The original 90’s Hellraiser comics were the best place to get more Hellraiser outside of the movies. The big flaw with that series is that there was no overarching storyline, but dozens and dozens of mini-stories involving the Lemarchand puzzle box. The Dark Watch strayed away from this and had a great overarching story, and sadly, Bestiary tries to mix the two with poor results.
A ragtag team of poachers have trapped Pinhead in a cage and are trying to take his pins for bounties at the Vatican. Pinhead, of course, triumphs in the end, and this is stretched out over six comics. There is literally no plot, no twists, and no interesting storyline. Among these are more mini-stories involving the Lemarchand boxes, and the same result from the ’90s comic ensues. We get a couple of interesting mini-stories, but some either have awful art or terrible stories. I really don’t think this format works for this series, despite it being forced anyway.
Bestiary is completely passable, even for the hardcore fans. There’s nothing here you can’t see before, and nothing here that you will miss, not even new lore.
Hellraiser is a fantastic series with great lore and characters. The visual style is what’s most appealing about the franchise, with its gruesome deaths and interesting and horrific character designs. Clive Barker is one of my favorite horror authors, and Hellraiser is right up there among my favorites. The Dark Watch takes a different approach to the series, rather than a bunch of mini-stories. The Dark Watch consists of 12 issues that have an overarching story.
The Dark Watch is about the war on Hell amongst itself. The Lemarchand puzzles play a smaller role in this series as we concentrate on characters and story, which is a good chance of pace over the 90’s Hellraiser comics. A ragtag team of cons and criminals just so happen to meet their goal of collecting every Lemarchand puzzle box in existence to prevent Hell’s Cenobites from recruiting more legionaries, which they think are to start a war with Earth. Pushing aside the smaller character backstories, the war isn’t supposed to be waged on Earth but in another circle of hell. Leviathan has a larger grand plan than what the Cenobites think, and of course, there’s lots of gore to help tell this tale.
I felt 12 issues were just enough of the story, and it had a satisfying ending. The characters were great, and everything made complete sense, with just enough mystery to continue on to the next issue. With three sides that the comic switched between, it kept the story well-paced and always on its toes rather than trodding through endless amounts of boring dialog. The art is fantastic, and the death and torture scenes are incredible and not usually seen in mainstream comics.
If you are a fan of Hellraiser, don’t like 90’s comics, or love horror in general, then The Dark Watch is an excellent series for you. Knowing some backstory on the Hellraiser lore and mythos will help me understand the story more, as it doesn’t explain most of what goes on in this universe. With that said, dive in and enjoy this gory ride.
While Hellraiser was an extremely successful horror film in the 1980s and became a cult classic, Clive Barker is a fantastic horror author and creator, and the comic series does the Hellraiser name justice. However, I have never read a comic series that slowly started imploding on itself after starting out so great and actually became boring and monotonous to read.
Each comic is cut into 3–4 mini-stories relating to the universe of Hellraiser. Someone finds a Lemarchand cube or a lament configuration. This mysterious puzzle box is a gateway to hell, and one of Leviathan’s many generals, known as Cenobites, must take you with them. The comic series really digs deep into the human psyche and brings out all of humanity’s flaws, such as greed, lust, gluttony, and all the evil and hatred that our species is known for. Each story is fantastic and really draws you in, but it’s after issues 10 or 11 that the series really starts taking a dive.
I also love art. Each mini-story is done by a different team, so you see all kinds of different art styles. While not all of it is fantastic, it sets the tone and atmosphere of each story. Now, here is where the series fails: story arcs. Trying to do something with the comic series that it never really did. There are two different story arcs playing out here, and they take several issues to finish. The first is The Devil’s Brigade, which is a drawn-out and exhausting 18-part series that sees several Cenobites that are assigned to key figures on Earth, and they must make sure order befalls man and not chaos. This is such a jarring and disorienting story. The characters are boring, the story mostly never makes sense, and it just feels so forced. After a while, that’s all the entire Hellraiser series is about. No more unique mini-stories that stand out on their own.
The second story is The Harrowers. This is even worse than the Devil’s Brigade and feels so far-fetched that it just becomes silly. Several men and women are “called” to a hidden tomb where a goddess lives and is somehow the good sister of Leviathan. This is absurd and completely ridiculous. At this point, you can tell the Hellraiser team just wants it to end and doesn’t care anymore. 20 issues, and the series just took a complete nose dive right on its face.
With that said, the series is still worth reading, especially the first 10 issues. They keep you drawn in and are just so fantastic that I needed more.
Great post tthankyou