Humanoids continues the company’s 50th anniversary celebration with a Kickstarter campaign for Hard Bargain, a graphic novel from film and tv powerhouse Steven S. DeKnight and acclaimed artist Leno Carvalho. The dark supernatural thriller follows a hard-boiled P.I. in 1940s Los Angeles who finds himself fighting not only the usual cadre of criminals and ne’er-do-wells—but also demons, monsters, and other malevolent supernatural beings—as he races to solve a deadly mystery before a horrific fate descends upon everyone it touches.

Battling the forces of darkness is another day at the office for Frank Harding, P.I.—but his current case may just be the one that puts Frank out of business for good. As he investigates a case deeply connected to his own murky past—as well as L.A.’s all-too-real history of prejudice and discrimination—Harding is forced to reckon with the fact that the sins of one generation will always be paid for by the next… Combining the appeal of classic noir crime storytelling with a well-wrought fantasy world of monsters and magic, Hard Bargain pairs DeKnight’s crackerjack storytelling with Carvalho’s dynamic visuals to build a fast-paced, hard-boiled thriller that simultaneously reckons with the dark underbelly of bigotry, violence and revenge haunting gritty Los Angeles.

On why 1930s/40s Los Angeles is such a ripe setting for stories, DeKnight said:

Los Angeles in the 1930s and 1940s is synonymous with hardboiled detective fiction, thanks largely to Raymond Chandler’s short stories and novels centering on private eye Philip Marlowe. What makes it such a ripe, creative playground? That question has many answers. The dream factory of Hollywood was in full swing, right smack in the middle of what would become known as the Golden Age for movies. But beneath the glitz and glamour, the sun-kissed beaches and wide-eyed starlets, there was a nasty undercurrent of corruption, violence, and murder. This juxtaposition of light and dark – along with arguably the coolest fashion and slickest cars or any era – make this location and time period a perennial favorite.

—Steven DeKnight

The Kickstarter campaign runs through July 25th and will include both a deluxe edition and a slipcase edition.