DARK RIDE #1 released to comic shops today!
Dark Ride #1! A look at the main cover, a bunch of the variant covers and some info on our new horror series launch!
I’m obsessed with amusement parks. Especially the Disney ones. I grew up in Southern California, so going to amusement parks was a given. But I used to go ALL THE TIME. Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm. Universal Studios, Magic Mountain etc.
And my favorite kind of rides were the Dark Rides. The Haunted Mansion is my favorite ride of all time. If you look at my work you can see the influence amusement parks have had on me. I wrote an official Haunted Mansion comic book! If you hang out with me long enough the conversation will eventually involve something about amusement parks.
My love for amusement parks and dark rides carried from me going to the parks into a fascination with how they were made. Books, maps, designs, videos online, whatever I could get my hands on. I love that the moment you walk into a park, they are trying to tell you a story. A totally immersive story. Some day I might actually build a dark ride. But until then I knew that I had to do the next best thing…make a comic book about one. But not just one ride. A whole damn horror themed amusement park. Which is what lead to our new series DARK RIDE launching this week! This series has been a labor of love for all of us and we’re so damn excited that #1 is finally hitting the stands this week. Hopefully you can see how obsessed I am with this world within it’s pages. Andrei, Adriano and Pat really kicked ass on bringing it to life.
Grab a copy at your comic book store before they sell out!
Here is a bunch of info and quotes on the series from when we first announced the book:
Devil Land has been the world’s premiere horror-themed amusement park for over 50 years, home to the scariest ride ever created – The Devil’s Due. But when lifelong fan Owen Seasons begins his first day on the job, he will discover the true horrors happening behind the scenes, the truth about the park’s reclusive creator Arthur Dante and that the job of his dreams might just be a living nightmare.
“Two of my biggest obsessions have always been HORROR…and AMUSEMENT PARKS. So, I had to find a way to combine them into something new. It’s a dream book I’ve been working on for a LONG time and it’s been awesome to finally pull it together with Andrei and the whole BIRTHRIGHT team!” said Joshua Williamson. “It’s great to get back to horror after NAILBITER ended, and here we dive into some new themes with horror: What is scary in today’s world? How can you create something scary when every day we’re living in a horror show? Those are the themes I wanted to explore with DARK RIDE. Amusement Parks are meant to be a place of FUN…but here we really bring the HORROR.”
“It’s safe to say that we’re heading home! I’m really happy to be reunited with the rest of the BIRTHRIGHT clan once again! Hell! We usually tell people we are a team, but in fact, we are a living, breathing creature! And a hungry one too! At first you had us brandishing swords…but now, this time around…well…horror, right?” said Bressan. “I remember reading something that says ‘In horror, the surface always lies. Nothing is what it seems to be.’ So, take this and mix it up with an amusement park. You think you’re playing and having fun, but you’re actually flirting with Death. And here, Death blinks back at you!”
In addition to a striking main cover by Bressan and series colorist Adriano Lucas, DARK RIDE #1 boasts an impressive variant cover lineup that will kick off an exciting variant cover program continuing through all four issues of DARK RIDE’s first arc. Cover B by Martín Morazzo (ICE CREAM MAN) spotlights park mascot Danny D. Evill, with additional variant covers to be announced soon.
“Joshua and Andrei created one of the iconic modern series in BIRTHRIGHT and when they approached us about DARK RIDE #1, it was clear that lightning struck a second time,” said Amanda LaFranco, Editor, Skybound Entertainment. “This is everything you love about Joshua and Andrei turned up to eleven, with a thrilling new approach to horror comics that you’ll love whether you’re a die-hard fan of the genre or not.”
Some of the variant covers:
We also had a few awesome retailer/store exclusives!
OH and the biggie! The Super Scary variant! You can ONLY get this variant by joining the SUPER SCARY CLUB. These only go to the first 400 people to join.
I think that’s all the covers! If I missed one I will update this later today!
NYCC IS THIS WEEK! I will have a very limited number of DARK RIDE #1 copies with me. And some of the variant covers.
AND if you are one of the first 50 people to buy DARK RIDE #1 at the table OR bring one to be signed you will get a FREE DEVIL LAND BUTTON. FREE. These are VERY LIMITED. And will NOT be for sale at the table. (I’m only bringing 200 for the whole weekend to be spread out over each day.)
This series is very special to me. One that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’m very excited to finally share it with you this week. If you’re going to NYCC this week, I hope to see you there. Thank you!