Frank Miller brought the crime comic back to the forefront of the medium with his comics noir epic Sin City. David Lapham continued the tradition with his acclaimed series Stray Bullets. Now Eisner Award-winning comics author/illustrator Paul Pope joins that elite group with his tale of inner-city crime, The One-Trick Rip-Off.

"Paul Pope is also one of a handful of American artists who illustrates comics for the Japanese market," said editor Lynn Adair. "He's got a huge fan base - and for good reason!"

Paul Pope's The One-Trick Rip-Off is a gritty urban-crime drama of love and survival in the middle of Los Angeles' gang territory. North of downtown it's the Paid-in-Spades. There's also the East-Side Firegirls and Thee Suertes, and past El Pueblo, on the West Side, it's the One-Tricks. That's what Tubby is, a One-Trick, but he's hungry to be someone else, someone outside of Los Angeles. He and his girl Vim have a plan to finance their escape from L.A. with a quarter of a million dollars of the One-Tricks' money. If their scheme goes as planned, they're set for life. If it fails, their lives aren't worth one red cent.

"Like Sin City and Stray Bullets, The One-Trick Rip-Off is a tour de force of storytelling that will keep your eyes glued until the very last page," promised Dark Horse Publisher Mike Richardson.

The One-Trick Rip-Off trade-paperback is a 120-page adrenaline rush that grabs you by the synapses and won't let go until the ride has come to a complete stop! It ships May 9, at a retail price of $12.95.