AfterShock Comics have announced a sci-fi horror comic, “Phantom on the Scan,” by writer Cullen Bunn, artist Mark Torres, and letterer Dave Sharpe. The series follows Matthew, an individual who gains powerful psychic abilities from a spirit that has haunted him for the last twenty years, ever since a comet landed on Earth. With each use of his powers, Matthew takes a step towards death, with many other psychics who earned their abilities from the night of the comet’s crash dying horrific deaths. To solve the mystery surrounding their powers, Matthew gathers a team of psychics before their time runs out.
In the press release, Bunn detailed that the psychics’ powers include telepathy, telekinesis, precognition, astral projection, “and more,” with Matt being the “most unique. Matt is an omnipath. He possesses many, many psychic powers. All of his powers manifest through ‘a little dead boy’–a ghost-like figure that accompanies him, invisibly, everywhere he goes. This ghost, Dorian, is decaying. Every time Matt uses a power, Dorian rots more and more, a symbol of how the powers are killing the user.”
Bunn also stated that Torres is currently composing a soundtrack to accompany the series, as he did with their previous collaboration, “Cold Spots,” though its release date has not been confirmed.
“Phantom On The Scan” #1 is scheduled for release on April 14. There will be a variant cover by Juan Doe for the first issue, with Torres providing the main cover art.
The variant cover, preview pages, and full press release are as follows.
PHANTOM ON THE SCAN #1 / $4.99 / 32 pages / Color / On Sale 4.14.2021
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist & Colorist: Mark Torres
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Cover: Mark Torres
Incentive Cover: Juan DoeTwenty years ago, a comet fell to earth. Since that night, Matthew has been haunted – haunted by a spirit that gives him incredible psychic abilities. But these abilities come with a price…and payment is due.
Every time Matthew uses his gifts, he draws closer to death, and other psychics – all of whom gained their powers on the night the comet fell – are dying in the most horrible of ways. To save himself, Matthew gathers a group of psychics to solve the mystery of their powers before it’s too late.
CULLEN BUNN ON WHAT THE STORY IS ABOUT AND WHY HE’S EXCITED FOR IT TO COME OUT:
“PHANTOM ON THE SCAN is a sci-fi horror tale. Twenty years ago, a comet fell to earth. After that night, numerous people developed psychic powers. Telepathy. Telekinesis. Precognition. Astral Projection. And more. For some, these powers were a blessing. For others, a terrible burden. Now, these psychics are dying in the most awful of ways. A group of six psychics come together to stop the force that is killing them. They will discover a terrible secret that binds them together.–a connection to the mysterious Trellux Institute. Their powers might be the key to salvation, but every time they use one of their abilities, they draw that much closer to a gruesome death.”
CULLEN BUNN ON SOME OF HIS INSPIRATIONS BEHIND CREATING THIS BOOK:
“THE SHINING. FIRESTARTER. THE DEAD ZONE. To say that the work of Stephen King was an influence on me as a writer, but on this story in particular would be an understatement. Not to mention, my father was a professional hypnotist and he had a deep fascination with the powers of the mind that he imparted to me. But… let’s be honest… at the age of 11 or 12 I somehow saw Cronenberg’s masterpiece SCANNERS. I’m not sure how I managed to see it. But that head-exploding story of psychic powers stuck with me ever since. So–yes–it’s a big influence. I have been inspired by the potentially deadly nature of mental powers… deadly to the people that possess them… as a horror theme for some time.
Another big inspiration for this series was my collaboration with artist Mark Torres. A couple of years back, we did a book called COLD SPOTS that we’re very proud of. That book features deadly psychic powers of a sort, too. But the moodiness and ambience of Mark’s art helped shape PHANTOM ON THE SCAN into the dark sci-fi horror story that it is! I crafted the series in a way that I thought would really give Mark lots of room to scare the Hell out of us!”
CULLEN BUNN ON HIS APPROACH TO THE UNIQUE PSYCHIC POWERS THE CHARACTERS HAVE IN TERMS OF HOW THEIR POWERS WORK:
“You’ll see a lot of different psychic powers in the book. You might be familiar with some. Others might be a little new to you. The ways different characters use their gifts will show some new angles to those ideas you’re familiar with. Our lead character, Matt, is perhaps the most unique. Matt is an omnipath. He possesses many, many psychic powers. All of his powers manifest through “a little dead boy”–a ghost-like figure that accompanies him, invisibly, everywhere he goes. This ghost, Dorian, is decaying. Every time Matt uses a power, Dorina rots more and more, a symbol of how the powers are killing the user.”
CULLEN BUNN ON 3 REASONS WHY COMIC READERS SHOULD PICK THIS BOOK UP:
“This is a new horror story from Mark Torres and myself, and Mark is going all out to bring creepiness to the page… and beyond the page. He’s even composing soundtracks for the comic, as he did with COLD SPOTS! We’re going to be showing off a brand new world of psychic powers. A new world to explore. It’s dark and twisted. You don’t want to miss it. And the ending of this tale is one of the most haunting and horrific things I’ve written. I think you’ll dig it.”
