Since its launch in October 2024, IDW Dark has plotted and cultivated a singular horror experience. Admittedly, the modern horror landscape is quiet a robust and competitive field, and it’s hard to make traction with the sheer number of books on shelves. But thanks to books like Event Horizon: Dark Descent and The Twilight Zone (among others), IDW Dark’s managed to craft horror that’s timely but universal, nerve-wracking but always inventive.
Now, IDW Dark’s terrifying campaign continues with the launch of four new titles in the coming months. (There’s also another
Event Horizon book, titled Inferno, due out in April.) Those are:
- Smile: For the Camera #1: From writer Hannah Rose May and artist Miriana Puglia, the story takes place in the universe of the popular Smile franchise. As a group young models land in NYC for Fashion Month 2005, they find themselves facing “a being bent on destruction and pain as it seeks to destroy lives through its horrific visions.”
Issue #1 drops on February 18 - The Exorcism at Buckingham Palace #1: Here, the series creator and writer Hannah Rose May behind The Exorcism at 1600 Penn and artist Kelsey Ramsay) continue their tale as they move the action over the pond. With the Prime Minister dealing with a missing royal family, “playboy and recovering addict Theo Belmont” must decide if he he’s truly ready to assume the throne or if he’ll be “consumed by his demons.”
Issue’s #1 FOC is February 2, with the book out March 11 - A Quiet Place: Storm Warning #1: Another eagerly awaited adaptation, writer-artist Phil Hester and artist Ryan Kelly present the first-ever comics series for A Quiet Place. While the residents of Pearl, Iowa assume their island status keeps them safe, “creatures that hunt by sound are coming west, and unless the people…take drastic action, silence won’t save them — it’ll bury them.”
Issue #1’s FOC is February 2, with the book out March 11 - Operation: Iron Coffin #1: This “bold new take on Dracula” (from writer Kenny Porter and artist Tyrell Cannon) sees Dracula fighting Nazis on a speeding train. This one’s for fans of “Castlevania, Metal Gear, and Hellboy.”
Issue #1 is due out in July
Ahead of each title, we caught up with the creative teams via email to field a few questions. That includes working with existing properties/characters, the keys to telling meaningful horror stories, and their goals/dreams for each book. With a future this terrifying, IDW Dark could be a vital new voice in horror comics for some time to come.
Smile: For the Camera (Writer Hannah Rose May)
AIPT: What’s the real appeal of the Smile “premise,” especially given that modern horror has heaps and heaps of great franchises?
Hannah Rose May: I think Smile has resonated so deeply because beneath the scares, it’s really a story about grief and unresolved trauma. The Entity is terrifying, and the hallucinations are genuinely unsettling, but they’re not the point, they’re the manifestation. At its core, Smile is about what happens when pain is buried instead of processed. That’s something everyone understands on a human level, which is why the premise feels so immediate and enduring. The horror works because it’s externalizing a very real, very universal fear.
Courtesy of IDW Dark.
AIPT: How much (and in what ways) do the various Smile films influence this story?
HRM: The Smile films establish the rules and mythology of the Entity, how the curse works, and what it demands of its victims. This story operates within those same parameters.
AIPT: What are the challenges of taking this premise (based heavily in film) and translating it to comics? What about any opportunities instead/as well?
HRM: It’s easy to get trapped in the limitations of the comics medium when making a horror book but those limitations inspire innovations. With Smile: For The Camera, we leaned heavily into our colors and lettering to create Smile’s signature blurring of reality and hallucination. I think readers will enjoy identifying our motifs and applying it to later issues to wonder whose smiling in the issues and whose “smiling.”
The Exorcism At Buckingham Palace (Series creator/writer Hannah Rose May)
AIPT: What did you learn from Exorcism at 1600 Penn that would apply to Buckingham Palace?
HRM: The Exorcism at 1600 Penn helped us identify what readers were responding to and how we could pull those elements forward in the sequel. Our titles tell you what happens in our books, but the way we arrive there is the fun part. With 1600 Penn, we tried to play with the reader’s expectations of whether the demon was real or a symptom of the Havana Syndrome. With Buckingham Palace, our characters are dealing with demons that are both real and metaphorical which gives us lots of room to play.
AIPT: What moments can you tease from the story, and how does the setting really change the story’s core dynamics?
HRM: Moving from DC to London, and from an elected family to a royal one, fundamentally transforms our storytelling engine. Unlike the Doyles, who were thrust into the spotlight, the Belmonts have lived under the glare of the British press for decades. I don’t want to give away too much, but while this is a standalone story, readers of 1600 Penn will be rewarded.
Courtesy of IDW Dark.
AIPT: How far can the Exorcism “line” go, and what country’s famous seat of power might be next (and why there)?
HRM: One of the exciting things about The Exorcism at…. universe is that the world we’ve built isn’t limited to a single location. From the outset, we wanted the mythology to be flexible enough to support standalone stories in iconic places of power, while still connecting to a larger, overarching narrative. Buckingham Palace is a perfect example of that; it’s instantly recognizable, steeped in history, and culturally loaded in a way that makes it fertile ground for this kind of story.
Beyond that, there are plenty of famous seats of power around the globe that come with their own histories, symbolism, and secrets, all of which lend themselves naturally to an exorcism story. We’re excited for readers to experience The Exorcism at Buckingham Palace and start guessing where the next exorcism might take place. We know where we’d like to go next but half the fun is seeing where readers might think.
A Quiet Place: Storm Warning (Writer/layout artist Phil Hester)
AIPT: What’s the secret to a good prelude/prequel or working in a pre-established/well-known story universe?
Phil Hester: Well, it’s not that different from being assigned Spider-Man or Scrooge McDuck in that readers are already familiar with the concept. It’s incumbent on the creator to find a perspective that’s fresh and engaging within that existing framework. The good news with A Quiet Place is the coming of the creatures is a worldwide event that affects everyone on the planet. That means we’ve got billions and billions of perspectives to explore.
Probably the most authentic thing any creator can do in that type of situation is ground their story in their own lived experience. In the case of AQP:Storm Warning, the struggle against the creatures takes place in a small Midwestern town, something both Ryan Kelly (the series artist) and I are very familiar with. I’ve lived that life enough to know it’s not all Mayberry and Smallville. There are hidden faults beneath the surface of any community. An invasion of ravenous, homicidal creatures will crack those faults wide open.
In our story, the town is torn between battening down the hatches and hiding away as only a small town can, or signaling for help even though it leaves them wide open to the creatures. What’s more, those opposing perspectives are championed by a fire chief one one side, and the mayor (his estranged sister) on the other. So much like the films, what is apparently a suspenseful, action driven story turns out to have a deeper family drama at its core.
Courtesy of IDW Dark.
AIPT: Does adding more stories to this “universe” overextend the core premise? How do you counter that (if at all, of course)?
PH: I don’t think so at all. Like I said previously, this is a global event, like a war or great plague. Everyone on Earth suddenly becomes the main character in that kind of situation. As long as we’re judicious about the kind of stories we’re telling, always aiming for a uniquely thrilling and rewarding reading experience, I don’t think this milieu can ever be exhausted.
We have the added advantage of being the first attempt at tackling this world in the comics format. Comics is, by nature, a silent medium, so we have to stretch the form in ways most comics don’t. Sound has to become an integral visual element of each page. It has to be a character, really. Also, the characters spend much of the story not speaking, so our storytelling has to be clear and informative. I think we rose to those challenges in a way that’s very rewarding for readers. It’s not a rehash of the films in any way, but a new window into their unique blend of horror, action, and drama.
AIPT: If you’re in the world of A Quiet Place, what’s the best tip for surviving monsters, silence, isolation, etc.?
PH: HAHA. Well, you’re going to see almost every approach in this book, as well as the varying results. Let’s just say at some point you just have to go with the flow and hope things break your way. In AQP: Storm Warning, the people of Pearl learn pretty quickly that sound can not only kill, but save. It all depends on context.
Operation: Iron Coffin (Writer Kenny Porter and artist Tyrell Cannon)
AIPT: Why does Dracula continue to be of interest even though there’s (::checks notes::) 1,248 different stories about the vampire lord?
Kenny Porter: Dracula, as a character, is always going to be fascinating because he’s such a force of nature. Not only does he have powers from behind, but he’s got a strategic mind that nearly let him conquer the modern world.
Tyrell Cannon: Dracula has superpowers and immortality, which everyone wants on some level. But it’s the fact that his powers come with a price that intrigues so many of us. To have his power, he must regularly kill others and drink their blood. We are exploring that intimately with our Drac, as he has to deal with the impact of that dichotomy to complete his mission.
AIPT: Does fighting Hitler/fascists somehow over-humanize Dracula? How do you balance him as the hero and his sinister background/lineage?
KP: The story directly deals with his sinister background and the nature of his current mission. Dracula might be the protagonist of the story, but he’s not a hero. The whole emotional core of the story will explore his deeds as a man and a monster. There is no easy road to forgiveness for The Count.
Courtesy of IDW Dark.
TC: The most humanizing thing about our Dracula is that he is truly wrestling with the weight of his past actions and beliefs. This is something we all have to do at some point, with no guarantee that we’ll find peace.
AIPT: Can you spoil/tease any particularly cool/bloody scenes from this wild train ride?
KP: I don’t want to give away any specific scenes or elements, because I want people to see the jaw-dropping artwork that Tyrell has put on the page. But I will say that some of the scenes of horror would fit right in with a “Fatality” from Mortal Kombat.
TC: I’ve drawn about 50 Nazis getting killed by Drac in the most gloriously bloody ways imaginable. It feels exquisite. But beyond the typical goose-stepping coward, Dracula faces some big bads with their own enhancements. I’m particularly stoked for everyone to meet The Spear!
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