The Dead Boy Detectives, two fan-favorite characters from Neil Gaiman's run on The Sandman, are returning for their own DC spinoff.
DC's The Sandman Universe: Dead Boy Detectives is a new six-issue miniseries from writer Pornsak Pichetshote, artist Jeff Stokely, colorist Miquel Muerto and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. Releasing this December, the series follows Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine, characters who were first introduced in 1991's The Sandman #25 by Gaiman and Matt Wagner, on a brand-new adventure. The synopsis reads, "The Sandman Universe grows as two of its most beloved characters return to the spotlight! Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine have been detectives for decades—and dead best friends even longer. But their investigation into a Thai American girl’s disappearance from her Los Angeles home puts them on a collision course with new and terrifying ghosts that could give even a dead boy nightmares—including a bloodthirsty krasue. Even scarier than the ghosts? Though neither wants to admit it, the boys might be growing apart. And perilously close by to the boys’ adventure, Thessaly the witch finds herself held hostage by dangerous magics—both a threat to her life and an insult to her ego that simply will not go unanswered…"
Pichetshote said of The Sandman Universe: Dead Boy Detectives, "The genius of Sandman is how seamlessly it fits different genres, histories, and folklores together, something that definitely inspired Jeff and I for Dead Boy Detectives. As a Thai-American, I grew up around all this wonderful Thai folklore that’s never made it to American pop culture, so by introducing some of my favorite Neil Gaiman characters to the truly terrifying and bizarre world of Thai ghosts, we will give horror and Sandman fans something new."
Who Are the Dead Boy Detectives?
Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine met one another at a boarding school in the pages of The Sandman #25. While Charles is alive and well at the beginning of the issue, he quickly comes to learn this boarding school he's been sent to is inhabited by undead souls who have escaped Hell. With danger lurking around corner, Charles finds a friend in Edwin -- a young boy who tries to help him escape despite having been murdered at the school in the early 1900s. Charles, however, doesn't make it out alive and becomes a ghost who then joins Edwin for further adventures. The two later appeared in a Children's Crusade crossover published by DC's Vertigo imprint in 1993 and a four-issue Sandman Presents: Dead Boy Detectives by Ed Brubaker and Bryan Talbot in 2001. Charles and Edwin appeared in the third season of Doom Patrol, played by Sebastian Croft and Ty Tennant. HBO Max has also ordered a Dead Boy Detectives live-action television series with Arrow's Beth Schwartz attached as co-showrunner.
The Sandman Universe: Dead Boy Detectives #1 features cover art by Nimit Malavia and variant cover art by Alex Eckman-Lawn, Tyler Crook, Filipe Andrade (1:25) and Yoshitaka Amano (1:50). Published under DC's Black Label imprint for readers ages 17+, the issue releases Dec. 27.
Source: DC