An Alien, a Devil, a Wolfman, and a Plant Monster Walk into a Bar…
I try to avoid NCBD newsletters, as I feel like they get lost in the void. But NYCC kicks off properly tomorrow, which means the whole rest of the week is an even more all-consuming void, and I’ve got horror to hock, damn it!
I’ve been very lucky, across this shambling muck monster I call a career, to never really have to pick a lane. I write all-ages comedy books, edit some of the most boundary-pushing mature-readers books on stands, and have been able to fill up my schedule with some of Marvel’s biggest icons. The catch is that, once in a while, I have to put the more macabre subject matter to the side within this newsletter to spotlight projects like Stories from the Spider-Verse or Kid Flash: Going Rogue, which deserve their own, kid-friendly moments.
But this week? This week the horror stars have aligned, and I get to celebrate the impending Halloween holiday by howling about three different spooky, scary projects I’ve got coming down the pipeline.
LET THIS ONE BE A DEVIL
Just announced this week, LET THIS ONE BE A DEVIL is the first book in the new extension of Tiny Onion’s TRUE WEIRD line at Dark Horse Comics. I’m thrilled to be writing this with my good pal James Tynion IV, who you may know from one quintillion comic books, several of which I also edit. And we’ve brought on my ALL EIGHT EYES collaborators Piotr Kowalski and Brad Simpson, along with BLUE BOOK letterer Tom Napolitano (as well as editor extraordinaire Greg Lockard!), to tell our definitive spin on the Jersey Devil mythos.
Anyone familiar with the story of the Jersey Devil will know why that’s a heavy lift—the myth is fragmented by nature, and we’ve run at that head-on. Every book in the TRUE WEIRD line will take a similar approach, bringing on different talent to tell unique, standalone stories of iconic cryptids/monsters of myth in ways that incorporate the “real” facts and folklore of these iconic creatures into original narratives. It’s been a ton of fun blending “fact” and fiction to bring the horror—and tragedy—of the Jersey Devil’s tale to the forefront.
Our first issue out of four drops February 19, 2025, and you can check out our additional devilish covers over at the Daily Dead.
BEASTLY BUDDIES
Is February too far away? Are devils in the woods just TOO SPOOKY? Then do I have the comic for you! BEASTLY BUDDIES is my latest Marvel Unlimited Infinity Comic, co-created with artist Armand Bodnar and colorist KJ Diaz and edited by Lauren Bisom and Farah Javed. And guess what? It starts running on the Marvel Unlimited app this Friday!
Beastly Buddies stars Ted (a.k.a. Man-Thing) and Jack (a.k.a. Werewolf-by-Night) as they get evicted from the ancestral castle they’ve been renting and must travel around the haunted corners of the Marvel Universe in search of a place to call home. Legendary—and legendarily annoyed—monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone is hot on their heels. Actually, she’s the only one wearing heels, and they bloody well hurt.
I know I’m not allowed to pick favorites, but…this might be one of my favorite things I’ve ever done. Armand is a BEAST—you won’t believe the comedy and cameos he crams into these strips, and the perfect balancing act of horror and humor he manages. KJ is a perfect pairing for him, bringing out the best in Armand’s work line art. We’ve been cracking ourselves up nonstop since we started working on the strip, and it’s almost incidental to the process that you all can finally read it soon. I’d have done this one for free (but I’m glad they paid me—ancestral castles don’t rent cheap).
New chapters drop on the app every Friday, so keep your eyes peeled for guest stars galore, from flaming skulls to rowdy raccoons and beyond.
ALIEN: PARADISO
Holy crap, I’m writing an ALIEN series.
Yeah, this should have come up way sooner in the newsletter, but it just felt weird to follow up kids-book announcements with Xenomorphs. Now that we’re shotgunning the creepy stuff, I can finally share how this still doesn’t feel quite real. I saw Alien and its sequels far too young, and the franchise has loomed large over my entire life. I once had an entire wall of posters dedicated just to Jonesy! I would have considered it a bucket-list item satisfied if all I ever got to do was my short contribution to Aliens: Black, White & Blood last year, but when editor Sarah Brunstad emailed me with the subject line, “More Alien?” I screamed loud enough to be heard in space.
ALIEN: PARADISO is my attempt to go back to basics in approach while swerving hard in setting and framing. Especially with Alien: Romulus in theaters this summer, the idea of doing a book in space or on an industrial station felt like setting myself up to fail—yeah, it’s the setting we identify most with ALIEN and ALIENS, but it’s also the setting we’ve seen the most, and it’s going to be fresh on everyone’s mind thanks to Fede Álvarez’ gnarly, practical-effect-heavy take.
Instead, we’re on the sun-drenched beaches of a tropical resort colony—an elite retreat for high-rollers…and the occasional dirty player. Instead of a cast of grunts armed with heavy artillery, we follow an ensemble of lawmen, criminals, and innocents caught in between, none of whom have ever come up against anything like a Xenomorph before in their lives. There are no Marines waiting in the wings with pulse rifles to save the day. This is a stalk-and-kill horror story, set in the unlikeliest place I could imagine—an ALIEN story we’d never get on screen.
And I’m joined on this vacation-from-Hell by Edgar Salazar, who brings a wealth of sci-fi and action experience to his work here, and who’s made me very happy by consistently pushing the limit on the gore we’re allowed to show. But Edgar’s not alone on art duties—we’ve also got sections of the book shown from the point of view of the Xenomorphs themselves, which are depicted by my Dead X-Men collaborator Peter V. Nguyen, who took a totally unexpected approach to these disturbingly cool pages.
Our first issue of five drops December 11th, just in time to bring a breezy, beach-y feel to your holiday season.
AND SPEAKING OF NYCC
(I did, up top—remember?)
I’m not a big convention person, which shouldn’t be a surprise. I’m not a big social media person, or a big leaving-my-house person half the time. But I will be at NYCC all weekend, staffing the Tiny Onion booth in Artists Alley, where we’re slinging all sorts of cool merch and books (including the return of RAZORBLADES within a con-exclusive newspaper!), and hosting a bunch of killer signings.
If you’re looking to get anything gasp signed by yours truly, I will be popping up in one signing slot during the convention—Sunday, October 20, from 1:30 - 2:30 PM in Hall 1A, as part of the Stories from the Spider-Verse group signing. All the signings in Hall 1A are open to all, though, so while we’re very excited to THWIP that book into readers’ hands, folks are welcome to bring copies of anything I’ve written for me to sign—or anything Steve Orlando has written for me to deface.
xoxo