In need of money and desperate for work, the son of legendary paranormal investigators (who were murdered along with the rest of his family when he was growing up) reluctantly faces his supernatural legacy when he's forced to the forefront of a ghost-hunting reality show in the new comic book series The Tormented. Written by Chuck Austen and featuring artwork by Patrick Olliffe, colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Jodi Wynne, and edits by Greg Lockard, the first issue of The Tormented is now available digitally from Amazon's Comixology Originals, and we've been provided with exclusive artwork and bios of the series' haunted characters to share with Daily Dead readers!
Below, you can meet the Austerhölle family and the crew of the ghost-hunting reality show Restless Spirits in exclusive character bios (by Chuck Austen) and character designs (by Patrick Olliffe). We also have a look at the cover art and preview pages from the first issue, and to learn more about The Tormented, be sure to visit Amazon's Comixology Originals!
Meet the Cast of The Tormented written by Chuck Austen with art by Patrick Olliffe
Meet The Family of The Tormented:
Ryan Austerhölle
Kind, charming on camera, with profound concern for others, Ryan is also withdrawn, easily angered, and uncomfortable with his inherited, paranormal “gifts”. Ryan was born with a combination of both parents' talents, his mother's psychic ability to speak to passed spirits, and his father's powers to battle them, when needed. But he’s highly aware that this means little when battling otherworldly creatures, knowing well that those gifts didn’t help his sister, who also inherited their parent’s paranormal talents, and still died by their side.
On the surface, Ryan is an average guy: Unsure of where he’s going in life, smarter than he thinks he is, talented in ways he didn’t expect, and tormented by his past, his childhood, and his fear of upsetting those around him. Ryan comes of age and inherits his family home… and his family debt. Now Ryan is facing the real world with no money, no education, no real job skills, his only marketable talent seems to be as a speaker to the dead.
Adam Hunter Austerhölle
Ryan’s dead father Adam was never much a part of Ryan’s life—which is mostly for the best, as when he was a part of Ryan’s life, he was usually silent, and angry.
Now that he’s a ghost he’s more in Ryan’s business than he ever was alive. He appears to be trying to make up for being an absent father, but his advice always seems to benefit Adam more than Ryan. What Adam’s full intentions are remain unclear.
Vera Austerhölle
Ryan’s mom Vera was a quiet, kind, religious girl, who hid her own powers from her parents, much as Ryan hid his—which is why she always suspected he was keeping his own gifts a secret. Fearing her own parent's reaction, she developed her gifts on her own, learned to use them quite effectively, though the guilt of ‘going against God’ often overwhelmed her.
Then one day she met Adam. Charismatic, handsome, and confident. All the things she felt she lacked in herself. He dazzled her and made her his. Life was a fantastic whirlwind of romance, passion, power, and magic—all mixed with a healthy dose of fear. Fear of the ghosts and creatures they hunted, fear of her family, fear of Adam, and his violent temper.
Cassandra Austerhölle
Cassie is a typical, angry teenage girl. With powers. She never got along with her brother, Ryan. Call it personality differences, call it venting your life’s pain and frustrations on those weaker than you—call it whatever you want—Cassandra Austerhölle and Ryan were never close. Less so now that she’s dead.
She often vents her copious anger on Ryan (and Quinn, before his death), passing along the horror that her parents dole out on her. But inside—very, very deep inside—she loves Ryan, and would give her life for him. In a way… she did.
Quinn
Quinn, Ryan’s little brother was a goof, with an unending sense of playful humor, who loved fun, even if it meant enraging his father. He thought—probably—that bad attention was better than no attention at all.
One day Quinn is killed under mysterious circumstances, his neck broken in a fall down the stairs into the basement, and Ryan heavily grieves the loss of the boy he was supposed to protect. Until Quinn comes back, and starts harassing him, taunting him, and getting Ryan into even more trouble than Quinn ever did when he was alive.
Meet The Crew of “Restless Spirits” in The Tormented:
Brad Penetrante
Funny, charming, narcissistic, aggravating, intelligent, witty, and rude as hell—Brad is all these things; in other words, a typical low rent television producer. He’s thrilled to be onto something amazing with his new, young discovery of Ryan Austerhölle, but make no mistake: Brad is all about Brad. He will move the chess pieces around as he sees fit… all to benefit Brad, and whatever Brad’s ultimate goal might be.
Opal Beale
Opal is the abandoned child of a vanished mother, and absent father. She had experiences with ghosts as a young girl that left her unable to leave the subject alone and has dismissed her experiences so completely that she is unaware that she is STILL crossing paths with ghosts. Now she’s learning that she has hidden powers, not unlike Ryan, and wants to develop them—especially when she discovers that she’ll need them for self-defense against things that are worse than ghosts.
Sahir Burhan
A highly intelligent paranormal investigator, Sahir has believed in ghosts and an afterlife for as long as he can remember, but sadly has never seen anything. At least until Ryan came on the scene. What he had “believed” to be real, is now very real.
Etka Data
An ambitious woman who feels she has more of what it takes to make the Restless Spirits show a success than Ryan. Brad, unfortunately for her, disagrees. Her ambition comes from wanting to prove her parents wrong for doubting, and dismissing her “psychic abilities”, though she herself doubts them, too—even more since Ryan begins to emerge as a paranormal powerhouse.
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Press Release: March 14, 2024—New York, NY— Writer, producer, and animator Chuck Austen and artist Patrick Olliffe reunite for The Tormented, a new 5-issue comic book series about Ryan Auster, a young man with paranormal abilities starring on a new ghost hunting reality TV show. Featuring colors by Lee Loughridge, letters by Jodi Wynne, and edits by Greg Lockard, The Tormented makes its first appearance March 19, 2024, from Amazon’s Comixology Originals exclusive digital content line.
“Ryan Auster, our protagonist in The Tormented, sees ghosts, but kept it from his ghost-hunting family because he feared his family more than the ghosts, and because he’s been hiding it his whole life, now in his twenties, he still hasn’t quite learned how to deal with the unexpected spirits, demons, and otherworldly creatures that are constantly invading his life," said Austen. "This series has been an absolute trip to create with Pat, and I hope readers have as much fun reading the story as we’ve had making it.”
Ryan Auster is the son of legendary ghost hunters Vera and Adam Austerhölle, but this is a fact he doesn’t share willingly. Unlike his father, mother, and sister, Ryan never had “the gift” to “see” the paranormal, so they’d leave him behind whenever they went out to investigate. But Ryan was hiding his abilities, terrified of the consequences of his supposed “gift,” and the parents who gave them to him. Then, one life-altering night, his entire family is brutally murdered. Instantly orphaned, Ryan was raised by various foster families—many of whom faced horrible fates of their own.
Now, as an adult, Ryan finds himself the charismatic host of a children’s online cooking show. But when that series suddenly ends, and his pushy producer discovers Ryan’s family history, Ryan is unexpectedly and unwillingly sold as the host of a brand-new ghost hunting reality TV series. Ryan desperately needs the money, but he knows that if he agrees to host “Restless Spirits,” and use his supernatural “gifts,” it will make him a beacon that draws—not only the beings that gruesomely butchered his family—but all the many horrors that hide in the darkness, marking him, and his newfound friends on the show, to suffer the same fate as his murdered family.
"Working with Chuck on The Tormented has been a blast!" says Olliffe. "He and I have developed a great give and take working relationship during our time creating Edgeworld so we hit the ground running with this new project. Once the concept was in place the designs for the characters came quickly, Ryan popping into my head immediately. I’ve changed my art style a bit for The Tormented to hopefully accommodate a darker story. Regardless, Lee always makes me look good! Very excited for The Tormented to enter the world and for people to see what Chuck, Lee, Jodi and I have come up with!"
About the Creators:
Chuck Austen began his career as a commercial illustrator and has always been a storyteller. He has worked on so many different things he feels the desperate need to lie down. Austen’s animation skills have been part of King of the Hill, Steven Universe, The Cleveland Show, and he co-created the hit series Tripping the Rift for SYFY. He has spent seven years as a producer for DreamWorks TV on Dawn of the Croods, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. He also wrote a lot of comics, including Uncanny X-Men, JLA, Superman, The Avengers, and the sci-fi space Western, Edgeworld with Patrick Olliffe for Comixology Originals.
Patrick Olliffe is a veteran comic book illustrator with over 32 years of experience, working for some of the largest publishers in the industry, including Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Dark Horse and Disney Publishing. His long list of credits includes drawing characters such as Spider-Man, Thor, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Catwoman, Hawkman, plus for Disney’s Marvel Press, Captain America, The Fantastic Four, Hulk, The Avengers, The X-Men, and the sci-fi space Western, Edgeworld with Chuck Austen for Comixology Originals.
About Comixology Originals:
Amazon’s Comixology Originals exclusive digital content line is a
vailable at no additional cost for members of Amazon Prime, Kindle Unlimited, and Comixology Unlimited, and for purchase atamazon.com/comixology. Prime Reading offers all Amazon Prime members a rotating selection of more than 3,000 digital books, magazines, comics, and more – all at no additional cost to their Prime membership. Kindle Unlimited gives customers access to more than 4 million digital titles, including thousands of audio books and comics, plus current magazines for just $11.99 a month with a free trial period atamazon.com/kindleunlimited. Comixology Unlimited offers over 45,000 comics, graphic novels and manga for just $5.99 a month with a free trial at amazon.com/comixologyunlimited.
The Tormented #1 Preview Pages:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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