Comics
David Dastmalchian’s ‘Count Crowley’ Comic To Make a Return in 2022
Actor David Dastmalchian‘s comic book mini-series Count Crowley is one big ole love letter to the days of the horror host, centered on the “reluctant midnight monster hunter” Jerri Bartman and her adventures as both horror host and monster slayer.
Lucky for us, Jerri is set to make her return this spring with a new comic.
THR reports that Count Crowley: Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter will arrive on March 23, 2022, from Dark Horse Comics. It sounds like Jerri’s received a monster hunting job promotion since the last comic’s Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter, which our own Jason Jenkins called “one of the best damned comics currently haunting your local comic shop.”
“The 1980s-set series centers on Jerri Bartman, a once-rising TV journalist who moves back to her hometown in the Midwest after washing out of her career due to struggle with alcohol. After taking over as the host of a midnight monster show, she learns that monsters are real. Now she must take a crash course in monster hunting to protect those she loves from a vampire who is coming to town.”
“With no promise of more Crowleys, I still wrote Jerri’s story and took her further into her quest to defeat the ‘bad’ monsters while defending the ‘good’ ones,” says Dastmalchian. “Writing about her internal struggles, her family stresses, her battle to find her true, authentic, and actualized self all helped me navigate the strain of the lockdown and my depression throughout the pandemic.”
Fresh off his breakout role as Polka-Dot Man in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, Dastmalchian promised a more “stumbling, fumbling, courageous” monster hunter in Jerri’s upcoming adventures.
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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