Ed Brubaker And Sean Phillips’ Next Book, Houses Of The Unholy, Tackles The Satanic Panic

On this week’s new episode of Comic Book Club, writer Ed Brubaker appeared live to promote his latest collaboration with artist Sean Phillips, Where The Body Was. The new book doesn’t hit bookstores until next week… So naturally, the conversation turned to what’s next for the frequent collaborators. And happily, Brubaker revealed what is coming up: Houses of the Unholy, a book about the Satanic Panic.

“It’ll be announced soon,” Brubaker said in the interview. “I guess we just announced it on your podcast here.”

According to Brubaker, he and Phillips should be done with the book around this upcoming January. It will most likely be released in stores in the Summer of 2024.

Describing the book as “kind of a crime thriller, but also sort of about the Satanic Panic,” Brubaker wasn’t able to offer up many more details. However, if you’re not familiar with the Satanic Panic, this should set the book in the 1980s, and focus on the furor that rose over cases of Satanism and ritual sacrifice that were supposedly happening all over America. They weren’t, mind you, but parents, educators, and others all, per the name, panicked and started accusing everyone from teachers to Dungeons & Dragons players of being pawns of Satan.

Continuing on the release schedule, Brubaker noted that he and Phillips’ goal is to always release a book in late December, and one in Summer. That way, “one of our books can always be someone’s Christmas present.”

While Houses of the Unholy will be a little late (or early?) for Christmas, Where the Body Was is right on time. The new book focuses on a small community rocked by the body of the title, and how their lives intertwine. Brubaker noted that like a number of his more recent books, retailers who order over a certain level have received copies with signed bookplates from Brubaker and Phillips.

“For the new book, we actually apparently underestimated demand,” Brubaker noted. “So we’re gonna do a bunch more. So I was like, Oh, well, I guess that’s good. And then I realized, like, oh, we’re putting this thing out in comic book stores right at Christmas shopping season. And, you know, it’s got a big white and red cover.”

Where The Body Was will hit comic book stores on December 13, 2023, from Image Comics, and everywhere else on January 16, 2024.

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