Internationally acclaimed German cartoonist Ralf König has produced a sequel to his best-selling graphic novel The Killer Condom. The sequel, titled Down to the Bone, will make its English-language debut at San Francisco’s Alternative Press Expo (APE) on October 1.

Down to the Bone picks up the story three years later and draws hard-boiled gay detective Luigi Macaroni into another bizarre case. This time, someone is killing the gay men of Manhattan, leaving nothing but their bones behind. It’s up to Macaroni to crack the case before New York runs out of targets.

The investigation leads Macaroni and Plumley, his straight-arrow partner, on a byzantine journey through the West Village leather scene, the New Jersey porn industry, even a mad scientist’s underground lab. The deeper they dig, the more parallels they discover to the three-year-old condom case, leading Macaroni to conclude that the two cases are related.

“Like everyone else,” recounts Jeff Krell, König’s longtime English translator, “I was delighted to learn that there’s sequel to The Killer Condom. And it’s a much longer story, with more depth, more humor, and more social commentary than the original. There’s even a romance! I can’t wait for more people to read it.”

Ralf König has published over 50 graphic novels about gay life in his native Germany. They have sold more than 7 million copies and have been translated into 14 languages. König has won numerous prizes, including “Best German Cartoonist” at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair.

Translator Jeff Krell, creator of the long-running humor strip Jayson, will have a dedicated space at the Prism Comics booth during APE. Stop by and pick up “Down to the Bone” along with your personally autographed, Convention Exclusive edition of Jayson Comics #1, free with the purchase of any of Krell’s graphic novels during the show.