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[Exclusive] BOOM! Announces New “Hellraiser” Anthology Series!

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Bloody-Disgusting has praised BOOM! Studios’ adaptation of Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser”, as the series has provided a solid continuation of the beloved horror movie franchise. BOOM! has announced the launch of a brand new six-issue limited anthology series “Hellraiser: Bestiary” in August. The series will feature short stories set in the Hellraiser universe written by Mark Alan Miller and Ben Meares (who work with Barker at Seraphim Films), as well as Victor LaValle (The Devil in Silver), Michael Moreci (Curse), and Ed Brisson (Sheltered).

Mark Miller tells, “BESTIARY is about our love for anthologies. We all grew up reading the EC comics and watching The Twilight Zone. And since Clive’s introduction to the world was through his Books of Blood anthologies, we thought it’d be a blast to take it back to our roots. The great thing about Hellraiser is that it can be about anything. Everyone suffers, right? And because of the nature of the form, it means we get the chance to work with a lot of talented artists and writers. It’s going to be fun!”

Check out this exclusive cover reveal for the first issue and the solicitation for issue #1.

CLIVE BARKER’S HELLRAISER: BESTIARY #1 (of 6)
Written by Victor LaValle, Ben Meares, and Mark Alan Miller
Illustrated by Colin Lorimer, Carlos Magno, and Conor Nolan
Covers by Conor Nolan, Kim Herbst, and Sam Shearon

WHY WE LOVE IT: Over the past three years, Clive Barker has re-imagined the HELLRAISER mythos as only he could, building a long-form narrative that became one of the best-received horror comics in recent memory. Now, the Master of Horror takes us into his Bestiary for an anthology series—free of continuity, but full of shocking consequences.

WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT: HELLRAISER: BESTIARY will pick up where classic horror comics anthologies like Tales From The Crypt, Vault of Horror, and the more recent Flinch left off. And not only will some of comics’ rising stars, such as Ed Brisson (Sheltered), and  Michael Moreci (CURSE), get a chance to open the puzzle box in this series, but the first issue features the comics debut of award-winning novelist Victor LaValle (The Devil in Silver, Big Machine).

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Step into the Bestiary for all-new tales of the LeMarchand Device and its guardians! This first issue contains the start of a six-part serial written by Mark Miller (CLIVE BARKER’S NEXT TESTAMENT) and Ben Meares (HELLRAISER ANNUAL 2013), and drawn by Carlos Magno (DEATHMATCH), where a group of mercenaries are hired to steal Pinhead’s pins. Also, superstar author Victor LaValle teams with artist Colin Lorimer (CURSE) to tell a story set on the outskirts of New York City, as a close-knit community is torn apart by the presence of the puzzle box.

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[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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