What does it mean to be a “local”?

Everyone has a place they call home, whether they grew up there or not. Each issue of LOCAL focuses on life in a different town in the US, while looking at the lives of normal people facing extraordinary situations and choices. Crossing genres as it crosses the country, LOCAL examines how where you live impacts who you are.

"For a while now I've been a little obsessed with the idea of locations and hometowns and what that means to people,” Wood explained. “I explored it a little in DEMO, but the more I thought about it, the more ideas I had, and I thought they deserved a series. I'm deliberately staying away from larger cities like New York and San Francisco, and instead choosing smaller places, college towns with cool 'local' scenes. We start off in Portland, OR and move to Minneapolis, and so on. I'll probably break my own rule and set one in Brooklyn, though, as I've just moved back here and love it so much."

Like Wood’s critically acclaimed DEMO, each issue of LOCAL stands alone, while tying in thematically with the other issues, and through a character named Megan McKeenan. Megan’s story begins in the first issue as she is faced with a life-changing decision. Her choice will change her future, and lead into the remainder of the series; in some issues she will appear as the focus, in others, simply a character in the background.

"The format I've created for these types of series is really important,” Wood continued. “LOCAL, being stand alone, single issue reading experiences, provides perfect accessibility for anyone to jump in at any point, and not feel like they're missing something. It also gives regular readers a great diversity of material, a surprise each month.

And I've decided to take this single issue format a step futher with LOCAL by creating a main character, one that will appear in each issue, and faithful readers will be rewarded with the overarching portrait of this character as she develops. But the single-issue structure will not be compromised in any way. This is just an added bonus for readers who pick up all 12 issues."

Wood is joined by artist Ryan Kelly, best known for his work on Vertigo’s LUCIFER. "I know Ryan's art from the graphic novel he did with Stuart Moore, GIANT ROBOT WARRIORS. He draws great people with great emotions; and after so many issues of inking LUCIFER under his belt, his professionalism and attention to detail is razor sharp," Wood added.

“I really can’t put into words how excited I am about LOCAL,” commented Oni Press editor in chief James Lucas Jones. “Brian is such a versatile storyteller; he’s able to move from horror to romance to action seamlessly, and Ryan’s able to adapt right along with him. They’ve both done their research to make these stories not only visually accurate, but emotionally resonant as well. Each town has its own vibe, and these guys capture that completely.”

"After a year of writing DEMO, I can look back and see what I did right and what I did wrong, and apply those lessons to LOCAL,” Wood concluded. “I'm really excited to work in this format again. One of the most rewarding aspects of writing these types of stories, ones that are designed to get deep under reader's skin and provoke an emotional response, is the feedback and letters we get. LOCAL, as it is being set in real life towns, is poised to connect with more people in an even more direct way, and that's important to me."

Each issue of LOCAL features 32 pages of black and white story and art, with a full color cover.