Snake Plissken is headed back into print this fall: Mad Cave Studios will publish Escape From New York: Escape From Chicago, a new comic series that continues the story from John Carpenter’s 1981 film and lands on shelves on September 23, 2026. The move revives one of genre cinema’s most durable antiheroes for readers who follow movie tie-ins and serialized comics alike.
The miniseries pairs writer Kyle Higgins with artist Val Rodrigues, positioning the comic as a direct narrative follow-up to the original film rather than a loose adaptation. Mad Cave is billing the first issue as the launch of a fresh storyline that expands the ruined-city mythology fans remember from Carpenter’s Manhattan.
In the opening setup, Snake survives as a hardened smuggler—operating as a “coyote” who ferries people and illegal goods across the lawless strips that separate warring prison territories, including a devastated Chicago. He accepts a job to extract a woman hunted by a powerful local warlord, a mission that promises either personal redemption or a final, violent reckoning.
Why this matters now: the book brings a classic cinematic world into the current comics landscape, where creators are balancing nostalgia with new storytelling. For readers, the series offers a chance to see how an iconic 1980s property is translated back into serialized fiction and how contemporary writers and artists reinterpret its tone and stakes.
- Issue on sale: September 23, 2026 (Mad Cave Studios)
- Creative team: writer Kyle Higgins, artist Val Rodrigues
- Number of covers for #1: eight variants, including contributions from Stephen Mooney, Danica Brine, Dan Panosian, and Christian Ward
- Incentive and specialty variants: 1:10 virgin cover by Stephen Mooney; 1:20 incentive by Nick Bradshaw & Jim Charalampidis; plus a foil variant and a blank sketch cover
Higgins frames the assignment as a return to the kind of lean, genre-driven storytelling that originally inspired him, saying the project allows him to play in the world that shaped his understanding of the form. Rodrigues describes the job as both an honor and a challenge, promising to capture the kinetic, somewhat absurd energy of 1980s action films while adapting that energy to sequential art.
For collectors, the multiple variant covers and incentive ratios will be notable; for readers, the creative team’s approach—keeping the bleak, survivalist tone of Carpenter’s vision while introducing new geography and antagonists—will determine whether the series feels like a faithful continuation or a modern reimagining.
Expect the first issue to be available at comic shops and through Mad Cave’s distribution on September 23, 2026. Fans of the original film and readers who follow contemporary adaptations should watch for previews and reviews in the weeks leading up to the launch.
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Hello, I’m Jax. I guide you through the latest comics releases and enrich your geek universe.