The Creature from the Black Lagoon is suiting up for another swim.
Skybound Entertainment, the Robert Kirkman-led company behind The Walking Dead and Invincible comics and its screen adaptations, is bringing the Creature, one of screenland’s most memorable monsters, to the four-walled world of comics.
Dan Watters (Lucifer) and Ram V (The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, Detective Comics) are writing Universal Monsters: Creature From The Black Lagoon Lives! The pair are known for their acclaimed works in the indie world and for DC.
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It will be a four-issue limited series. Matthew Roberts, the co-creator of long-running Image title Manifest Destiny, is drawing the story with Dave Stewart acting as colorist.
The comic hails from Skybound’s partnership with Universal Products & Experiences and the first issue will hit comic shops April 24.
It’s the second title from the Universal partnership and follows the well-received limited series Dracula, by James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds. The comics line is intended to pair bold-faced comic industry names with the studio’s stable of iconic horror creatures.
The story is not an adaptation of the 1954 black and white classic (Arthur Adams did that in 1993 for Dark Horse Comics) but is a modern day-set tale of suspense, intrigue, and terror that connects to the original movie. The limited series introduces new characters such as journalist Kate Marsden and serial killer Darwin Collier while also bringing back Dr. Edwin Thompson, the scientist whose face got mangled by the Gill-man and was later covered in bandages.
Per Skybound, the story sees journalist Marsden hunt a notorious serial killer in the heart of the Amazon. Hot on the trail of this madman, she soon encounters an unexpected new threat – the Creature from the Black Lagoon – and must determine if he is friend or foe.
The company is positioning the series for new readers and longtime fans alike.
“Dan Watters and Ram V are two of the most exciting writers in comics, and to be able to turn them loose with longtime Skybound creators Matthew Roberts and Dave Stewart has been an absolute treat,” said Skybound editorial director Alex Antone. “And while James & Martin’s Dracula was an adaptation of the original film, Creature is a brand-new story featuring beloved Gill-Man.”
Antone notes that each book in the Universal Monsters line will feel different from the last, with each creative team bringing their own unique flavor to the iconic horror characters.
Check out the first five pages and the covers below…
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