Earlier this week, BOOM! Studios reached their monthly Cenobite quota by releasing issue #1 of Clive Barker’s new Hellraiser comic series. Available on shelves now, issue #1 features all the nostalgic details that we’ve come to expect and love from Pinhead and friends: sadomasochistic undertones, coy sexual themes, chains with hooks attached to them -etcetera, etcetera. But just in case that’s not enough filler for you (you sick bastard), BOOM! Studios also just released an exclusive online-only, 8-page, PDF downloadable prequel to issue #1. Hellraiser: At the Tolling of A Bell is available for free here.
“This is an unprecedented chance to spread the word of comic books,” said BOOM! Founder and Chief Executive Officer Ross Richie, “with one of the biggest authors and with one of his signature creations. Non-comic book fans, lapsed comic book fans, and horror aficionados who don’t go into comic book stores will all be excited and interested in this. And we are calling on the fans to get the word out to them. Send this via Facebook, Twitter, torrents, and e-mails to everyone in your life that you think would dig this, and let’s increase the overall pool of people worldwide who read comic books! I can’t think of an easier way to share this great comic. They don’t call it Portable Document File for nothing!” [ComicsAlliance]
After the jump we’ve also included a 5-page preview of what you’ll find inside Hellraiser #1, for everyone to take a gander at. I hope I’m not ruining this for anyone in saying that I suspect most of these comics end with leather fetish gear and human organs strewn about a cold, dark torture dungeon. It’s just a hunch. Onto the next case, Watson!
[special thanks to ThingsFromAnotherWorld]