If you grew up watching Sesame Street, there’s no doubt that you know the iconic characters like Ernie, Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch, but a new comic series from Dark Horse is about to turn your childhood memories of those characters upside down.
The satirical series, called Survival Street, focuses on a much darker version of Sesame Street where rich billionaires took over the United States, allowing law and order to crumble while crime and poverty take hold. A group of Sesame-Street-esque puppets band together to form an elite team of badass mercenaries whose main goal is to educate the forgotten children.
In the Dark Horse blog, the new series is described as “A candy coating of pop culture madness, humor, and cartoonishly absurd hyper-violence.”
“Survival Street originated as our personal pandemic passion project,” explained James Asmus, who, along with fellow Rick and Morty writer Jim Festante, created the Survival Street world. “But once Jim and I connected with (illustrator) Abylay (Kussainov) he brought it thundering to life as the ultimate world and story to process so much of our anxieties, frustration, future shock, and gallows humor.”
“And as a huge fan of Dark Horse’s original series since the early days of Hellboy, Sin City, Madman, and The Mask – I’m thrilled and grateful they’ve been so supportive of this wild and surprisingly personal series,” Asmus continued.
It’s important to note that Survival Street is not an official product of Sesame Street, nor does it specifically mention the beloved children’s show by name, but the implications are certainly there. In true Dark Horse fashion, Survival Street contains a more mature subject matter, so it’s recommended for ages 14 and up.
Along with writers Asmus and Festante, and illustrator Kussainov, the series will also be colored by The Black Ghost’s Ellie Wright and lettered by No One Left To Fight’s Taylor Esposito.
The first issue of the four-issue series is currently available for pre-order and will release on August 3, 2022.
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