Hellraiser (Boom! Studio) #3

Publication date: July, 2011

Written by: Clive Barker and Christopher Monfette
Art by: Stephen Thompson
Colors by: Jordie Bellaire
Lettering by: Travis Lanham
Edited by: Ian Brill

“Pursuit of the Flesh, Part Three”

Its times like this that I feel very foolish writing these reviews.

In my review for the first issue of Boom! Studio’s “Hellraiser” ongoing series, my primary concern was the cryptic return of the Harrowers; characters I detested from the original “Hellraiser” comic. In my review for the second issue, I found those concerns immediately quelled by a newer, more enjoyable take on the concept of the team and conceded my error. In that same review, my next grievance came with the fact that each member of the Harrowers was introduced via clunky exposition and none felt like they had any depth worth investing in. And now, here we are in the third issue and once again I have to concede my error, as this installments focuses on the back story of each Harrower and how they came into contact with the Cenobites.

Some days, it just doesn’t pay to open up my Word program.



In the third part of “Pursuit of the Flesh”, we see Pinhead giving a speech to a nigh-absent congregation of Cenobites (only Female and Chatterer are all that remain), dissertating the nihilistic existence of the Cenobites and whatnot. In parallel, Kirsty’s fiancé Edgar is giving a speech to a packed house about his new book, with a certain puzzle box-toting farmer in attendance. And with each segue of the dueling speeches, we’re granted an insight into the pasts of each Harrower (Marcus Aimes, Bethany Howard and Alexander Price). In the end, Edgar receives a gift best left unopened.

In the previous issue, the exposition provided by each Harrower describing their occupations and motivations was… pretty cheesy. “I’m a priest with no faith in God!” “I’m an angry harlot!” “I’m some other guy!” But while those origins may have sounded trite in compacted info-dump form, they’re marvelously fascinating when taken in a longer, fleshed-out fashion.

The first origin is for Marcus Aimes, the ex-preacher. This one sees him opening a cursed snow-globe and being accosted by a frozen Cenobite. The encounter leaves him disenfranchised with the demon-slaying powers of Christ and more faithful to the demon-slaying powers of the bottle. As with all the other stories, this one ends with a visit from Kirsty Cotton, acting like Nick Fury from the end credits of "Iron Man" (“I’d like to speak to you about the Harrower Initiative”).

Our second origin looks at Bethany, the overpriced callgirl, and her encounter with an old music box at the apartment of an antiques dealer. The resultant Cenobite summoning causes a rather gory miscarriage for her and it’s a sight sick-enough to make even this 26 year-old, thoroughly desensitized horror fan wince a little.



The third origin covers Alexander Price and it’s definitely a case of “saving the best for last”. With his brother held hostage by the Female Cenobite, Alexander spends the next twenty years of his life doing the bidding of Leviathan, spreading Lemerchand’s puzzle boxes to anyone foolish-enough to take them. With each successful distribution, he’s granted a brief audience with his un-aging little brother, who tries to convince him to give up his evildoing and let him die. In a rather somber moment, Alexander finally yields to his brother’s wishes (dooming him in the process) and ends up joining Kirsty to undo the damage he’s done.

Spanning two decades, this back story covers quite a bit of ground and actually ties into the origins of the other two Harrowers (Alexander probably isn’t the most popular member of the group, I imagine). The scene where he stops just short of giving another box to a pair of children on a playground, remembering how he was duped into Leviathan’s servitude at a similar age, and the resulting image of his brother burning to death in chains, is actually kind of moving. Each of these origin stories really felt like they could have been an issue of the original “Hellraiser” comic, which was an anthology horror series focusing on random individuals encountering different kinds of puzzle boxes and Cenobites.

At times I sort of felt like the Cenobites were “cheating” when attacking their victims and bypassing the “rules” of the game. In Marcus’s case, I’m not even sure if he opened the snow globe before the Cenobite appeared (though it could have been a more metaphysical kind of “unlocking”; like a sudden waver in his faith was enough to set the frost-Cenobite loose). The worst offender comes at the end, where Edgar opens the Lament Configuration just by pinching it, resulting in the death of the cabby who had nothing to do with anything. I thought it was supposed to be desire that called forth the Cenobites, not dumb luck and/or being a bystander in the general vicinity of the dude with the toy? Of course, Pinhead seems to be going AWOL from Leviathan if his machinations from the first issue are any clue, so maybe he’s breaking the rules on purpose.

I seem to be answering my own questions, here.



For whatever reason, Leonardo Manco did not draw this issue, being substituted with Stephen Thompson. I’m not sure if Manco is going to be coming back or not, though rotating artists on books as visually intense as this one is not uncommon. Thompson does a fine job with this issue, but his style certainly has a different flavor to it than Manco’s. He’s much less “rough” and “sketchy”. Whereas Manco seemed to graduate from the Stephen Gammell school of horror art, Thompson is a bit more of a typical comic book-type guy, with art that’s less interested in ruining your night’s sleep and more about making you go, “Holy shit, that’s awesome”. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

With his cleaner style comes certain advantages, as you’re able to read the action much easier (my only complaint about Manco in the previous issues) and really savor the details. Though he lacks the gooey, inky, shadowy quality of Manco, Thompson’s Cenobites all look incredibly striking and unique. The frost-Cenobite was my favorite, though the clockwork-Cenobite had his own visual edge in the way he dispatches the lives of his victims (he reaches into their bodies with his hand, but the following image shows their organs getting crushed in the gears of a machine). The colors by Jordie Bellaire do a great job of keeping a level of consistency between the two artists, so it won’t be a case of you cracking open the book, taking one look at it and going, “Whoah, what just happened to the art?”

Three issues in and Boom! Studio’s “Hellraiser” has been a very solid book. With every concern I address, the knee-jerk reaction is satisfied by the succeeding installment, which is something that leaves me very comforted. For those of you waiting for the trade and not bothering with the monthlies, you won’t even have to worry about that.

Grade: A (as in, “And if you’re going to kill a Cenobite, you could do worse than dropping a 15-foot statue of Jesus on him”.)