DF Interview: Chris Condon relates a family’s horrific 1846 journey west in ‘The Goddamn Tragedy’ one-shot

By Byron Brewer

Ellen Janson is here to set the record straight about the highly publicized, oft-sensationalized journey her family undertook in 1846.

Ellen sets out with her mother, Irena, and her father, Leo, on the treacherous road west in search of a better life. But when her father chooses to split off from the party, taking an untested shortcut through the mountains, can their small family survive the elements, the wildlife—and each other? Or will their journey become nothing more than another goddamn tragedy?

From Oni Press comes a vicious and vengeful account of one of the Old West’s darkest episodes from those that lived to tell it from writer Chris Condon (Ultimate Wolverine,That Texas Blood) and artist Shawn Kuruneru (Fishflies). It was my pleasure to sit down with scribe Chris Condon and discuss this coming one-shot.

Byron Brewer: Chris, how did the story bug bite you (so to speak) to bring us a gritty tale of survivalist terror by way of reflection on the well-known Donner Party of 1846?

Chris Condon: The title came first, I'll admit. I've always been fascinated by the story of the Donner Party, so the interest has always been there in some shape or form. I was reading a book about the Donner Party – The Indifferent Stars Above – and it really dawned on me how hellish that experience must have been, based on the book's in-depth exploration of the horrors those people went through. But then the thought occurred to me: What if you were an unwilling participant? What if your party was minimal and one of those few members lost a hold of their sanity? Stephen King's The Shining obviously sprang to mind and that was really the origin of the whole thing. What if you mashed those two things together to tell a story of survival against insanity itself in an insane, inhospitable environment? Well, you get The Goddamn Tragedy.

Byron: Can you give readers a bit of a feel for the world being built by artist Shawn Kuruneru and yourself for this thriller? I know of course of your great affinity for the Old West, which is where this tale takes place.

Chris Condon: We didn't have to build a world so much as unbuild it. We had to take the western United States and strip 150 years of expansion and deforestation from it. We wanted to have this world live in a beautiful, natural world where the poison of man is the harshest obstacle.

Byron: Introduce us please to Ellen Janson. As your POV character, could you describe her and tell us about who she was, who she is, etc.? Non-spoilery, of course.

Chris Condon: Ellen is a young girl, an only child, who is forced to follow along with her parents on this trip across the United States to California. She's bitter about her mother's obedience and distrusts her father who has, in the past, made some rather dubious choices.

Byron: What other characters loom large in the one-shot? Ellen’s parents, Irena and Leo, for example. Could you spotlight the Jansons and a few others here?

Chris Condon: Irena and Leo are Ellen's parents and they are an interesting pairing. Irena loves Leo and is very forgiving of his foibles – to her own detriment. Leo, on the other hand, is a self-destructive man who is blinded by his own will and finds it difficult to admit when he has wandered onto the wrong path.

Byron: Talk about your collaboration with Shawn Kuruneru and what he brings to this most unusual western saga.

Chris Condon: Shawn is terrific. I'd seen his work on Instagram some years ago and immediately became a fan. When I was fortunate enough to meet him at TCAF, we hit it off and I bought some of his self-published works like Cave Grave and Poor Moon. In those books in particular, he had a spectacular handle on the Old West with an added noirish, Mignola-esque flair. When Oni Press expressed interest in this story, my first and only choice for art was Shawn. I'm excited for folks to discover his work!

Byron: Chris, what other projects do you have coming that you can tell readers about, inside or outside comics?

Chris Condon: I have a few: Green Arrow, Ultimate Wolverine, Far Down Below, and... Well, I can't give all the titles away just yet but I'm very excited about every single thing I'm working on. As a fan of the medium, I can tell you that 2025 will be an exciting year for comics, whether they have my name on them or not.

Dynamic Forces would like to thank Chris Condon for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. The Goddamn Tragedy one-shot from Oni Press is slated to be on sale in May 28!

2. 04/29/2025 - DAVID PEPOSE

3. 04/22/2025 - CURT PIRES

4. 04/15/2025 - MILES GUNTER

5. 04/09/2025 - SIMON SPURRIER

Show All