Cullen Bunn and Outland Entertainment have announced plans to publish “dozens” of comics, graphic novels and trade paperbacks via Bunn’s dedicated Outer Shadows imprint, starting with a dark fantasy and an erotic thriller.
Outer Shadows was formed to be a home for both prose and comics projects, and thus far they’ve released Bunn’s novel Crooked Hills, the novella Raze and a short story collection. Today they revealed five new comics projects, along with a collection of one of Bunn’s previous titles.
“I’ve always envisioned Outer Shadows as the place for prose and comics,” Bunn said. “Now, we’re following through on that initial idea with a deep dive into the horror and dark fantasy comic market.”
Each Outer Shadows project will start with a crowdfunding campaign, with plans to release them into the direct market once the campaign is finished.
Here’s what to expect in the months ahead …
The first Outer Shadows comic is a dark fantasy/horror series titled The Faraway, written by Bunn and illustrated by Vitalii Kalchenko.
“The Faraway offers a clear premise,” Bunn said. “If you’re my age, you loved the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, where a group of kids get swept into a magical land. What happens, though, if those kids get trapped in a realm of fantasy and magic… that has been completely consumed by evil? In The Faraway, a group of unlucky gamers finds themselves surrounded by a world of horrifying monsters and murderous cutthroats. And, while the book is gorgeously illustrated, the situation will not be pretty.”
The Kickstarter campaign for THE FARAWAY will launch on March 7, 2024. The pre-launch campaign page is live now.
Following The Faraway, you can expect a new erotic horror thriller titled Bumping Uglies, which will be illustrated by Ann Marie Cochran. This story follows a pair of police detectives “on a descent into a sex-fueled nightmare as they investigate a new mind-altering drug with supernatural origins.”
In addition, Bunn will write several one-shots under the banner Nightmare Fuel Presents. These will start with Death Duel with the Chainsaw Witches, featuring art by Diogo Carvalho. It follows a heavy metal band out to destroy the demons they helped summon. Long Pig and Azrael, illustrated by Emmanuel Casallos, is about a lonely hitchhiker and the demonic entity that follows him. Then The Window, drawn by Luay Garwan, focuse son a down-on-their-luck family that moves into a new house, where they discover a passage to an alien world.
Finally, Outer Shadows will collect Bunn and Joe Bocardo’s apocalyptic vampire story Nightwalkers, which was previously published by Source Point Press. It will be released in a collected edition and the series will be continuing through Outer Shadows.
“We have several other comics and graphic novels in the works. Terrifying giant monster stories? You bet! Stories about infernally-possessed knickknacks? Of course! There are so many stories in the works, and I’m excited to make Outer Shadows a home for horror and dark fantasy comics,” Bunn said.