Image Comics have announced “The Deviant,” a nine-part, Christmas horror series by writer James Tynion IV, artist Joshua Hixson, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. The book follows a troubled young writer interviewing the “Deviant Killer,” who was convicted of the murders of several young men in Milwaukee during the winter of 1972, while dressed as Santa Claus. However, the killer “still maintains his innocence from behind bars. And as Christmas approaches once again, the past returns, wielding a sharpened ax.”
Tynion says, “‘The Deviant’ is something a little different. A dark, focused psychological crime thriller where I get to explore the intersection of my queer identity and a broader scope of cultural transgression and deviance. This is my response to Silence of the Lambs and Jeffrey Dahmer serving as my first real glimpses of my queer identity as a young closeted Midwestern boy. It’s one of the darkest and most personal stories I’ve ever written. It’s also a story about Christmas.” (Incidentally, Tynion grew up in Milwaukee, the city Dahmer was from, while Ed Gein, one of the killers who inspired Silence of the Lambs‘ Buffalo Bill, was also from Wisconsin.)
Hixson, whose credits include “The Plot” and “Children of the Woods,” adds, “’The Deviant’ is the kind of book I’ve been wanting to make for a long time. While I’ve been no stranger to the horror genre in my career of making comics, this story scratches a particular itch, and is unlike anything I’ve been a part of. And to get to do it with James, [editor] Steve [Foxe], and Hassan at Image Comics has been so creatively rewarding. I’m really excited for people to read it this holiday season.”
“The Deviant” #1 will be released on November 15, with two main covers provided by Hixson, and a host of variant artwork by Martin Simmonds, Andrea Sorrentino, Christian Ward, Lee Bermejo, and more.
