James Tynion IV and Fernando Blanco's upcoming Image Comics collaboration is W0RLDTR33, a series that features internet horrors that bleed out into the real world, causing deadly repercussions.
CBR can present an exclusive preview illustrated by Blanco (Catwoman, Detective Comics) for W0RLDTR33 #1, on sale in April 2023. The issue has a bloody beginning, with a killer stabbing an old lady and livestreaming his murder on the internet -- all as a grinning, ominous woman named PH34R watches.
Image's description of W0RLDTR33 reveals that the series takes its name from a nefarious message board, and also features a hidden underbelly to the world wide web named Undernet. The publisher said, "In 1999, Gabriel and his friends discovered the Undernet, a secret architecture to the Internet. They charted their exploration on a message board called W0RLDTR33. Then they lost control. Someone broke into W0RLDTR33 -- someone who welcomed the violent hold the Undernet had on them. At great personal cost, Gabriel and the others thought they sealed the Undernet away for good. They were wrong. And now they will know the meaning of PH34R."
Who Is PH34R?
Tynion, who kicked off his comics career writing backup stories for the "Court of Owls" event in DC's 2011 Batman series, has increasingly delved into horror with his creator-owned work. These include series like Something is Killing the Children for BOOM! Studios, The Department of Truth for Image Comics and The Nice House on the Lake for DC's Black Label line. Despite his already impressive collection of horror antagonists, Tynion said he was excited for readers to meet PH34R, promising that she was different from all her peers.
"I'm extremely excited for readers to meet PH34R (pronounced "Fear") in the first issue of W0RLDTR33. She is one of the most frightening characters I've written in my career: a relentless murderer whose disturbing inhumanity draws on great fictional killers like Anton Chigurh," Tynion IV said, referencing the infamous character from Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. "PH34R kills in service of a higher power she found in the dark depths of the internet, and if she gets her way…it's going to mean the end of the world."
Tynion and Blanco will be accompanied on W0RLDTR33 by Eisner-winning colorist Jordie Bellaire (Pretty Deadly, The Wake) and Eisner-nominated letterer Aditya Bidikar (Batman/Superman: World's Finest, DC Pride). Featuring cover art by Blanco, Jenny Frison, Bill Sienkiewicz and Álvaro Martínez Bueno, W0RLDTR33 #1 goes on sale April 12, 2023, from Image Comics.
Source: Image Comics