Deron Generally
Deron Generally
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser Omnibus Vol 1
Boom! Studios
Written by Clive Barker with Christopher Monfette, Anthony Diblasi, Robb Humphreys, Mark Miller and Brandon Seifert
Art by Leonardo Manco, Jesus Hervas, Stephen Thompson, Janusz Ordon, Michael Montenat, Ibrahim Roberson, Andre Stahlschmidt, Giovanni P. Timpano, Marcio Henrique and Tom Garcia
Colors by Juan Manuel Tumburus, Charlie Kirchoff, Darrin Moore, Jordie Bellaire, Space Goat Productions, Cirque Studios and Vladimir Popov
Letters by Johnny Lowe and Travis Lanham
Northgate Penitentiary is being cleared out. As the prisoners prepare to be transferred to another institution, the last prisoner in the facility’s death row is prepared for his execution. With no other staff present, it falls to the priest to do the deed, but as William Boyle prepares for his final judgement, the priest hands him a puzzle box. As Boyle is electrocuted, the box opens and Pinhead stands before him and the priest. The priest believes that Boyle died a guilty man. His reward from Pinhead proves otherwise and the former man of God will find no peace in Heaven or Hell.
In Nebraska, a solitary man walks across his field carrying a bucket as a woman screams for help from the bottom of a well where she’s being kept prisoner. The occupant of the solitary farmhouse watches her as she finds a puzzle box on a table and begins to unlock it. As Pinhead and the Cenobites appear before the pleading woman, Pinhead quickly tires of the entire exercise. After dispatching the woman, they return to Hell and news of a woman and her group who have obtained a victory against others of their kind. The news amuses Pinhead, who wishes for some kind of change and his words convey a middling respect for the woman he thought he broke.
As he enters a forbidden chamber, he seeks an audience with the power there in the hopes of acquiring something that will change everything Pinhead knows and could bring on him a fate worse than death. Meanwhile, the woman Pinhead has found a grudging respect for is planning another assault on the servants of Hell, unaware that she is in Pinhead’s sights for something more.
Barker truly is a master of the macabre and this omnibus takes readers back into the world of Hellraiser fully. The story captures the seductive power of Pinhead perfectly and each chapter is more immersive. I found myself reading it twice in the same sitting to make sure I had immersed myself fully in this world and this story. The art is amazing in many of the chapters with the gore beautifully rendered from panel to panel. Definitely worth checking out.
