The man who came down the attic stairs News 

Celine Loup Tackles the Fears of New Motherhood in “The Man Who Came Down the Attic Stairs”

By | March 20th, 2019
Posted in News | % Comments

The Beat shared an exclusive look today at the cover for “The Man Who Came Down the Attic Stairs” by Ignatz Award-nominated artist Celine Loup. Check out the full synopsis from BOOM! Studios below:

Cover by Celine Loup
Emma is excited to start a family in her new home, but after her child’s birth she finds her world turning upside-down. The infant cries like it’s scared of something, or someone, and Emma’s sleepless nights quickly drive a wedge between her and her husband, who seems uncharacteristically detached. When Emma begins to see strange things in the house, the line between reality and fantasy blurs and her grasp of what’s real and what’s not becomes even more clouded. Is something unnatural haunting the nursery? And what if it also affected her husband, who ventured up into the attic when they first arrived…

“The Man Who Came Down the Attic Stairs” is inspired by the work of writers Ira Levin (Rosemary’s Baby, The Stepford Wives) and Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House). It blends suspense and horror to capture the fear and isolation of motherhood, specifically postpartum depression.

“I wanted to tell a story about a fear that women dare not speak aloud, not even to themselves, often until after it’s too late,” said Loup. “Motherhood brings so much joy to the women who experience it, but for many it can feel like a prison, and no one can be certain until they’ve crossed a point of no return how it will be for them. Horror’s greatest potential is the gift of empathy, and I hope ‘The Man Who Came Down the Attic Stairs’ will create a space in which we can reach out to each other in times of personal crisis without fear of judgement.”

Though Loup has previously published and sold the horror comic through her Etsy shop, the Beat revealed that “The Man Who Came Down the Attic Stairs” has been acquired by BOOM! Studios imprint Archaia, which will bring it to comic book stores on September 18 and book stores on September 24, with digital copies being made available at the same time. According to comments made by Loup on her Twitter account, the new Archaia-published version will be expanded from the original self-published title.


Kerry Erlanger

Kerry Erlanger is a writer from New York whose accolades include being named Time Person of the Year 2006. She can be found on Twitter at @hellokerry.

EMAIL | ARTICLES