. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UCH HAS CHANGED SINCE CLIVE BARKER’S GRISLY 1986 NOVELLA THE HELLBOUND
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . For starters, Barker and co-writer Christopher Monfette have opted to take the
story back to its roots. The first issue of the new series picks up where the second film, 1988’s Hellbound: Hellraiser II, left off. “The idea of going back is a way of reinventing the mythology and darkening the
show,” says Barker in an email interview (plagued by recurring throat polyps, he was exhausted and unable to speak after completing a round of revisions on Abarat: Book 3.) “Darkening the story. Darkening the whole darn world in which this is happening. When the story first took place the world was a brighter place. And now, I think, the
RM 24
world that Pinhead walks into is a much darker world. I’m interested in exploring the idea of what he does with it.” Initially, Monfette wanted to approach the comics as a direct continuation of the
storyline set forth, and the world established, in the first two films. “Once you get into [Hellraiser] III, and certainly into parts 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, Pinhead
has been done a disservice,” he says. “Hollywood doesn’t seem to know what to do with him anymore. They want him to be violent but not too violent, but this is a char- acter that is about subversion, and about violence. They want to sex it up, they want
HEART FIRST LAID THE FOUNDATION FOR THE HELLRAISER FRANCHISE. Barker’s story, along with the film adaptation he wrote and directed in 1987, helped spin the horror genre in a wicked new direction. But that was the last time he touched the series, which has gone on to have many sequels (see p.26 for a rundown). With his long-awaited opus The Scarlet Gospels (which Barker has pre- viously stated will mark the end of inter-dimensional soul harvester Pinhead) still without a release date, a new monthly comic book miniseries from BOOM! Studios finds the author returning to the Hellraiser world for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century. The premiere 40-page issue (out now, and featuring variant covers by Tim Bradstreet and Nick Perciva) presents a considerable challenge: how do you re-energize a property that has wandered into the creative no man’s land of cut-rate sequels and an impending Hollywood “reboot”?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72