“There are going to be some fresh elements in it, but there are also certainly some echoes to ‘The Wire’ and even ‘The Sopranos’ and ‘American Gangster.’ Not to say that it is all rolled together into one but it is certainly a classic tale, at least in this stage (laughs), of the rise of a homegrown gangster… There is a little international flavor in the book as well, but I don’t want to give that away. But that will be there, too…

“It is set up as a four-issue arc and at the conclusion there will certainly be a satisfying resolution to the initial story… But the way it ends there are some things that will be left dangling. Hopefully, people will want to see more how that plays out and we will have another series after the first one but obviously, we will have to see what the reaction is and what the sales figures are.”

Gary Phillips