An area of rural wilderness is taken over by an anti-government group that wants to secede from the U.S. — and then the chain of command inside the group begins to get complicated. It’s not the account of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation from the start of the year, however; it’s the story of Briggs Land, a new comic book series from Dark Horse Comics that is already in development as an AMC TV series.
Created by comic book writer Brian Wood, whose résumé includes the similarly political DMZ — which took place in New York City following a second American civil war — Briggs Land centers around the conflict inside a secessionist movement when resident matriarch Grace Briggs attempts to take control of the movement from her husband, sparking a civil war that the federal government plans to take advantage of.
In addition to writing the comic book series, Wood also is developing the television adaptation for AMC with producers John Hodges and Ravi Nandan at A24.
“AMC and I have been looking for the right thing to work on together for years, and it finally came in the form of Briggs Land,” the writer said in a statement. “It’s the culmination of everything I’ve done in my twenty years as a comics creator, bringing socially conscious and politically charged themes to the page, putting some of the more unsettling elements of American culture under scrutiny.”
Wood will act as executive producer on the project, in addition to writing the pilot.
Briggs Land No. 1, with art by Mack Chater and a cover by Tula Lotay, will be released digitally and in comic book stores Aug. 17.
