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Preview: Chip Zdarsky and Jason Loo steer into rideshare horror in Afterlift #1
Uber drivers beware! Afterlift is a new creator-owned horror series from Eisner Award-winning writer Chip Zdarsky (Sex Criminals, Daredevil) and artist Jason Loo (The Pitiful Human-Lizard) that'll have you second-guessing your side hustle — and SYFY WIRE is presenting a special expanded preview of the premiere issue, which drives onto the digital highway starting Oct. 30.
Rolling off of comiXology Originals' fresh line of indie comics targeting frightful tales this month comes this harrowing five-issue fable of a rideshare gone horribly wrong. Rounding out the talented creative team is Paris Alleyne on colors and lettering courtesy of Aditya Bidikar.
The topical plot revolves around rideshare driver Janice Chen, who has plenty to contend with in the form of irritating passengers and overbearing parents after quitting her finance job to make money on the road. But when she picks up a pair of strange customers who are being pursued by supernatural forces, Janice soon realizes that her terrible day just might be headed straight to hell. It's a four-wheeled odyssey into paranormal territory featuring chaotic car chases, demon bounty hunters, and the conflicted horrors of finding one's way.
“Afterlift has been a real labour of love," Zdarsky tells SYFY WIRE. "We set out to tell a story about a wild trip through the afterlife, but it’s turned into a breakneck story about grief and guilt and death, brought to life with Jason’s amazing art and Paris’ vivid color work! I hope everyone enjoys reading it as much as we enjoyed making it!”
Afterlift is delivered via comiXology Originals' lineup of exclusive digital content titles only available on comiXology and Kindle, and can be enjoyed as part of comiXology Unlimited, Kindle Unlimited, and Prime Reading.
"I only got comfortable drawing cars after a month of doodling them in my sketchbook to prepare for this series," Loo explains to SYFY WIRE. "Chip threw a lot of fun challenges at me besides Janice’s car zigzagging through traffic, like riding along the side of buildings, cars flipping over each other, and other exciting angles."
"The afterlife in our story is an amalgam of ideas and interpretations from different religions," Loo adds. "Designing the demons were a lot of fun. I wanted to move away from the conventional takes we’ve already seen in Christianity and make them more colorful and bizarre. I borrowed elements from Indonesian demon masks, like the ones that used to stare at me as a kid hanging all over my uncle and aunt’s house. I just like their crooked fangs, bugged-out eyes, and crazy hair."
Check out our exclusive peek at Afterlift #1 in the gallery below, including more character sketches and design work by Jason Loo, then chime in and tell us if you'll hit the gas and grab this new digital-only series when it drops Oct. 30.
