Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Dark Horse Comics | Tagged: Magdalene Visaggio, rocky horror

SCOOP: Magdalene Visaggio To Write The Rocky Horror Show Comic Book

SCOOP: Magdalene Visaggio is to write the Rocky Horror Show comic book to be published by Dark Horse Comics for Hallowe'en

Back in 2022, we reported that Dark Horse Comics had the comic book license to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. and were told that Dark Horse would be publishing a series for the then-upcoming 50th anniversary of the Rocky Horror Show stage musical from 1973 by Richard O'Brien. But 2023 came and went without… issue. But at the London Book Fair yesterday, I got word that Dark Horse will be publishing the Rocky Horror Show #1 comic book for Halloween 2025, as the 50th anniversary of the film from 1975. Oh yes, and that it will be written by Magdalene Visaggio.

Magdalene Visaggio is a prominent comic book writer, and her work includes the likes of Kim & Kim, Calamity Kate, Eternity Girl, Transformers, Galaxy Of Madness, Rick And Morty, Doctor Mirage, Rebel Moon and Vagrant Queen, which was turned into a SyFy TV series. She is also one of the more prominent trans creators in the North American comic book industry. And she contributed to the book of essays Absolute Pleasure: Queer Reflections on Five Messy Decades of Rocky Horror.

For those unfamiliar, the Rocky Horror Show is a musical spoof and tribute to science fiction and horror B movies from the thirties to the fifties, name-dropping as many as it can while trying to turn some of the more queer and kink subtexts of those films into actual text. It tells the story of a newly engaged All-American couple whose car breaks down, who seek help at a nearby mansion, home to the alien transvestite scientist, Dr Frank-N-Furter, who is in the midst of unveiling his new Frankenstein-style creation, Rocky. The original London production premiered at Sloane Square's Royal Court in 1973 and ran, moving from theatre to theatre until 1980, while also transferring to Los Angeles and Broadway. Adapted into the 1975 film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, reprising many of the original stage cast, including Tim Curry, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn and Jonathan Adams, as well as US cast member Meat Loaf, While the film was much less successful, like the play it soon gained a huge cult following and the film is reputed to have saved many independent cinemas by constantly showing it at midnight showings for years. Still out in limited release in 2025, 52 years after its premiere, it is the longest-running cinematic release in film history.

Previously, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was adapted into comics by Kevin VanHook as a three-issue mini-series by Caliber Comics in 1990, and collected in a trade paperback, but it has been out of print for decades. Notably this is the Rocky Horror Show, which does differ from the film version. The collection also included extra pages containing song lyrics, profiles, and an interview with Richard O'Brien.

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