Every city and town has their own urban legends. (Heck, we’ve got a bunch across my own beloved homeland, Phoenix, Arizona.) But what if said legends were real, and when you went looking for them, they struck back from the dark?
That’s mostly the premise for The Butcher’s Boy, a new Dark Horse Comics series from writer Landry Q. Walker and artist Justin Greenwood, who collaborated together on 2018’s The Last Siege. (They’re joined on this book by colorist Brad Simpson and letterer Pat Brosseau.) In The Butcher’s Boy, six friends visit La Perdita, a hamlet in the Pacific Northwest where (according to the stories) a fiend called the Butcher massacred the entire population. But as the friends quickly discover, the Butcher of La Perdita may not be a fable whatsoever, and their road trip might have taken a sudden turn for the worst. A proper slasher with references to “Lovecraftian horror,” The Butcher’s Boy could be your best, bloodiest book of summer 2024.
Issue #1 of The Butcher’s Boy doesn’t hit shelves until May 22. In the meantime, though, we caught up with both Walker and Greenwood recently via email. There, we talked about updating the slasher genre, the book’s influences, the duo’s collaborative process, and balancing gore and humanity, among other topics and tidbits.
AIPT: What’s the elevator pitch for The Butcher’s Boy?
Justin Greenwood: The Butcher’s Boy is like if you took the cast of Friday the 13th and gave them all acid right when the knives came out.
Landry Q. Walker: I deleted my answer because Justin freaking nailed it.
AIPT: Why do stories about serial killers/murderers still ring as interesting or compelling despite the sheer volume of such tales?
LQW: People like to see an exaggerated version of their fears (or their impulses) reflected back at themselves. For some it’s therapy. For some it’s a fetish. For some it’s just entertainment.
JG: Yeah, I think that’s exactly right. I watch/listen to a lot of horror while I’m working and I’m often find myself surprised at the unexpected turns even after consuming so many similar stories.
AIPT: In the solicitations, there’s mentions of “generational nightmare” and the murders being reduced to “morbid clickbait folklore for bored travelers.” Is this trying to buck against horror tropes and tell a more timely, relevant story through the “slasher” lens?
LQW: A little bit. I remember about twenty years ago, during SDCC, Eric Jones and I wandered into “The Museum of Death: in downtown San Diego. I had expected something that explored the way different cultures viewed death, and the art that was built up around this part of existence. Instead, it was mostly just pictures of corpses. I’ve known a lot of people now that would find that fascinating. No judgment, but it’s not personally appealing to me. That does lead to a place though where – especially now – we see people broadcast and monetize similar fetishes in online spaces. To me, it dehumanizes death. The story dances into that space a bit.
Issue #1 of The Butcher’s Boy by Justin Greenwood. Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.
AIPT: The book is said to basically be “Midsommar meets Evil Dead.” What about those titles stand out to you? And how much inherent connection do you see between them?
LQW: It’s mostly just a matter of tone. A combination of the psychological, suspenseful horror of humanity turning against itself, and something more over-the top horrific in the background. I’m not sure I would say that there is much connection between those two properties, which makes the blend more interesting to me.
JG: Having recently finished work on an Army of Darkness sequel book, I spent a lot of time in that Evil Dead world and was reminded at how great it can be when a story knows exactly what it is and doesn’t shy away from what makes it so fun.
AIPT: What was the collaborative process like for this book?
LQW: The initial idea came from a character my friend Pannel Vaughn drew – a grisly butcher. I took that and started spinning with this idea for something a bit different. Pannel and I bounced the idea around a bunch, and then we approached Justin, who I had worked with on Last Siege. I write heavily detailed full scripts, with the expectation that Justin may need to ignore all my direction. He’s a pro, and he is the one who must put lines on paper. So – with small exceptions – I try and stay out of the process once he has the script.
JG: Yeah, we’d been talking about collaborating again and this project just fit perfectly. I was dying to draw something dark and grisly and this story hit all the right notes for me. And after working with Brad and Pat for years, I was looking forward to seeing what they would do with all the gore and psychedelic elements of this tale.
AIPT: This book’s set in the Pacific Northwest, which has some important connections to both actual killers/murderers and many horror properties alike. What does this area represent, or why’s it a proper setting?
LQW: I’ve spent a bit of time driving through those regions, and there’s something very “lost” about large sections of it. Thick forests and narrow roads and small towns inevitably makes for something ominous, at least when cast in the correct light.
AIPT: Is there a challenge balancing a cast of six “heroes”? Are there inevitably “favorites” that pop up for everyone?
LQW: There’s always a challenge when balancing larger cast. Each character has to have their own story and personality. We need to understand why they are where they are, what motivates them, what makes them a person. That all equals space. Space is limited.
JG: I think that’s one of my favorite parts of The Butcher’s Boy. Our groups of friends have a great dynamic and starting to care about them makes it really sting when things come apart.
AIPT: Is there a thought process for balancing all that sweet, sweet gore and blood with the more human, “mundane” aspects of storytelling?
LQW: Always. The gore on its own, while it may hold visual appeal for a moment, has no impact if you don’t have any reason to care about the characters or the story. You can afford more superficial takes in film, where the audience isn’t in control of pacing. Film has motion and music and all sorts of tools that we do not. So, we have to properly push those mundane aspects forward or lose the impact.
Issue #2 of The Butcher’s Boy by Justin Greenwood. Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.
JG: But also, drawing the gore is so much fun too. I just finished drawing the death of a major character and couldn’t help grinning all the way through. Heartless, I know.
LQW: Honestly, I can’t even look at some of the art. I’m super-squeamish. I’m horrified by what we have created – which is probably a really good thing.
AIPT: The solicitation also touches on hints of “Lovecraftian horror.” What does that do to extend or play with what seems like a pretty “straightforward” slasher tale?
LQW: Is it a straightforward story? Superficially – especially in the first issue – that may seem to be the case. The funny thing to me about the “Lovecraftian” tagline…it’s become a necessary generic marketing term encompassing a wide range of things not really Lovecraftian. To make this story work I spent months writing an extensive original mythology, complete with it’s own creation myth, original deities, an original functioning zodiac that will give almost every person a different reading, and a complicated language with a 90 character alphabet.
My logic was this: Lovecraft couldn’t just dip into the “Lovecraftian” well. He had to create new things that resonated with his anxieties and fears. I wanted to do the same.
AIPT: There’s also been talk that this book being about or exploring “appetite.” Can you talk a little more about that concept and how it translates here?
LQW: I’m not a huge believer in “good” and “evil.” Certainly, evil and good acts exist in the world, but not so much as character motivators. People who do evil things aren’t typically motivated with a desire to do evil. Appetite on the other hand – in whatever form – can change a person into someone unrecognizable and drive them to commit evil and hurtful acts. And unlike “evil”, appetite is a relatable concept. Dark urges exist within every human, and when you strip us of our ability to resist or ignore them… things happen.
AIPT: When you’re crafting a story like this, what books or stories serve as inspiration? Do you touch on or reference any real-life killers at all?
LQW: No. Not really. I’ve lived a long enough life and seen enough things that I don’t feel a need to explore the lives of others in that way. I’ve seen enough people die, dealt with enough grief, been hurt, hurt others – even if just in small ways. We all experience enough I think, in general, to extrapolate and build.
JG: I also think so many horror stories stick to predictable rhythm that getting to exploit it adds a surprising element that will leave readers guessing all the way through.
AIPT: Why should anyone pick up issue #1 of The Butcher’s Boy?
JG: This book has real teeth (if you can pardon the pun). It’s a horror book but there is also a mystery afoot, with real stakes for the entire group of friends. No one is safe in La Perdita.
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