Sex, Violence, and Ballroom Dancing in BANG!TANGO

Crime noir graphic novel by Kelly and Sibar takes the stage in February

The horrors of Vinnie’s years in the New York mob are a distant memory. Now he has a new life as the best tango dancer San Francisco has ever seen… until Autumn blows into town. Autumn: the one who broke Vinnie’s heart. In BANG!TANGO, coming from Image Comics in February, Autumn pulls Vinnie into one last job — robbing The Jock, the mob boss who wants Vinnie dead, so that Autumn can pay for gender reassignment surgery that will make her the woman Vinnie always wanted.

Written by Joe Kelly (I KILL GIANTS, BAD DOG) with art by Adrian Sibar, BANG!TANGO is shocking, seductive, and visually explosive. Originally published by Vertigo in 2009, it is now being collected for the first time by Image with a near complete artistic face lift by co-creator Sibar.

“I'd never tried a crime book before, but knew that if I was going to go there, I was really going there,” said Kelly. “The characters in Bang!Tango aren't just broken, they're shattered. They are also complicated, sexually provocative, over-the-top and on occasion... even a bit redeemable. But this is a crime noir... no one really gets out clean, do they?”

Kelly describes BANG!TANGO as a deconstruction of crime story archetypes — the “Tough Guy” and “Femme Fatale” are altered in a way that redefines those roles. The result is a book that is violent, sexy, and perverse — while simultaneously an examination of violence, sex, and perversion.

“Bang!Tango is one of my more offbeat comic children, and I love every twisted bit of it,” Kelly added.

BANG!TANGO will be in comic book stores on February 11 and in book stores on February 24. It is available for pre-order now.

BANG!TANGO by Joe Kelly and Adrian Sibar

• ISBN 978-1-63215-250-3
• Diamond Comic order code DEC140652
• 128 pages, paperback, color
• $14.99
• Collects BANG!TANGO #1-6
• Rated Mature
• In comic book stores February 11, bookstores February 24
• Retailers, librarians, and reviewers may request a PDF galley from Jennifer de Guzman, Director of Trade Book Sales, jenniferdeguzman@imagecomics.com