Dynamite Entertainment has announced that critically acclaimed author David F. Walker will continue the legacy of Ernest Tidyman’s iconic private detective John Shaft in an all-new comic book series, Shaft: Imitation of Life, illustrated by Dietrich Smith. The first issue will debut in February 2016 alongside Shaft’s Revenge, the first Shaft prose novel in 40 years (also written by Walker), coinciding with the nationwide celebration of Black History Month.

Imitation of Life takes place following the events of Walker’s 2015 comic book miniseries, Shaft: A Complicated Man – a six-part storyline that won a 2015 Glyph Comics Award and was nominated for the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity. After a high-profile case puts him in the headlines, private detective John Shaft searches for something low-profile to keep him out of the spotlight and out of danger… and takes a missing person case that proves to be more difficult than he thought. At the same time, he is hired to be a consultant on a low budget film that may or may not be based on his life, and proves to be as dangerous as any job he’s ever had. But when there’s danger about, John Shaft won’t cop out – even if it means squaring off against sadistic gangsters that want him dead.

The premise of Shaft’s Revenge: When the Godfather of crime in Harlem reaches out to Shaft for a favor, the hardboiled detective finds himself caught in a web of violence and murder. No one is safe as the bullets start to fly and the bodies start to drop, leaving Shaft with only two options: kill or be killed. It’s a two-fisted tale of retribution as Shaft cuts a bloody path through city, settling old scores and faces the demons of his past.