It’s mentioned a couple of times in the series’ introduction that the creators of the book were doing their best to move the horror comic into darker lands and were especially trying to distance themselves from the “campiness” seen in landmark books like Tales From The Crypt and Vault Of Horror.
As is the case reading books from the early ’90s (especially those of the dark and gritty variety) a slight cringe factor can be felt. It should be said that some of the stories featured in Clive Barker’s Hellraiser have not aged well. A plethora of demonic baddies of all shapes, sizes, and sinister specialties were presented so that each issue kept you wondering with anticipation what kind of ghoul you would see next. This too was a highlight of Hellraiser, as the series presented to audiences more than just the iconic four Cenobites seen in the early films. From a visual standpoint, one of the highlights of that particular superhero group has always been getting to peek at all the strange and wacky extra-terrestrial members of the famous space police squad. The Cenobites and that dastardly little puzzle box had entire universes truly opened to it for the first time, and the result were tales that really pushed the envelope in both imagination and depravity.Īnd speaking of our favorite leather, chain, and scar-tissue-sporting pain practitioners, in a very real way Clive Barker’s Hellraiser became the horror equivalent of DC’s Green Lantern Corps. Gone were budgetary restraints or special effects limitations, as were studio executives with their unwanted “suggestions” regarding how to make the story more marketable to wider audiences. A story could be placed in any time period, adhere to whatever genre the writer wanted, feature whatever visual insanity the artist could think of. What made the series so interesting was the freedom that was given to the creators involved to explore or examine any corner of the Hellraiser mythology. Related: 12 Comics That Would Make Great Horror Movies “We have such sights to show you” utters Doug Bradley’s “Pinhead” in the franchise’s first film, and Clive Barker’s Hellraiser definitely delivered on that promise with each installment. Lemarchand’s puzzle box could land into the lap of anyone anywhere, be it a poker player in the wild west (“Dead Man’s Hand”), an imprisoned revolutionary freedom fighter in Latin America (“The Vault”), a king during the Crusades (“The Canons of Pain”) or a present-day television children’s entertainer (“Clowning Around”). Untethered from any particular timeline or character group, you never quite knew what kind of stories you’d get on an issue to issue basis.
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