Clive Barker’s Nightbreed #1 Retro Review
I am going to start this week’s post with a disclaimer. I have yet to see the Cabal Cut of Nightbreed. Therefore, I am not positive as to what all is in the Cabal Cut, with the exception of what the guys have talked about on the Podcast. That being said, Welcome to my retro review of the first Issue of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed! For those who don’t know, The company that brought you The Hellraiser series, Epic Comics, saw the potential of a Nightbreed comic early on. In fact the first four issues are an adaptation of the movie…kinda. It was based on Clive Barker’s original screenplay. These four issues were being produced at the same time as the movie, therefore, changes that were made that ultimately resulted in the Theatrical Release, were not mirrored in the comic. So what we have then is a fairly good idea of what Clive’s vision for the movie had always been. This also gives me a good idea of what to expect in the Cabal Cut. Alan Grant and John Wagner are credited as the writers. Grant is known for his work on both Batman comics, and Judge Dredd. Wagner is the co-creator of Judge Dredd, but also wrote a graphic novel called A History of Violence, that was adapted into a movie by David Cronenberg, also known as Nightbreed’s Dr. Decker! Jim Baikie, who has worked with Grant and Wagner on Judge Dredd, provides the art. [Click the Link to read more]
I am going to assume here that anybody reading this has at least seen the Theatrical Version of Nightbreed, or read the original Novel, Cabal,and is fairly familiar with the story, so I won’t spend too much time go over the details of the story. Instead , over the next four weeks, I will focus on what is different from the comic, the novel, and the theatrical release. For the sake of this post Read the Comic issue, and then read the novel and watched the movie, up until the point that the Comic issue ends. I will do so each week. The First issue of the Comic, goes all the way to the point in which Boone is gunned downed outside of Midian. That would take you to the end of Part One of the Novel, and about Twenty-Three Minutes into the movie. From page one, you notice a huge difference with the comic. The Comic opens at a Zoo, and really focuses on the relationship between Boone and Lori. We also learn that Boone works at a Guitar repair shop and Lori is a Singer. Lori is one of the big differences here. You can tell that Clive really wanted to flesh her role out more for the movie. In the Novel, she has only been mentioned up to this point, in the first few pages.
Decker’s attack on the family is another difference. The novel only implies that this most recent attack has happened, through Boone’s conversation with Decker. In the Movie and the Comic, it is placed in such a way, that Boone’s involvement is actually questioned, at least to first time watchers. In the Comic, Boone doesn’t show up to Lori’s performance, and the murders happen the same night.
The comic also does a better job of explaining why Decker has the Police Photos, as well. The movie jumps straight from Decker giving Boone the pills to him wandering out in front of the truck. The comic fills in that gap much better, jumping back and forth between another performance by Lori, and Boone struggling to deal with the possibility that he killed all those people. Stepping in front of the truck is shown as more of a deliberate suicide attempt opposed to the drugged out of his gourd Boone that isn’t aware of where he is going that is shown in the movie.
From there, things track fairly well with the movie. Narcisse seems more angry and less sarcastic than he does in the movie. It doesn’t show the final results of Narcisse’s self mutilation, that get’s saved for a later issue. In the Comic, as in the book, there is a town of Midian, that is a ghost town, and the Necropolis lays beyond it. Here is where things start to differ again. In the movie, Boone falls asleep in the Graveyard and is awakened by Ohnaka and his dog, before getting grabbed by Kinski. In the Comic, Boone explores the graveyard, and stops for a smoke. That is when Kinski grabs him, and Peloquin picks up and smokes the dropped cigarette. Kinski looks pretty much like he does in the movie, but Peloquin has more of a greenish Grey skin. He still has the head tentacles/dread thing going for him though. He is more replitilian when he transforms, he even has a tail!
The confrontation with Decker, in the comic, does happen outside of the gates of the cemetary like in the movie, as opposed to the ghost town of Midian, as seen in the Novel. There is also an added line in the comic that I adore. When Boone is laying in the field, dead. You also see the Breed, down below, upset by what has happened. Detective Joyce asks “You hear that? Sounds like…crying.” To which someone off screen, or panel I guess, just says “Just the wind, Lieutenant.” That, to me really sets the tone of the bigger story, and I hope it made it into the Cabal Cut.
This is a great issue with top artwork, and compelling storytelling. How much of this story is added by Grant and Wagner, and how much is from the Original Screenplay, I don’t know. I plan on revisiting these first four issues after viewing the Cabal Cut, just to see how much of the added material is in the new version.
Join me Next Week for Clive Barker’s Nightbreed #2!
