Books
BOOKS: Brett Riley’s ‘Lord of Order’ Presents a Dark, Bloody Dystopia

Brett Riley’s Lord of Order published last week with an interesting premise that is oddly prescient even if the dystopian landscape is not quite what one would expect.
Set in a future where technology and electronic devices from cars and planes to phones and cameras have been destroyed, the world is run by the Bright Crusade, a fundamentalist Christian regime whose fist is iron and whose law is absolute. The story focuses on Gabriel Troy, the Lord of Order for the New Orleans principality.
Troy is very good at his job, but his loyalty is tested when he discovers that Supreme Crusader Matthew Rook plans to round up anyone who opposes the regime and march them to New Orleans after which he plans to kill them all by barricading them inside and destroying the levees.
Naturally, Troy begins to doubt the leader and his mission, and all hell soon breaks loose in ways that even the Lord of Order could not have imagine.
Riley is an interesting author. He eschews established rules and style in his writing, excluding things like quotation marks, leaving the reader to determine what is narrative and what is dialogue in the book. It is sometimes confusing, but it forces the reader to pay closer attention to what they are reading, and in Lord of Order, what they are reading is often bloody and brutal.
When one is faced with a foe that can and will do anything to hold onto their power, one must equal that entity’s methods and tenacity, after all. Violence begets violence begets violence.
What Riley does best, and what might be off-putting to some readers, is describe in grisly detail the scenes of torture and violence. There is a massive battle scene that draws you in and refuses to let you go until it ends. Some of this verges on stomach-turning, even for a seasoned horror reader.
Unfortunately, we don’t get quite as many details about his characters, and I feel like if he had taken perhaps just a bit more time filling in some backstories, it would have made the novel as a whole more compelling.
Don’t let that stop you from reading, however. If you’re a fan of stories that break established forms and styles and dystopian novels, Lord of Order is definitely for you. The story feels just a little too real in a world that is filled with a growing and often dangerous nationalism tied to extreme religious movements.
You can pick up a copy of Lord of Order at your favorite bookstore today.

Books
New Batman Comic Titled ‘Batman: City of Madness’ Is Pure Nightmare Fuel

A new Batman series from DC Comics will surely catch horror fans’ eyes. The series titled Batman: City of Madness will introduce us to a twisted version of Gotham full of nightmares and cosmic horror. This comic is DC Black Label and will consist of 3 issues comprised of 48 pages each. It comes out just in time for Halloween with the first issue dropping on October 10th of this year. Check out more about it below.

Coming from the mind of Christian Ward (Aquaman: Andromeda) is a new storyline for horror and Batman fans alike. He describes the series as his love letter to Arkham Asylum: Serious House on a Serious Earth. He then went on to say that this is a tribute to the classic comics titled Batman: Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Batman: Gothic by Grant Morrison.

The comic description states “Buried deep beneath Gotham City there exists another Gotham. This Gotham Below is a living nightmare, populated by twisted mirrors of our Gotham’s denizens, fueled by the fear and hatred flowing down from above. For decades, the doorway between the cities has been sealed and heavily guarded by the Court of Owls. But now the door swings wide, and the twisted version of the Dark Knight has escaped…to trap and train a Robin of his own. Batman must form an uneasy alliance with the Court and its deadly allies to stop him—and to hold back the wave of twisted super-villains, nightmarish versions of his own nemeses, each one worse than the last, that’s spilling into his streets!”
This isn’t the first time that Batman has crossed over into the horror genre. Several comic series have been published such as Batman: The Long Halloween, Batman: Damned, Batman & Dracula, Batman: A Serious House on a Serious Earth, and several more. Most recently, DC released an animated film titled Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham that adapts the comic series of the same name. It is based in the Elseworld universe and follows the story of a 1920s Gotham as Batman battles monsters and demons in this cosmic horror tale.

This is a comic series that will help fuel both the Batman and Halloween spirit this October. Are you excited about this new series coming out? Let us know in the comments below. Also check out the trailer for the latest DC horror batman story titled Batman: The Doom That Came to Gotham.
Books
‘American Psycho’ is Drawing Blood in New Comic Book

According to Deadline, 2000’s dark comedy American Psycho is getting the comic book treatment. Publisher Sumerian, out of L.A. is planning a four-issue arc that uses the likeness of Christian Bale who played the killer Patrick Bateman in the film.
The series will hit your favorite comic book seller later this year. The story according to the Deadline article is set in the American Psycho universe but showcases a re-telling of the movie’s plot from a different perspective. It will also introduce an original arc with “surprising connections to the past.”

A new character named Charlie (Charlene) Carruthers, is described as a “media obsessed millennial,” who “goes on a downward spiral filled with violence.” And “Drug fueled partying leads to bloodshed as Charlie leaves a trail of bodies on her way to discovering the truth about her dark nature.”
Sumerian worked it out with Pressman Film to use Bale’s likeness. Michael Calero (Quested) wrote the comic’s story with art drawn by Piotr Kowalski (The Witcher) and color by Brad Simpson (Kong of Skull Island).
The first issue will be released in-store and online on October 11. Calero was recently at San Diego Comic-Con where he talked about this new project to curious fans.

Books
‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ New Comic Series Coming From Dynamite Entertainment

This is what we like to see. Being one of the most beloved animation films of all time, The Nightmare Before Christmas is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. You can go into any store and always find something that’s themed from the movie. To add to the list of this, Dynamite Entertainment has announced that they have picked up the license for Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.

This comic series is being written by Torunn Grønbekk who has written several successful comics for Marvel such as Darth Vader: Black, White, and Red, Venom, Thor, Red Sonjay, and many more. It is expected to be released sometime in 2024. While we don’t have much more information on this project, we should hopefully hear something this week at San Diego Comic-Con as they have 2 panels scheduled.

First released on October 13, 1993, this stop animation film created by the mind of Tim Burton, was a hit at the theaters and has now gone on to be a major cult classic. It was praised for its amazing stop-motion animation, amazing soundtrack, and how great a story it was. The movie has grossed a total of $91.5M on its $18M budget over the several rereleases it’s had in the last 27 years.
The film’s story “follows the misadventures of Jack Skellington, Halloweentown’s beloved pumpkin king, who has become bored with the same annual routine of frightening people in the “real world.” When Jack accidentally stumbles on Christmastown, all bright colors and warm spirits, he gets a new lease on life — he plots to bring Christmas under his control by kidnapping Santa Claus and taking over the role. But Jack soon discovers even the best-laid plans of mice and skeleton men can go seriously awry.”

While many fans have been eager for a sequel or some type of spinoff to happen, nothing has been announced or has happened yet. A book was released last year called Long Live The Pumpkin Queen which follows the story of Sally and is right after the events of the film. If a sequel or spinoff film were to happen, it would have to be in the beloved stop-motion animation that made the first film famous.


Other things that have been announced this year for the film’s 30th anniversary are a 13-foot-tall Jack Skellington at Home Depot, a new Hot Topic Collection, a new Funko Pop line from Funko, and a new 4K Blu-ray edition of the film.
This is very exciting news for us fans of this classic film. Are you excited about this new comic line and all the stuff coming out for the 30th anniversary this year? Let us know in the comments below. Also, check out the original movie trailer and the famous spiral mountain scene from the film down below.