Sabir Pirzada Previews ‘The Sacred Damned’: “The Stuff Of Muslim Nightmares”

The Horizon Experiment: The Sacred Damned #1 cover cropped

Pornsak Pichetshote’s The Horizon Experiment is a wild-sounding upcoming comics project. Launching from Image Comics, each issue is a one-shot pilot, pairing top-name writers and artists to filter classic genre stories through a specific cultural lens. And now we’ve got our first good look at The Sacred Damned, a book by Sabir Pirzada and Michael Walsh that the former describes as “delving into the stuff of Muslim nightmares.”

While Pirzada is best known as a writer on TV’s Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch, he also just released his first graphic novel, Dandelion, through Image — as well as launching two successful Ms. Marvel miniseries for Marvel Comics. He’ll team with The Silver Coin mastermind Michael Walsh for The Sacred Damned, which introduces a “Muslim John Constantine” named Inayah Jibril.

“I took sadistic pleasure in delving into the stuff of Muslim nightmares for The Sacred Damned. People think of Islamic culture as a monolith, but the opposite couldn’t be more true: it’s varied, rich, and rarely given the spotlight in western narratives despite representing a massive global population,” said Pirzada. “When Pornsak challenged me to take us to new places in horror where no one has ever gone before, I knew that could only be accomplished with Michael Walsh, the greatest horror artist of our generation. It was a distinct thrill to have industry titan editors Will Dennis and Pornsak Pichetshote along for the ride as we introduce the world to a bold new antihero in Inayah Jibril.”

As well as a cover by Walsh, the issue also features a variant by Tula Lotay which is part of a connecting series of covers across all five of The Horizon Experiment one-shots.

“When the incredible Pornsak Pichetshote first approached me about contributing to The Horizon Experiment, I was immediately interested…Reading Sabir’s pitch for The Sacred Damned sealed the deal. It really felt like an entirely fresh new take on a type of horror story that I love: the modern examination of classic folklore, mythology and religion through the lens of the Horror genre,” added Walsh. “When I received the script, I was thrilled—not only was this going to be a blast to draw, but there was an authenticity, economy and understanding of the medium that cemented this as something that would be really special and really terrifying. Working with this whole team, Will, Pornsak, Sabir, Toni Marie, and the excellent letterer and designer Becca Carey, has been an absolute joy and has resulted in a book that I am truly proud of.”

The first issue in The Horizon Experiment is titled The Manchurian, and will hit on September 25 from Pichetshote and Terry and Rachel Dodson. The Sacred Damned #1 will be available on October 23, but you can get your first look below.

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