At San Diego Comic-Con, Darby Pop Publishing announced plans for a brand new series, their fifth, to launch in October. Dead Squad is written by Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia, and will be distributed by IDW Publishing. While the duo of Federman and Scaia is relatively new to comics, their work is well-known to genre fans as they have written and produced for a number of “cult” television series including Jericho, Warehouse 13, and DC’s Human Target. Additionally, the pair is responsible for two high-profile features in development, Y: The Last Man (with New Line) and Ghost Recon (with Michael Bay/Ubisoft/Warner Brothers).

Dead Squad spins the tale of three U.S. military operatives who discover that their commanding officer has gone rogue, meaning that they are now considered traitors as well. Unfortunately, this realization comes only moments before their years of service are rewarded with a swarm of snipers’ bullets. Since the trio’s early deaths would make for a very truncated series, however, each is granted a reprieve thanks to advanced nanotech and a government intent on interrogating them mercilessly.  But the stay of execution is a limited one, as the Dead Squad learns that the “biotic” serum reanimating them is only a “beta” version with a 30 hour life span. Living on borrowed time, the Dead Squad must track down their betrayer and retrieve the one thing that can keep them alive — knowing all the while that a very different “after-life” awaits each of them.

The “Dead Squad” creative cadre is rounded out by the art team of Kirk Van Wormer, Michael Montenat, and Doug Sirois. And their artwork will be brought to life by colorist Sirois, who’s contributing to his third Darby Pop Publishing title.

Cover duties for the debut issue are being handled by Top Cow alum Steve Firchow, with the legendary Howard Chaykin contributing both a subscription cover and a convention-exclusive sketch variant.