We go to theme parks in search of a good time, and more often than not, that means being scared. Usually, those visceral thrills are delivered via popular and iconic amusement park attractions like rollercoasters and funhouses. And some parks like Universal Studios go all out to deliver creepy and immersive attractions during the Halloween season. But what if there was a park where every day felt like Halloween? Where killers, creepy clowns, and zombies haunt the rides and the streets? And what if its creation was built on a sinister, supernatural secret harbored by a wealthy family?
These questions fuel writer Joshua Williamson and artist Andrei Bressan's newly launched creator-owned series, Dark Ride, from Image Comics' Skybound imprint. In the series' first issue, readers meet Owen Seasons, the newest employee at the Arthur Dante-designed theme park, Devil Land. Owen encounters Dante's children, Samhain and Halloween, and sees many of Devil Land's iconic attractions. In a tragic and shocking twist, Owen's career is cut short when a ride on the park's signature roller coaster, the Devil's Due, leads to what looked like his shocking demise at the hands of some demonic monsters. CBR recently spoke with Williamson about his new series. He discussed his love of the horror genre and amusement parks, what the future has in store for Dark Ride, and the Dante family's secrets.
CBR: In Dark Ride #1, you give readers a map of the entire theme park. What was it like designing the park with artist Andrei Bressan?
Josh Williamson: It was incredibly difficult [Laughs] because Andrei had never been in an amusement park before. I'm obsessed with amusement parks and know a lot about them. I have a collection of books about the development of rides and theme parks in my office. I have one that's just a book of maps, and I have a small collection of amusement park maps not just from the years and places I've been, but different time periods and eras. So, I have a good understanding of amusement park maps. When it came time to design Devil Land, I sat down with a giant whiteboard and mapped out the park. I figured out what it was going to look like and gathered a ton of references. I sent it all to Andrei, and we did the layout for the map.
A lot of the attractions in there are things I designed, like the Tunnel of Lovecraft and the Clown Carnage ride, which is the top of a clown head. Andrei immediately got what I was going for. He absorbed all the material I sent him, and we just made it. I'm really happy with it, and eventually, we'll be able to explore all the different parts of the park.
Dark Ride #1 tips its hat to films like Psycho in that we're introduced to a character, Owen Seasons, who we believe will be our protagonist, and he's suddenly dispatched at the end of the issue. It felt like Owen was also a way to organically deliver exposition in a book that's ultimately about the Dante family. Was that your intention?
Yes, that is exactly what I was doing. It's for sure an homage to Psycho. That's one of my favorite movies, and I love the idea of introducing this nice kid, who you think is our protagonist and then taking him off the board. Owen will come up again later, but his brutal ending of Issue #1 was meant to pull the rug out from you and make you realize the book is not exactly what you thought it was.
Arthur Dante's son, Sam [Samhain], takes over the POV of the book after the first issue. That was part of why I didn't introduce him in a dramatic way. He's brought into the story by Owen bumping into him. He seems like a bit of a jerk, but we see later that he's a very complicated person. I wanted to subvert expectations in the way I introduced him. You don't expect a person that a character bumps into to become the main POV of the entire book. The majority of this book is about the Dante family, especially Sam and Halloween. We introduce another character in Issue #2 [who] takes on a major role in the series.
The way Sam and Halloween are competing for the future of the park gave me some HBO's Succession vibes.
A lot of our story does come out of this idea of two siblings competing for this park, and they're competing for different reasons. At the end of the day, though, they want their father to love them. I did a book with Andrei before called Birthright. We did 50 issues of that series, and it was really about this family unit that loves each other when they're going through some major adversity. Birthright was a positive story about family, and with Dark Ride, we're flipping that on its head and looking at a more fucked up family. Arthur has done awful things, and his children look up to him. There's a scene in Issue #1 where Sam is like, "My dad built this place with blood, sweat, tears, and his bare hands. Everybody told him, no, but he worked hard." We know that's a lie!
I want to play around with how Sam and Halloween handle things like that when they piece together what's going on. Pretty much, things get bad for everybody. [Laughs] Because this is a horror book! It's funny you mentioned Succession because it's a show that so many people have told me to watch. When I started writing this, Sean Mackiewicz, the publisher of Skybound, loves that show and was like, "You need to watch it." Once I started watching it, I realized how much they had in common. I wouldn't say it's an influence, but yeah, our book is like that show.
I get the sense that Samhain stayed behind to help his father and win his love and that Halloween went out west to elevate the Dante brand and create her own. Is that true?
There's a rivalry there, and Sam tried to go out and do his own thing. He fucked up, though. When he came back, he thought he was going to run Devil Land and eventually take over. He's thinking his dad is going to die someday, but If you do the math, Arthur is probably 100 at this point.
Plus, every decision Sam makes is one based on fear, and Halloween is the opposite of that. She is genuinely unafraid and has no shame. She's not afraid to go out there, be herself, and have fun. Sometimes that gets her into trouble, but she's able to bounce back from it. She doesn't take on the stress the way Sam does.
Sam internalizes stress. He beats himself up over it. At the end of the first issue, he talks about the pressure he's feeling. His decisions are based on fear, and his sister is fearless. It's part of their dynamic, which we'll get into as the book goes along. In Issue #5, we'll start to see how competitive they can be with each other.
You mentioned Andrei's work on Birthright, and it's why I think he's perfect for this book. Because there are a lot of horror elements in Birthright, and as you said, it's also about family.
Yeah, that's why I knew he had to draw this. When I had the idea for this book, back in 2019, we weren't even done with Birthright, but I started talking about it with him back then.
Andrei is a really great collaborator to work with because I think when you get in a rhythm with the artist, you feel like you push them, and they level up. Then you feel like, "Shit! Now I have to level up." That was the case with Andrei in Birthright. I'd type up this crazy sequence and was curious what he would do with it, and he'd take that crazy idea and level it up. It encouraged me to start thinking outside the box and the page.
Plus, Birthright was a fantasy book, but Andrei loves horror. I knew he'd nail all the scary, creepy elements in Dark Ride. In a flashback sequence at the beginning of Issue #1, we see Arthur Dante get fired because he was going too over the top with the horror, and there are times when I have to tell Andrei, "No, no, no! Not that scary! Bring it back a bit." There's a scene in Issue #4 where I was like, "That's too much for this part. We'll get scarier later." [Laughs]
We don't just have Andrei, either. We have the entire creative team from Birthright; Adriano Lucas on colors and Pat Brosseau is our letterer. All my collaborators on this book have been awesome.
What else can you tell us about the supporting cast of Dark Ride? Will we learn more about the backstage crew we saw in Issue #1, like Katie Kingston and security head John Hayter?
You'll see some of them, but we won't get into their stories in our first arc. As the book moves along, I want to bring in more backstage people. There are the people that Sam works with, like Marcus and Sally. And you will learn a little about Hayter as we go. The rest of the supporting cast is something we'll get to gradually.
It's interesting because Issue #1 ending the way it does with Owen makes it so that Issue #2 is almost a restart. It takes place a month after. It's still the same characters, but we introduce two new ones. It's like, "Now the mystery starts."
You raise a lot of big questions in Dark Ride #1, and the solicits suggest that one or two of them just might be answered by the time this initial arc is finished. Is that correct?
Yes, but those answers will just lead to bigger questions. Some questions will be answered for characters, but readers will be like, "That answer is a lie, and I know it!" That happens in Issue #4.
What else can you tell us about some of your plans beyond this first arc?
Halloween, the season, is a really big deal in the park. It figures into some characters' storylines around Issue #5.
Dark Ride is a different kind of horror book. I hope people who love amusement parks as much as I do check it out and appreciate what we're doing. We're using our love of horror and theme parks to tell what I think is a really cool story.
Dark Ride #2 is out now, from Image Comics.