Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, IDW | Tagged: Dan Watters, IDW Dark, Morgan Beem, twilight zone

TOLDJA: Dan Watters Morgan Beem IDW Twilight Zone

TOLDJA: Dan Watters & Morgan Beem on IDW's Twilight Zone #1 in September, Tom Scioli, James Stokoe, Nate Powell, Francesco Francavilla follow

A month ago, Bleeding Cool told you that IDW would be publishing a new The Twilight Zone #1 comic on the 24th of September. Bleeding Cool has previously scooped the news back in September that IDW was pivoting to a new horror focus, and at New York Comic Con, they announced IDW Dark as an imprint for licenses for Smile, Event Horizon, Twilight Zone, 30 Days Of Night, Beneath The Trees, A Quiet Place and more.

Now IDW has confirmed an all-new anthology comic book series with "stories by some of the comic book industry's most innovative and praised storytellers, each issue is a new tale in the vein of the iconic series that's captivated audiences for over 60 years. And, just like the beloved show, these comics will be episodic. Every issue can be read on its own for a complete story, which transports readers into the comic creators' unique visions of The Twilight Zone. Plus, every issue will be presented in terrifying black and white, just like the original television series!"

And that "The first mind-bending issue arrives this September from Dan Watters and Morgan Beem. "The Twilight Zone is a genre unto itself," stated Watters. "It's a cultural titan and a North Star in the strangest skies, revealing what science fiction, fantasy and horror can do for us: revealing uncomfortable truths about what lies in our own hearts. This is precisely the vein we hope to tap with our story; the unsettled space between angry and unnerving that is forever the purview of The Twilight Zone." Which is code for he is way too young to have seen it when he was a kid.

"I have long been a fan of all horror, but creepy stories that slowly build to unnerve you have always been first in my heart. Few series have captured that feeling like Twilight Zone," remarked Beem. "Like being trapped in a fever dream or moving through a liminal space, the stories play with the feeling of wrongness, of things out of place. This is the feeling Dan has masterfully captured in our story, and which I hope, through my deep love of all things creepy, will flow through the art. It might not shock you, but you may not be able to stop thinking about it in the middle of the night."

Following issues will feature Tom Scioli, James Stokoe, Nate Powell, and Francesco Francavilla. "Ever since I was a kid I wanted to write a Twilight Zone story and wondered if it was something I was even capable of doing," commented Scioli. "How does one go about creating a classic? The Twilight Zone brought to television one of the established formats of comic books, the sci-fi/horror anthology with literary ambitions, twist endings, and a social conscience. It pushed the limits of what you could do in the medium of commercial television and now we're going to push the comic book medium to the breaking point of its stapled paper and see what lies beyond. With those impossibly lofty standards in mind, I've created something that I humbly submit for your approval."

"These comics are for anyone who ever wished for more episodes of the original series like me," added series co-editor Ellen Boener. "We're capturing the silver screen nostalgia alongside the heart-rending humanity. Every detail is a love letter to the TV show: from the full black and white design to the connected cover set to the narrative style. Each issue serves as a unique door into the dimension beyond with the most fascinating minds in comics as your guides. I can't wait to share what these creators have discovered."

The Twilight Zone #1 (of 5 issues) is on sale Wednesday, the 24th of September with covers by Beem, Dani and a connecting cover byFrancesco Francavilla.

Dan Watters is an English comics writer, the co-creators of comics such as Limbo, Coffin Bound, The Seasons Have Teeth, The Six Fingers and Home Sick Pilots as well as his work on DC Comics' Sandman Presents: Lucifer, House Of Whispers, Arkham City: The Order Of The World, Sword of Azrael, Detective Comics and currently writing Nightwing and Batman: Dark Patterns. He has also written The Incal prequel Dying Star, Loki for Marvel, Universal Monsters: Creature from the Black Lagoon Lives! for Skybound/Image, Doctor Who for Titan and the GI Joe Destro mini-series for the Energon Universe. We also broke the news that his first work for IDW would be TMNT: Shredder.

The Twilight Zone was originally an anthology television series which ran on CBS for five seasons from 1959 to 1964, created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with disturbing or unusual events, whether science fiction, fantasy, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, supernatural drama, black comedy, or psychological thriller. They usually come with a macabre or unexpected twist and a moral. A popular and critical success, it introduced many Americans to common science fiction and fantasy tropes. The success of the concept and brand led to three revival television series in 1985, 2202 and 2019. There was also a film in 1983, a TV film in 1994, a radio series from 2002–2012, and various literature, theme park attractions, and other spin-offs.

Western Publishing/Dell Comics published a Twilight Zone comic book in 1961 for four issues. Western then restarted the series under its own Gold Key imprint with a new #1, which ran for 92 issues from 1962 to 1979, including the first published work of Frank Miller in 1978, with a final issue being published in 1982. In 1990, Now Comics published a single issue of a new series featuring an adaptation of Harlan Ellison's story Crazy as a Soup Sandwich followed by an eleven-issue second volume in 1991, four issues in 1993, as well as an annual and a 3-D special. In 2008, Savannah College of Art and Design partnered with Walker & Co. to create graphic novels based on eight episodes of the series, published in 2011. And Dynamite Entertainment ran a Twilight Zone by J. Michael Straczynski and Guiu Vilanova in 2013.

Twelve years later, we are getting a Twilight Zone comic book once more.

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