Ain't No Grave #5
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAin't No Grave #5 (of 5), released September 11, 2024, serves as the capstone of one of the most structurally ambitious creator-owned miniseries Image Comics published that year: each of the five issues was deliberately mapped onto one of the Kübler-Ross five stages of grief, with this finale representing 'acceptance.' The issue brings protagonist Revolver Ridge Ryder to her literal face-off with Death itself — the narrative destination the whole series was racing toward — and resolves her arc in a manner critics across multiple outlets described as tragic yet emotionally earned. As the concluding chapter of a complete five-issue story, it stands as strong evidence that the genre-blending Western/dark-fantasy miniseries format — with no decompression, no ongoing-series hedging — can deliver the same kind of resonant closure as a literary novel. It also cemented the Young–Corona collaboration as one of the most consistent writer-artist partnerships working in contemporary independent comics.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The series was announced by Image Comics on February 6, 2024, with the first issue launching May 8, 2024, and the finale arriving September 11, 2024. Writer Skottie Young — an Eisner Award winner — and artist Jorge Corona — an Eisner Award nominee and 2015 Russ Manning Award winner — had previously co-created Middlewest (Eisner-nominated) and The Me You Love in the Dark (Bram Stoker Award-nominated) together, making Ain't No Grave their third consecutive Image collaboration. Young described the story on Substack as tapping 'into that darker side of my imagination,' rooted in the emotional journey of a person transformed by love who must confront what it means to lose everything. The title itself is drawn from the Johnny Cash song of the same name, and the series was rounded out by Young's frequent collaborators: colorist Jean-François Beaulieu and letterer Nate Piekos. Issue #1 sold out at the distributor level almost immediately upon launch and was rushed into a second printing, with additional printings (including a black-and-white Jorge Corona variant) following.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Ain't No Grave #5 (of 5) is the finale of a five-issue miniseries published by Image Comics, released September 11, 2024.
- Written by Skottie Young (Eisner Award winner); art by Jorge Corona (Eisner Award nominee, 2015 Russ Manning Award winner); colors by Jean-François Beaulieu; letters by Nate Piekos.
- This is the third Image Comics collaboration between Young and Corona, following Middlewest (Eisner-nominated) and The Me You Love in the Dark (Bram Stoker Award-nominated).
- The entire five-issue series was structured around the Kübler-Ross five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance), with issue #5 representing the 'acceptance' stage.
- The finale depicts protagonist Revolver Ridge Ryder in a direct, climactic confrontation with Death — a personified, skeletal cowboy figure — for a gunfighter's wager over her remaining time alive.
- The series' title is taken from the Johnny Cash song 'Ain't No Grave,' a thematic choice that underscores the story's preoccupation with mortality, redemption, and the afterlife.
- Issue #1 of the series sold out at the distributor level upon launch and went to multiple printings (at least a 2nd printing and a 3rd-printing black-and-white Jorge Corona variant); #2 also received a 2nd printing.
- The complete series was collected in Ain't No Grave TP, Vol. 1, published December 4, 2024, collecting all five issues.
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