The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (comics)

The popularity of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" film series and its main character, Leatherface led to several comic books based on the franchise. In 1991, Northstar Comics released a miniseries titled "Leatherface" which was a loose adaptation of "" that ran for four issues. In 1995, Topps Comics released "Jason Vs. Leatherface", a three-issue miniseries that had Jason Voorhees of "Friday the 13th" fame moving in with Leatherface and his cannibalistic family.

After the success of the 2003 remake, New Line Cinema created their "House of Horror" licensing division which licensed the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" franchise to Avatar Press for use in new comic book stories, the first of which was published in 2005. In 2006, Avatar Press lost the license to DC Comics imprint, Wildstorm who have since begun publishing new stories based on the franchise.

Northstar Comics

The 1991 "Leatherface" miniseries was loosely based on the third "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" film. Said writer Mort Castle, "The series was very loosely based on "". I worked from the original script by David Schow and the heavily edited theatrical release of director Jeff Burr, but had more or less free rein to write the story the way it should have been told. The first issue sold 30,000 copies." [ [http://www.glasshousegraphics.com/creators/writers/mortcastle/index.htm AUTHORS - MORT CASTLE - GLASS HOUSE GRAPHICS, INC www.glassghousegraphics.com] ] Kirk Jarvinen drew the first issue, and Guy Burwell finished the rest of the series.

The comics, not having the same restrictions from the MPAA, featured much more gore than the finished film. The ending, as well as the s of several characters, was also altered. [ [http://www.iconsoffright.com/Comic_Maniac.htm Movie Maniac Comic Books] ]

Northstar, after "Leatherface" was completed, planned to also publish other "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" miniseries and one-shots, which included an adaptation of the original 1974 film (previews of the first two covers of the miniseries were included in "Leatherface" #4) written by J. J. Birch, Tim Vigil and Val Mayerik; and two original one-shots entitled "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Portfolio" (produced by Dave Dorman, J. J. Birch, Vince Locke and Guy Burwell) and "Leatherface Special", written by Mike Baron, which would have explored Leatherface's childhood. All of these comic projects were cancelled.

Topps Comics

In 1995, Topps Comics released the three issue miniseries "Jason vs. Leatherface", a non-canonical crossover between the "Friday the 13th" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" franchises, written by Nancy A. Collins with art by Jeff Butler.

The series premise involves Jason Voorhees, the main antagonist of the "Friday the 13th", being accidentally placed on a train set for a dumping ground in Mexico when Crystal Lake is drained of radioactive waste. Running amok on the train, Jason kills its crew and causes the vehicle to crash in Texas, where he meets and uncharacteristically befriends Leatherface and his family (consisting of Cook, Hitchhiker, Grandpa and several other original relatives, all of them dead). Living with the family for a day, relations between them and Jason ultimately sour due to a series of misunderstandings, which result in Leatherface and Jason battling. In the end, Jason is apparently killed by the Hitchhiker with a hammer and is dumped in a nearby lake by the family, only to arise several hours later and decide to begin trekking back "home" to Camp Crystal Lake, away from the place that encouraged dangerous things such as friendship. [http://www.digital-retribution.com/reviews/other/p006.php Jason vs. Leatherface - Digital Retribution Comic Review] ]

The miniseries has met with some criticism, mostly for its ignorance of established continuity and "lazy writing". [http://www.digital-retribution.com/reviews/other/p006.php Jason vs. Leatherface - Digital Retribution Comic Review] ] [http://f13bloodbath.homestead.com/jasonvsleatherface.html jasonvsleatherface] ] However, its artwork has been met with some praise. [http://f13bloodbath.homestead.com/jasonvsleatherface.html jasonvsleatherface] ] [ [http://www.iconsoffright.com/Comic_Maniac.htm Movie Maniac Comic Books] ]

Avatar Press

In 2005, company Avatar Press began to release "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" comics, set in the continuity of the 2003 remake of the original film, though set before the events of it. The comics had a multitude of variant covers, such as "Gore", "Terror" and "Die Cut".

The first comic released was a one-shot entitled "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Special"; written by Brian Pulido and drawn by Jacen Burrows, it involves three escaped convicts and their two female companions encountering the cannibalistic Hewitt family after a botched robbery of Luda May Hewitt's General Store. The Hewitts kill all the convicts but keep one of the females, Charity, as she is pregnant. After Charity miscarries, she escapes, only to be murdered by Leatherface. [http://www.digital-retribution.com/reviews/other/p014.php The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Special #1 - Digital Retribution Comic Review] ]

After the release of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Special", a three issue miniseries entitled "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Grind" was printed. It was written by Brian Pulido with art by Daniel HDR. The miniseries involves a bus full of choir girls, along with their teachers, and the teachers' daughter becoming stranded in Texas when their bus breaks down near the Hewitt house. When the two teachers leave to seek aid, Leatherface kills them, while Hoyt finds the girls, plants drugs on them, and locks them in the Blair Meat Company where they wait to be killed by Leatherface. The Hewitts kill all the girls apart from one who escapes, only to be arrested and placed in an insane asylum after Hoyt uses a letter written by her to her abusive father, in which she professes having recurring homicidial thoughts, to make it look like she killed her friends. [http://www.digital-retribution.com/reviews/other/p023.php The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Grind - Digital Retribution Comic Review] ] The final release by Avatar Press was the one-shot "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Fearbook", written by Antony Johnston with art by Daniel HDR and Mauricio Dias. The premise of this one-shot involves a quartet of friends in the midst of a cross-country trip when they run afoul of Sheriff Hoyt, who forcibly takes them to the Hewitt house, where Leatherface kills them all except one, a girl named Lucy, who he knocks unconscious; Leatherface, when Lucy awakens, puts on a mask created from her boyfriend's face and hammers one of his own masks onto her before forcing her to dance with him as she succumbs to her injuries. [http://www.digital-retribution.com/reviews/other/p022.php The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Fearbook - Digital Retribution Comic Review] ]

While the Avatar Press titles were successful, they have been criticized for violence and writing style. The artwork received mixed reactions, with reviewers classifying it as either good or "bland". [http://www.digital-retribution.com/reviews/other/p014.php The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Special #1 - Digital Retribution Comic Review] ] [http://www.digital-retribution.com/reviews/other/p023.php The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Grind - Digital Retribution Comic Review] ] [http://www.digital-retribution.com/reviews/other/p022.php The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Fearbook - Digital Retribution Comic Review] ]

Wildstorm Comics

After Avatar lost the rights to "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and New Line Cinema's other horror properties, Wildstorm started an ongoing series written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, and art by Wesley Craig, under the direction of editor Ben Abernathy. Once again, this series featured the continuity established in the 2003 remake.

However, unlike Avatar, Wildstorm's series contributed to the mythos by picking up one year after the film ended, effectively acting as a sequel; Leatherface has one arm, Erin has been committed to a mental institution, Sheriff Hoyt's offices are under investigation by the FBI and Pepper's (a victim from the film) uncle, one of the senior agents on the case, is going after the Hewitts. The storyline followed two new sets of characters, along with the Hewitts themselves: The team of FBI agents, led by the vengeful Agent Baines, and a TV news crew, led by local anchor Kim Burns, eager for a new scoop on the murders in Fuller, Texas. The series also expanded the roles of some of the more minor characters from the films, such as the Tea Lady, Henrietta and Jedidiah. Whereas in the films these characters were some of the more relatively harmless members of the family, the comics showed they were just as demented and depraved as Leatherface and Hoyt; in one scene, Henrietta and the Tea Lady rape a drugged FBI agent in an attempt to impregnate themselves, and in another Jedidiah kills an FBI agent attempting to arrest his family with a machete to the face. Also introduced were members of Leatherface's extended family that were not present in either of the two films, Ezekiel "Zeke" Hewitt and Shiloh Hewitt. During the storyline, the characters discover that the other residents of Fuller are aware of the Hewitts' activities and are complicit, living under a "code of silence" and not interfering. At one point, Kim Burns escapes the Hewitts' "family dinner" and arrives at a local bar, only to be refused the use of the phone ("we don't want no Hewitt trouble") and dragged out by Leatherface himself in front of the rest of the patrons. At the conclusion of the storyline, Kim crashes the Hewitts' truck, sending Leatherface careening out the back, and escapes onto the highway and into the night, wielding Leatherface's own chainsaw.

In 2007, Wildstorm announced its plan to cancel their ongoing New Line horror comics in favor of publishing mini-series and specials based on the movie franchises. The ongoing "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" series would come to an end after a six issue run and be replaced, two months later, by "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Cut!", a one issue special written by Will Pfeifer and with art by Stefano Raffaele. This issue would take place thirty years after the first film with a group of film students seeking to document the Hewitts. One month later, a second special, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: About a Boy", written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and with art by Joel Gomez, would follow. [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=104993 Wildstorm Updates Publishing Plans For Horror/Movie Titles, Dc News - Newsarama] ] This issue featured a back story on Thomas Hewitt as a child prior to the events of "The Beginning". A third one-shot titled, "Hoyt, By Himself" reunites writers Abnett and Lanning with artist Wesley Craig and focuses on Hoyt's past, in particular expanding on his time as a POW during the Korean war and being forced into cannibalism to survive. [ [http://mojoblender.blogspot.com/2007/05/new-texas-chainsaw-massacre-sketches.html MojoBlender: New Texas Chainsaw Massacre sketches] ] [ [http://mojoblender.blogspot.com/2007/06/finishing-up-latest-chainsaw-issue.html MojoBlender: Finishing up latest Chainsaw issue] ]

In September 2007, Leatherface, alongside Freddy Krueger, appeared in the first issue of "New Line Cinema's Tales of Horror" in a story entitled "The Texas Chainsaw Salesman", written by Christos Gage and Peter Milligan. [ [http://www.dccomics.com/comics/?cm=8037 DC Comics] ] Most recently, Wildstorm released a three-issue miniseries, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Raising Cain", written by Bruce Jones with art by Chris Gugliotti. The miniseries centers around two members of the Hewitt family, twin brothers Cain and Abel. [ [http://www.dccomics.com/comics/?cm=9380 Wildstorm] ]

See also

* List of comics based on films

References

External links

* [http://www.iconsoffright.com/Comic_Maniac.htm Icons of Fright]
* [http://www.avatarpress.com/texaschainsaw/ Texas Chainsaw Massacre at Avatar]
* [http://www.newsarama.com/SDCC06/DC/Wildstorm/horror.html/ Newsarama:More Horror Coming from Wildstorm]
* [http://www.comicmonsters.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=817/ Comic Monsters interview with Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Wesley Craig]
* [http://www.comicon.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/36/t/005721.html Comicon interview with Ben Abernathy, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Randy Mayor and Wes Abott]