Philip Gelatt, the Emmy Award-winning writer behind the animated Love, Death & Robots, and Brightburn director David Yarovesky are teaming with artist Adam Pollina and colorist Dean White for It Demands Sacrifice, a new prestige-format limited series arriving from Bad Idea in October.
The series follows Bronson, the runt of a family of goats whose quiet farm life is shattered when a drug-fueled satanic cult slaughters his owners and kidnaps the herd as part of a demonic ritual. Now the smallest goat in the family is the only one who can stop the sacrifice.
“We wanted to approach the genre from a new angle, something that could make it feel fresh, dangerous, and genuinely shocking again. And somehow that led us to a story with murder cults, ritual sex magick, adorable goats and an enormous amount of heart,” said Gelatt. “It all started with a simple question: what if a goat decided to fight back against the satanists trying to sacrifice it? Which probably tells you everything you need to know about the kinds of things Dave thinks about in his spare time.”
While bets known now for his Hollywood and video game work, Gelatt’s writing career got a jumpstart in the comics world, where he wrote graphic novels like Labor Days and Petrograd, the latter of which was Tyler Crook’s first graphic novel.
Here’s the full description from Bad Idea:
On a quiet farm, Bronson, the youngest and smallest member of a close-knit family of goats, lives an idyllic life of sun-drenched fields, fresh hay, and sibling rivalries. His greatest concern is proving to his older siblings—and, more importantly, his imposing father—that he is more than just the runt of the herd.
Then, in a single night, everything changes.
A drug-fueled, sex-obsessed satanic hippie murder cult descends on the farm, slaughtering the family who raised and protected the goats before abducting Bronson and his loved ones. Deep in the wilderness, beneath a blood-red moon, hundreds of cult followers gather for an ancient ritual. Their purpose: to sacrifice the goats and summon a ravenous demon from beyond.
Now, the fate of his family rests on the shoulders of the one creature least prepared to save them.
Innocent, outmatched, and absurdly cute, Bronson must summon a courage he never knew he possessed as he confronts knife-wielding cultists, unspeakable horrors, and forces far beyond his understanding in a desperate attempt to rescue his family before they are offered up in blood.
“On the surface, it looks like a story designed to shock and terrify you, and it absolutely will, but underneath that is something much more personal. It’s a fable about the stories we tell ourselves, how they can become prisons that define the limits of our lives, and how dangerous it is to let other people’s perception of you determine who you are. And at the center of all of it is Bronson. Trust me, you’re going to f*%king love Bronson,” Yarovesky said.
And here’s a look at Pollina and White’s interior art:
Fans attending San Diego Comic-Con can get an early look at the series during BAD IDEA’s panel on Friday, July 24, where every attendee will receive a convention-exclusive edition of It Demands Sacrifice. The first issue comes out Oct. 7.