Writer Mark Russell (Billionaire Island, Exit Stage Left: The Snagglepuss Chronicles, The Flintstones) is tackling his first straight-up horror series in Vault Comics' Deadbox with artist Benjamin Tiesma (Dead Body Road, Captain Canuck), colorist Vladimir Popov (Fearscape, A Dark Interlude) and designer Tim Daniel.
Set in the town of Lost Turkey, Deadbox finds a cursed DVD rental kiosk as the main source of entertainment. However, what the residents soon discover is the rental machine is the key to unlocking all of their darkest secrets: every movie that people rent from the rental machine is a twisted mirror version of the viewer's own life. Watching the film causes people to go insane as horrible things start to happen and the small town starts to spin out of control. Also, each issue features a twisted version of a different movie genre (Pixar, superhero movies, action blockbusters, etc.), with the art reflecting the style of those films.
"I wrote Deadbox as a horror story, not just about a cursed DVD rental machine, but also about the feeling of being trapped, boxed if you will, in a town that doesn't get you and a place you will never feel at home in no matter how long you live there," Russell said. "As a kid who felt, in many ways, trapped by his upbringing and sought personal escape in movies, Deadbox tells a story that's deeply personal to me, even though it's about something as goofy as haunted movies. My hope is that as fewer and fewer Americans begin to recognize the place they call home, this will have a personal meaning for them, too. That we can each, in our own way, find a way to survive the horror of the everyday."
Vault Cover-Artist-in-Residence Corin Howell will provide variant covers for the entire series.
Deadbox #1 goes on sale in August from Vault Comics.
Source: Vault Comics