World Fantasy, International Horror Guild, and Bram Stoker Award-winning author Joe Hill turns his attention to a legend—Tales From The Darkside.
Originally planned as a reboot for the storied series, Hill’s scripts for these never-broadcast television episodes allow the New York Times bestselling author to stretch his creative muscles, his effortless mastery of the twisted subject matter injecting new terrors into this silver screen legend.
Joining Hill in resurrecting this classic is Charles PaulWilson III, known to many Joe Hill fans as the artist responsible for the nightmare vision made real in their most recent collaboration, Wraith, a graphic novel prequel to the Hill’s bestselling book N0S4A2. In Tales From The Darkside, Wilson’s tack-sharp interpretation of Hill’s vision is on display in a series of illustrations accompanying the scripts.
“When I was offered a chance to reinvent Tales from the Darkside, I leapt,” said Hill. “This was a landmark show for my generation: our Twilight Zone, our Outer Limits. Right away, I wanted to do something that honored the spirit of the original Darkside… and at the same time I wanted to go bigger, to do something fresh, something with scope. In the end I wrote three scripts and sketched a vision for a whole Darkside universe. I envisioned a series of individual horror stories that would, ultimately, turn out to be connected by a single mythology. I really wanted to do something with the scale of Locke & Key. TV is tough and in the end we didn’t quite make it to the little screen. But it’s a delight and a thrill to share the scripts alongside Charles Paul Wilson’s beautifully sick illustrations. Here’s the show that could’ve been, now playing in your imagination.”
“Working with Joe and Charles is always a pleasure. I mean, what we create is terrifying—why else would you pair the two together—but the results are never short of exemplary,” said project editor Justin Eisinger. “And this exploration of an alternate TFTD television universe that could have been… well, if you’re a fan of horror anthologies this is one you do not want to miss.”
First created by George A. Romero, Tales From The Darkside offered a grim but compelling anthology-style series. Hill’s scripts for the unaired reboot of the series will debut in the eponymous comic series beginning this June, but fans looking for more raw Hill, this new scriptbook provides a unique glimpse into the creative process, and a look at what could have been.
Look for Tales From The Darkside: Scripts by Joe Hill wherever books are sold this October.
