In a press release, AfterShock Comics have announced “Witch Hammer,” a graphic novel written by Cullen Bunn with art by Dalibor Talajic (“Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe”) and colorist Seb Camagajevac, due out this November. The comic reimagines witches as living among us, leading ordinary lives – until someone starts murdering them. Two agents are on the masked killer’s trail, but are soon faced with the possibility that the victims are in league with demonic forces, and that he may be doing the right thing…
Since AfterShock was founded in 2015, they have published many ongoing and limited series, as well as the oversized hardback anthology book “Shock.” “Witch Hammer” will be their first graphic novel, and it will be published in a similar oversized format, and so will any subsequent graphic novels. We’ve attached the full press release, complete with a six-page preview, and comments by Bunn and Publisher/CCO Joe Pruett. “Witch Hammer” will be published on November 28th.
WITCH HAMMER / $19.99 / 64 pages / Color / on sale 11.28.18
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Dalibor Talajic
Colorist: Seb Camagajevac
Letterer: Marshall Dillon
Cover: Dalibor TalajicWitch. The word conjures images of hags in black robes and crooked hats, standing over cauldrons of bubbling brew. But witches are among us, and we do not realize it. They are our friends and neighbors. They are our family members. They are our idols.
And someone is murdering them.
Agents Frontenac and Guinness are on the killer’s trail. But as they delve deeper into the hidden, magical world around them, they are haunted by a terrifying question. Is the killer doing the right thing?
Presenting the first in a unique collection of compelling stories crafted by master storytellers and told in the way they were meant to be told.
Original Graphic Novels from AfterShock.
Shockingly Exceptional.
CULLEN BUNN ON WHAT WITCH HAMMER IS ABOUT AND WHY HE’S EXCITED FOR READERS TO CHECK IT OUT:
WITCH HAMMER is a different kind of horror story. In this original graphic album, we are thrown headlong into a dark and bloody mystery. Someone is hunting people down, murdering them in cold blood. The connection between the victims–they are all practitioners of witchcraft. The killer is a terrifying figure–armed to the teeth and wearing a ghastly goat mask–and he is made all the more frightening and more dangerous by one simple fact. He believes in what he is doing. Emboldened by the awful power of conviction, he is on a one-man crusade. He is pursued by a group of federal investigators hellbent on stopping his killing spree. These investigators, though, are faced with a dreadful conundrum of their own. What if the victims actually are in league with demonic forces?
This is a bloody, violent, frightening thriller, and I can’t wait to hear what readers think about it. On the surface, the story is fairly straightforward–a murderer is at work and must be stopped–but I think this book will challenge readers. Who are the heroes? The villains? The victims? The answers will change as the story progresses.
For this book, I’m partnering once more with my DEADPOOL KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE cohort, Dalibor Talajic. I couldn’t be happier, because Dalibor was built to draw this kind of dark story. His work here is going to inspire awe, dread, and fear.
CULLEN BUNN ON SOME OF HIS FAVORITE AFTERSHOCK BOOKS AND WHY:
Something I love about AfterShock (and something that has made them a great publisher for me) is that they take chances with the types of stories they publish. They don’t shy away from the strange and horrific, and some of my favorite books fall in that category. INSEXTS, BLACK-EYED KIDS, and the recent A WALK THROUGH HELL are all favorites for me. I’m inspired by a publisher that takes such daring chances with their slate of books!
CULLEN BUNN ON (3) REASONS WHY COMIC BOOK FANS SHOULD ADD THIS TITLE TO THEIR PULL LIST:
All right! Here we go! (1) Dalibor Talajic is going to blow you away with this story. His grasp of crime elements, of horror elements, of tension and mood is unsurpassed. (2) This is a tale with all the vigilante-style mayhem of a PUNISHER book, but with a dark, supernatural twist. And (3) There’s a couple of twists in this book that will absolutely knock you right out of your reading chair.
JOE PRUETT ON SOME OF THE REASONS WHY AFTERSHOCK CHOSE CULLEN BUNN TO DO THEIR FIRST-EVER ORIGINAL GRAPHIC NOVEL:
“Cullen was a very obvious choice as he’s been an AfterShock mainstay for quite a while now and been highly successful with his previous comic series launches with us. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that he had a fantastic story that he was eager to tell and that we were able to secure such an amazingly talented artist such as Dalibor Taljic to craft this passion project with him. I’ve worked with Dalibor in the past, as has Cullen on Deadpool, so we were both thrilled that he was available to join us for our initial launch of this line.”
JOE PRUETT ON WHY THIS NEW LINE IS SO IMPORTANT FOR THE COMPANY:
“AfterShock has stood for quality since Day One. Quality stories. Quality creators. Quality production. This line not only continues that tradition, but takes it to an even higher level. Following up on the success of our oversized hardcover anthology title SHOCK, this line of original graphic novels will be presented in the same oversized hardcover format that is so popular in Europe, with the finest paper stock, larger pages so that the art can truly be appreciated as it should be, and a prestigious line up of creative talent. This format will allow our creators to escape the monthly deadlines of comic serials and spend the time necessary to focus on the details of both story and art rather than trying to hit some never-ending deadline crunch. Creators that I know have been asking to do this format for years, so we’re super excited to afford them this opportunity. What we’ve been hearing from fans is that there’s a strong desire to experience some stories in as close to one sitting as possible – the equivalent of binge-watching. The story beats of Witch Hammer lend themselves particularly well to that.”
