Combat magician and rogue SAS operative William Gravel returns to his roots with Strange Killings: The Body Orchard, a new tale of magic and madness from Warren Ellis and Mike Wolfer.  The self-contained six issue saga begins in July from Avatar Press.

"Body Orchard is the big movie version of Strange Killings, dealing with combat magician William Gravel's shadowy past even as it surges into the present to bite him on the dangly bits," says creator Warren Ellis.

"There's something terribly wrong with Warren Ellis," notes fellow creator Garth Ennis.  Fortunately, Avatar is giving him a chance to discuss his problems in depth.  Good therapy for him, bloody entertaining for us. And there's dirty bits."

The strangeness and depravity have their roots in Gravel's origins in this self-contained saga. Before his disgrace and removal to solo deniable duties, Sergeant Major William Gravel was part of SAS team Alpha One Four.  He hasn't seen his teammates since his fall.  He knows only that they're still in the job, doing the things he used to do.  Which doesn't remotely explain why, while he's moonlighting in New York, the Alpha One Four team should be seen blowing away a newly-elected mayor -- a military man himself - and then vanishing into thin air...  This series digs deep into William Gravel's magic past and begs an answer to one of the greatest combat magician secrets, what is the Body Orchard?

"Adapting my treatment, Mike Wolfer gives us, in cinematic style, William Gravel trapped in a place where he has no friends, no future and no hope: America," adds Ellis.

"Warren Ellis is going to tell us things that we won't want to hear," says frequent Ellis collaborator Mike Wolfer.  "He told us of hideous lizards living within human hosts. He then ushered us into the autopsy of one of them. He told us of surgically altered Hollywood whores with grotesque, non-human orifices. Then he rolled the videotape. He told us of a prison composed of pulsating human organs. Then he walked us through its darkened halls. Warren has told us that the United States has always been a mere experiment; a societal lab rat of the British government. He has told us of combat magicians... And has hinted at The Body Orchard. Prepare to be shocked once again."

Warren Ellis' Strange Killings: The Body Orchard begins in July 2002 with art plus regular and wraparound covers by Mike Wolfer. The saga will be a six issue mini-series for mature readers.  For more information, email info@avatarpress.net or see our web site at www.avatarpress.com.