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Something Crawled Out #1 Delayed by Vault Comics to October, Made Free

Something Crawled Out #1 by Son M and Cas ‘MadCursed’ Peirano Delayed by Vault Comics to October, Made Free to Comic Book Stores

Bleeding Cool has repeatedly reported on Vault Comics' decision to move to give the first issue of a new comic book series to retailers completely for free and seeing subsequent orders get significant bumps. Through its Free-to-Retailer programme, Bleeding Cool understands that Vault has given comic book retailers over $1,750,000 worth of comics with more than 350,000 single issues for free as part of this promotion. And now they are doing it again with Something Crawled Out #1, the new horror series co-created by writer Son M. and artist Cas 'MadCursed' Peirano, originally planned for April 2024.

Since its launch in 2023, Vault's Free-to-Retailers Program has offered retailers key Vault first issue series debuts at no cost. The issues maintain their cover price, and retailers are free to sell, discount, or give away the books as they see fit. Prior selections for the program include Christopher Yost and Val Rodrigues' Unnatural Order #1 receiving 137,000 orders in the process, Zack Kaplan & Fabiana Mascolo's Beyond Real #1 receiving over 100,000 orders. and Michael Moreci & Nathan Gooden's Barbaric: Born in Blood #1 adding around another 120,000 free copies.

This has gone against a more prevailing industry norm, especially at Marvel Comics, to issue a more expensive, possibly larger, first issue, which are more inelastic in their economic demand, so a larger price doesn't reduce sales as much. Given that first issues usually sell more than subsequent issues, as there is a curious trial aspect towards it, it has been criticised by some as leaving the biggest sale that a comic book might get in its series, for creators, publishers and retailers, on the table and out of their pockets. But there is nothing quite as encouraging of trial as "free"… as Free Comic Book Day just showed us.

Something Crawled Out is a new comic book series launching from Vault Comics by Son M. and Madcursed, coloured by Vittorio Astone, lettered by Jim Campbell and designed by Tim Daniel. Something Crawled Out #1 was intended to be published in April of this year but has now been delayed to the 31st of July to take part in this offer and to allow retailers to amend their orders through Diamond or through Lunar. Issue 2 has been delayed to September and issue 3 to October. The first issue will now be published in bundles of 25, with premium variant covers by Chris Shehan, Nathan Gooden, Cathy Kwan, Rennerei, Priscilla Bampoh, and more to accompany it, which will be charged for.

SOMETHING CRAWLED OUT #1 CVR A MADCURSED (BUNDLE OF 25) (NET
VAULT COMICS
FEB241763
(W) M. Son (A/CA) Cas Madcursed Peirano
Something wicked crawled out screaming.
Edith "Eddie" Miller has no grand plans or great prospects. She spends her days sleeping in and her nights working shifts at a gas station. But when her younger sister fails to come home, Eddie unearths a web of missing girls and rotting bodies. The police prove useless, so Eddie teams up with her best friend, Rainer, in a desperate hunt to find her sister. The only thing is-Eddie believes her best friend might be the Devil himself.In Shops: Jul 31, 2024

"Love is a violent thing. I've always been obsessed with the inherent connection between brutality and beauty, and the way we express our relationships in different ways" says Son M. "Something Crawled Out is about two desperate people trying to save someone they love, and thus committing unspeakable acts of violence onto others along the way. I've always wanted to write horror that was so tied to expressions of the Final Girl trope, mixed with the active presence of the Hunter. Rather than reacting to the tragedies around her, Eddie is constantly causing devastation in her desperation to find her sister."

MadCursed adds, "Reading the Something Crawled Out scripts, I was immediately drawn to the devilish aura surrounding the characters. I really enjoy stories where the arc isn't always self-improvement, but rather, self-destruction. There's a violence in a lot of these characters in Something Crawled Out and a lot of the circumstances they face bring it out in terrible ways. And yet, despite all the horrors happening, you still find yourself rooting for them. You want them to win."

Son M continues, "Working with MadCursed is a dream! There's a ton of really nuanced expressions of love vulnerability in this story, and MadCursed expresses these dynamics beautifully. Plus, they really know how to nail having both incredibly hot characters (wink wink nudge nudge), comedic moments, and extreme, unforgivable acts of gory violence. What more could I ask for?"

MadCursed concludes, "I've always wanted to draw comics, ever since I was a kid, and now here I am, doing it! Something Crawled Out is just the beginning. There's going to be more from us in the future, we've got a long way to go. And that's a promise."

"We live in an undeniably dangerous world," adds editor Der-shing Helmer, "and the notion of civilized society is often our shield against it. Something Crawled Out removes the veneer of civility and asks the reader, if nobody else was around to see, how far would you go to protect your own against monsters? The answer is darker than you might imagine…but aren't you desperately curious to see the true face you've been hiding all along?"

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