The Cryptkeeper. The Creep. Elvira. Every good horror series needs a host, and Oni Press’s brand new take on EC Comics is going to have not one host, not two, but three. Meet The Grave-Digger, The Tormentor, and The Grim Inquisitor.
Designed by Dustin Weaver, the horrific trio will first grace the pages of Epitaphs From The Abyss #1, which will hit stores on July 24. But they won’t stop there, as they’ll show up later on in other places TBA.
“Usually a big part of designing characters is costuming, but in looking back at the original Tales From the Crypt comics, it’s clear that the most important and defining features of the horror hosts are their ghoulish faces,” said Dustin Weaver via a press release provided to Comic Book Club. “It’s all about the faces, and with these modern host designs I wanted to carry on that tradition. Making sure the faces were suitably fiendish, properly cruel, and the right amount of unseemly was key, but there’s also an effort here to go a step further and bring some more thought and characterization to their costuming and physicality as well. Ultimately, it’s just such a treat to draw characters so unabashedly wicked.”
Added Corey Mifsud, Executive Director of William M. Gaines Agent, Inc., “Crafted from the dead center of depravity and delight, these new horror hosts are primed and ready to assume their roles as storytellers. All three characters honor the creepily comical spirit of EC, but contribute uniquely twisted points of views that will surely keep the reader up at night!”
That’s cool and all, but who are these guys? And gal? Per the PR, here’s some first looks at the characters, and what to know:
The Grave-Digger
“IN HIS CEMETERY, EVERY TOMBSTONE TELLS A TALE! As the central host of the upcoming EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS series from EC Comics and Oni Press, The Grave-Digger’s charming visage will soon regale readers far and wide with the tales of murderous intent and ill fortune that earned his cemetery’s denizens their places six feet deep.”
The Tormentor
“INTRODUCING HER ROYAL TRAVESTY OF PAIN! A one-eyed butcheress with a penchant for playful flaying and audacious amputation, there is no weapon of opportunity or implement of torture too grisly to escape The Tormentor’s notice. But she still holds a fondness for ‘the classics’ – like her red-hot poker and rusty pruning shears!”
The Grim Inquisitor
“THE DEACON OF DOOM! THE VICEROY OF THE VICE! THE PRINCIPAL OF PUNISHMENT … OR SO HE’D LIKE YOU TO THINK! A mad monk with a fanatic’s eye for keeping his secret sect’s surprisingly extensive bureaucracy of terror running like clockwork, The Grim Inquisitor fears no man . . . except The Supreme Inquisitor, who demands extremely exacting results from his right-hand man and deputy master of obscure occult rites.”
Along with the above hosts, the first issue features stories written by BRIAN AZZARELLO, CHRIS CONDON, J. HOLTHAM & STEPHANIE PHILLIPS, art by JORGE FORNES, PHIL HESTER, PETER KRAUSE & VLAD LEGOSTAEV.
Check out a preview of two of the stories below, and prepare to get spooked!!
“Killer Spec” by J. Holtham and Jorge Fornes
“Family Values” by Stephanie Phillips & Phil Hester
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