Last week, BOOM! Studios officially announced the relaunch of their Hellraiser comic book with Hellraiser: The Dark Watch. The new series will be co-written by Witch Doctor's Brandon Seifert, who is also working on the miniseries Hellraiser: The Road Below. I recently had a chance to catch up with Brandon and asked him about the miniseries, working with Clive Barker, and what we can expect from The Dark Watch:
How did you become involved with the Hellraiser comic book series? Did BOOM! and Clive reach out to you because of your work on Witch Doctor or did you reach out to them?
Brandon Seifert: Last year, I put out Witch Doctor with Lukas, and BOOM! saw it, liked it, and emailed me asking if I could do a story for the Hellraiser Annual in April. Out of all stuff that BOOM! does, Hellraiser was what I was most interested in and I was actually planning on reaching out to them about it. It was really nice to have them beat me to it.
Initially, they were just asking about an 8-15 page story in the annual. Over the course of discussion, it became a 22-page story and the only other story was being written by Clive Barker. They liked what I did with it and asked me to pitch a miniseries or one-shot. The Road Below came from those discussions.
When it came to pitching your ideas for Hellraiser, did you receive much direction from Clive Barker? Were you told ahead of time what you could or couldn't do?
Brandon Seifert: At this point, I haven't had direct contact with Clive. I receive notes from him, so even though he makes his presence felt, I hear when he likes or doesn't like things from my editor. With the first story, I was worried about it and I heard that Clive loved it. His only note was to make the ending a bit bigger and they gave me an extra page to do it, so that was the only change to the annual. They let me do the story I wanted to do in the way I wanted to, so that was pretty much the best experience to have.
With The Road Below, I can tell pretty well in advance what notes I'll get on the script based on how comfortable I am with it. With the first drafts, I was trying to figure out the characters and story, so I received more extensive notes. It made everything much better, and I'm much happier with the notes from Clive and everybody. With the third issue, it was the first I was really happy with, and they didn't have any notes on that one.
Hellraiser is Clive's baby and he is pulling all of the strings on the current books. Even if he's not in the room, he's still watching and listening, and nothing goes through without his approval.
I know you're on Twitter a good bit. With the first issue of The Road Below now available, have you been happy with the response to it you've seen online?
Brandon Seifert: Yeah, people seem to be enjoying it. It's kind of a strange thing to do in Hellraiser, because the status quo in the new comics are different from the original movies. Pinhead is human again and the new Pinhead is Kirsty Cotton. She's still a good person and trying to change hell for the better. That whole setup is going to be different for people who are only used to the movies and that is where the miniseries starts. Kirsty is trying to make hell a better place and it's absolutely not working out for anybody. The way I approached it was to make it like a self-contained Hellraiser movie, but have Kirsty Cotton be Pinhead and see what that would look like.
Can you give our readers a little tease of what they can expect from the next three issues of The Road Below?
Brandon Seifert: In issue 1, we introduce families who are on opposite sides. One of them has summoned Kirsty in order to give them an edge. In issue 2, we see just how badly that goes. Of course, Kirsty is going to get free and there are some big fight scenes. There are a lot of twists and turns, but I don't want to give too much more away.
Hellraiser: The Dark Watch was recently announced as the new, rebooted on-going series. What can you tell me about your work on that?
Brandon Seifert: I don't want to spoil the ending of issue 20, but things are substantially different for everybody. This new ongoing series is picking up a while after issue 20 ends and is a reboot of the comic book series. I'm co-writing it with Clive Barker and Mark Miller, who is the head of Clive's Seraphim Films.
Is this planned as an on-going series for the foreseeable future or more like the current series, where it will end after twenty issues?
Brandon Seifert: At this point, it's an ongoing series. I turned in my plans up to issue 12 and had them approved, but everything is fluid. I'm not sure what will happen between now and then.
I know that Clive isn't a fan of the newer Hellraiser movies and I wanted to find out what you were told in terms of what is canon and what isn't. Does the comic book series only acknowledge the events of the first two films?
Brandon Seifert: Yeah, that's what I've been told. The ongoing series is set a number of years after the second film, and as far as they're concerned, the other films haven't happened.
It seems that you've become very successful in a very short period of time. Is it hard for you to believe that your working with Clive Barker and taking on other projects, after only working in the comic book industry professionally for a couple of years?
Brandon Seifert: It comes and goes. I can't really function if I'm aware of how awesome and weird everything is. I'm working with Clive Barker and I'm also writing two issues of the Doctor Who comic book series. If I think about that too much it's crippling, so I have to take it for granted. Occasionally I get hit with it and I'm like "What? This is not my beautiful home and my beautiful wife. How did I get here?" [laughs] For working in comics for as briefly as I have been so far, I've honestly seen an absurd amount of success. I'm really grateful for it, still a bit confused about it, and definitely taken back at times by it.
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Look for more Hellraiser coverage from us in the coming weeks, including preview pages from The Road Below #2 and The Dark Watch #1. Until then, check out a teaser image and cover art from the new Hellraiser series below:
"This February, BOOM! Studios will relaunch the HELLRAISER franchise with HELLRAISER: THE DARK WATCH, an all-new ongoing monthly series. The relaunch of this incredibly popular series will be co-written by creator Clive Barker and Brandon Seifert (WITCH DOCTOR, HELLRAISER: THE ROAD BELOW) and illustrated by newcomer Tom Garcia (HELLRAISER).
NEW ONGOING SERIES! THE NEW ERA OF HELLRAISER BEGINS! As promised, Clive Barker did not only return to the Hellraiser universe, he re-imagined it! Nothing is as simple as it seems – the old ways have been destroyed and a dangerous new world lies in its wake. Where are Elliott Spencer and Kirsty Cotton? Who will rule and who will serve? Rising star Brandon Seifert joins forces with the legendary Clive Barker, with art by Tom Garcia, to begin this amazing new chapter in the history of one of horror’s greatest franchises."
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