Hellraiser Bestiary #4
Boom! Studios
Words:  Lela Gwenn, Christian Francis, Ben Meares & Mark Miller
Pictures:  Daniele Serra, Huseyin Ozkan, & Carlos Magno

Anthologies are awesome.  Kind of like a sampler case of beer.  You get a taste of a couple of different flavors while not having to commit full on to any single one.  Well, if you’ve got a taste for horror, then consider this your twelve pack sampler.  (Ok, so it’s actually a three pack, but you get the drift.)

Again, Bestiary brings us three different tales of the Cenobites in action.  All three are different; and all three are good.  But I was blown away by the first tale, Study, by Lela Gwenn and Daniele Serra.  First off, it’s gorgeous with pencil and water color imagery that looks absolutely stunning.  The story itself explores what happens when observation and study takes a darker, more obsessive path for two people.  Plus, this tale does a fantastic job of quickly and deftly explaining the puzzle box: it’s a key to finding out who you really are, through pain, of course.  Though we never really see the Cenobites in this story, their presence is felt throughout.  It’s amazing how much tension you can cram into just seven pages. 

The second tale, And God Will Send His Angels, is also pretty rockin’.  We get to see the Cenobites in this one, but they are seen in a slightly different light.  They really are the angels for our main character Rebecca.  And the third tale is the only continuing story throughout the series, where Pin Head has been de-pinned, and as you can imagine, he’s none too thrilled about it. 

If you like your horror in nice, bit sized chunks, then step right up and get your samples right here.

4 out of 5 Puzzle Boxes