YOU’RE LUCKY THING IS, PALM, THESE ‘KILL YOUR SPEED, JUST GOT NO THEY DIDN’T DAYS THEY’VE TAKEN ALL NOT A KID’, AND RESPECT. REPORT YOU THE RESPONSIBILITY OFF ALL THAT. BUT WHERE TO THE THE CHILDREN, AND PUT DOES THAT LEAVE POLICE. IT ONTO THE US... ? DRIVERS...

YOU’RE MY AGENT, FRANK, YOU TELL ME.

AM \ OUT OF A JOB?

HEY, COME ON. YOU’VE STILL GOT HAVE YOU NEVER THOUGHT LIKE FIGHTING WELL, \ HAPPEN YOUR BIG SHINY HAND, AND YOUR OF DOING SOMETHING, SOME REAL CRIME, TO THINK ROAD TRANSPORTER DEVICE... NOT TO YOU KNOW, ACTUALLY OR SOME- SAFETY IS PRETTY MENTION SOME OF THE MOST USEFUL WITH YOUR THING? DAMNED POWERFUL SURVEILLANCE POWERS... ? IMPORTANT! EQUIPMENT OUTSIDE OF THE HOME OFFICE... YOU’VE GOT BUT \ A LOT GOING KNOW WHAT FOR YOU. YOU’RE GETTING AT...

‘\’LL GIVE IT A SHOT.’ THERE’S THE MOTOR! MOVE IT!

P.27-31 (GREEN PALM).indd 28 08/02/2012 15:55 WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THAT? WHEN YOU GET TO THE KERB...

... ALWAYS STOP, STOP, STOP!

WE’LL TAKE IT FROM HERE, PALM.

THEY MIGHT STILL BE DANGEROUS... AND SHOULDN’T WE DO THIS FOR YOU BE GIVING A A LIVING. SCHOOL TALK OR SOMETHING, GREEN OPTIMUM! PALM? HAWKBLADE! IT’S OKAY, GUYS, \ WA NT TO HELP!

NO OFFENCE, PALM, BUT \’M NOT SURE IF YOU’RE QUALIFIED FOR THIS!

YEAH, LEAVE IT TO THE EXPERTS, ‘SELL-OUT’.

THEY SNUBBED ME, FRANK! LIKE \ WAS SOME RANK AMATEUR!

OKAY, CALM DOWN.

WE JUST NEED TO ADAPT OUR STRATEGY A LITTLE, THAT’S ALL. WE NEED TO THINK BIGGER.

P.27-31 (GREEN PALM).indd 29 08/02/2012 15:55