IN THE SHADOW OF STALIN: THE STORY OF MR. JONES
From Journalist and Screenwriter Andrea Chalupa and Artist Ivan Rodriguez
Tells The Gripping Story of Real-Life Hero Gareth Jones
A Tension-Filled Historical Fiction Thriller
Set in the Interwar Years of 1930s Soviet Ukraine
Oni Press, the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award–winning publisher of bestselling comic books and graphic novels for all ages, is proud to announce the powerful new historical graphic novel In the Shadow of Stalin: The Story of Mr. Jones from journalist and screenwriter Andrea Chalupa (host of the hit podcast Gaslist Nation and writer of Orwell and the Refugees: The Untold Story of Animal Farm) and artist Ivan Rodriguez. The tension-filled historical thriller reexamines the bravery and tragedy that first thrust Ukraine into the international spotlight in the years before World War II through the real-life hero journalist Gareth Jones.
In the early 1930s, Gareth Jones is a young journalist with powerful connections after a groundbreaking interview with Adolf Hitler and his chief propagandist, Joseph Goebbels. This notoriety gains him permission to travel to the Soviet Union for a potential interview with Joseph Stalin. Jones hopes to learn more about the Soviets’ mass economic gains but finds himself stonewalled and trapped in Moscow. While looking for a way out, he meets new allies that alert him to the growing man-made famine, or Holodomor, happening in Ukraine under the government’s guidance. Jones, seeking the truth in all its ugliness, embarks on a journey of discovery, strife, and a cover-up of the deaths of millions of people. Can the unrelenting power of truth expose one of Stalin’s greatest crimes to a world that refuses to bear witness?
In The Shadow of Stalin is the story of the same Mr. Jones from the 2019 Mr. Jones film, written by Chalupa, which earned rave reviews. Described as a mix of Indiana Jones, Ernest Hemingway, and Edward Snowden, Jones’s account of the Soviet famine known as Holodomor would posthumously earn him a Ukrainian order of merit, among other honors. Jones defied Soviet authorities’ ban on journalists to record eyewitness testimonies firsthand and became the first to bring worldwide attention to the famine genocide happening during Stalin’s regime—and ended up paying for it with his life as he was mysteriously murdered two years after the publication of his article.
“The timing of this book could not be more relevant given what has been going on in Ukraine for the past year-plus. Gareth Jones’s story, and the warnings he gave in his writings and reporting, seem to only have been temporarily heeded,” said Chris Cerasi, managing editor. “We seem doomed to repeat history as a result; therefore, we could not be happier to be releasing this book now, in the hope of furthering Gareth Jones’s message so that humanity can be reminded of the consequences of turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the suffering of others.”
In the Shadow of Stalin: The Story of Mr. Jones will be available in stores on September 4.
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About the creators
Andrea Chalupa is a journalist, filmmaker, and activist living in Brooklyn, New York. She studied Soviet history at the University of California at Davis and Ukrainian at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. She is the author of Orwell and the Refugees: The Untold Story of Animal Farm, the co-author of the graphic novel Dictatorship: It’s Easier Than You Think, and the writer-producer of the journalistic thriller Mr. Jones, directed by three-time Academy Award nominee Agnieszka Holland and starring James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, and Peter Sarsgaard. Andrea hosts and produces the popular civic action podcast Gaslit Nation, about the threat of fascism in America and around the world. She regularly speaks about global affairs.
Ivan Rodriguez is a Brazilian comic book artist who has worked mainly for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Dynamite, Oni-Lion Forge, Titan, Frew, and Soleil, with lengthy runs on titles such as Star Wars, Doctor Who, Supergirl, Daredevil, The Phantom, The Spider, The Shadow, Sonja, Vampirella, and Bob Morane.
