Public Servant Lifestyle

We make a look at a couple of eldritch new releases from Dark Horse - including a new Mike (Hellboy) Mignola release and a tribute to Universal Studios.

Universal Monsters: Cavalcade of Horror & ZombieWorld: Champion of the Worms

Every year, publishers and movie studios churn out piles of new zombie yarns, but none have rivalled the originality of this tale written by Hellboy and B.P.R.D. creator Mike Mignola. ZombieWorld: Champion of the Worms tells the tale of a reanimated priest from an ancient cult and the zombie outbreak he creates in order to sacrifice mankind to his dark gods. Dark horror and high adventure mingle as a team of heroes race against an unstoppable evil bent on the end of mankind.

Collecting the original three-issue miniseries of the same name under one cover - plus sketchbook material and an updated commentary by Pat McEown (the artist responsible for this and so many other striking renditions of Mignola’s work) this new edition features a new cover by Mike Mignola and is the perfect package to reintroduce readers to this contemporary horror classic.

If your tastes run to the macabre – and towards the more vintage side of horror in the movies – then another release: Universal Monsters: Cavalcade of Horror might be just down your dark alley. Featuring long out-of-print artwork by the white-hot Tony Harris (Ex Machina, Starman) and artist Art Adams (Monkeyman & O'Brien), as well as a brand-new introduction and painted cover by multiple Eisner Award Winner Eric Powell (winner of the 2005 Eisner Awards for ‘Best Humour Publication’ and ‘Best Continuing Series’ for The Goon), this collection is a celebration – a re-telling of the origin stories of a series of the classic Universal Pictures monsters, namely: Frankenstein's monster, The Mummy, Count Dracula, and the eponymous 'creature' from The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

From the '30s to the '50s, Universal Studios changed the face of horror cinema forever with its legendary run of monster movies. The films produced at this time by the now legendary film studios helped establish archetypes of horror that continue to this day in everything from TV like The Night Stalker and The X Files to Universal's own recent cinematic homage Van Helsing. Since then, these timeless tales of terror and tragedy have enthralled generations of audiences and inspired countless creators of the macabre. Now’s your chance to read the stories of these Universal monsters as re-envisioned by some of comics' finest talents. The book features the talents of Dan Jolley, Den Beauvais, Dan Vado, Steve Moncuse, Tony Harris, Art Adams, Jonathan Smith and Terry Austin.

Ray Olson, writing in Booklist (January 2006) said of Universal Monsters: Cavalcade of Horror: "Frankenstein's and Dracula's clunky scripts are enlivened by expressive color and the decision to paint as much as draw them. Dracula profits further from imaginative expansion of many scenes and the veiling of backdrops by swirling, colored mists and fog."

ZombieWorld: Champion of the Worms is out now, while the collection Universal Monsters: Cavalcade of Horror is on sale as a soft cover, 208 page trade paperback in the new year, both from Dark Horse.

PSP Ltd is not responsible for the content of external websites.

More information available in Books