Hellraiser Masterpieces Vol. 2

Hellraiser Masterpieces #2

by Clive Barker

The master of horror returns with a second offering of truly poetic gore, blurring the line between pleasure and pain. The greatest creators in Comics find themselves stitched together in Clive Barker's Cenobite sandbox with a hellishly delightful host of classic HELLRAISER tales. Dive deep into the lands of Leviathan with: Bernie Wrightson (Swamp Thing), Kyle Baker (Nat Turner), Mike Zeck (Spider-Man, Punisher), John Rozum (Xombi), Colleen Doran (A Distant Soil). Walk deeper into the bowels of Hell as Pinhead, Face, and the rest of the Cenobites welcome you with open arms...they have such sights to show you.

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Short Stories

192 pages, ebook

First published September 4, 2012

About the author

Clive Barker was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Joan Rubie (née Revill), a painter and school welfare officer, and Leonard Barker, a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. Educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School, he studied English and Philosophy at Liverpool University and his picture now hangs in the entrance hallway to the Philosophy Department. It was in Liverpool in 1975 that he met his first partner, John Gregson, with whom he lived until 1986. Barker's second long-term relationship, with photographer David Armstrong, ended in 2009.

In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. This award is presented "to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities". While Barker is critical of organized religion, he has stated that he is a believer in both God and the afterlife, and that the Bible influences his work.

Fans have noticed of late that Barker's voice has become gravelly and coarse. He says in a December 2008 online interview that this is due to polyps in his throat which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in ten percent of the air he was supposed to have been getting. He has had two surgeries to remove them and believes his resultant voice is an improvement over how it was prior to the surgeries. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars. On August 27, 2010, Barker underwent surgery yet again to remove new polyp growths from his throat. In early February 2012 Barker fell into a coma after a dentist visit led to blood poisoning. Barker remained in a coma for eleven days but eventually came out of it. Fans were notified on his Twitter page about some of the experience and that Barker was recovering after the ordeal, but left with many strange visions.

Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 – 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories.

Barker has a keen interest in movie production, although his films have received mixed receptions. He wrote the screenplays for Underworld (aka Transmutations – 1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), both directed by George Pavlou. Displeased by how his material was handled, he moved to directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. His early movies, the shorts The Forbidden and Salome, are experimental art movies with surrealist elements, which have been re-released together to moderate critical acclaim. After his film Nightbreed (Cabal), which was widely considered to be a flop, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions. Barker was an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, which received major critical acclaim.

Barker is a prolific visual artist working in a variety of media, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread, published by Fantaco in the early Nineties, as well on the covers of the collections of his plays, Incarnations (1995) and Forms of Heaven (1996), as well as on the second printing of the original UK publications of his Books of Blood series.

A longtime comics fan, Barker achieved his dream of publishing his own superhero books when Marvel Comics launched the Razorline imprint in 1993. Based on detailed premises, titles and lead characters he created specifically for this, the four interrelated titles — set outside the Marvel universe — were Ectokid,

Reviews

[Orrin Grey · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I said in my review of the previous volume of this series, nobody probably goes to Hellraiser comics looking for anything particularly new, and they also probably won't find it here, even if some of these stories do interesting things with the same old material.

I picked these up from the library in search of a couple of particular stories (the Mignola one and one by Jan Strnad) which both happened to be in the first volume, but I read this one anyway. Bernie Wrightson is in here, which is cool, and there's some good art by Colleen Doran and others, as well as the concluding chapter of the Clive Barker story that started up in volume one. However, by far the best story in this one is "The Tontine" by Scott Hampton.

[Octavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

El segundo volumen de Clive Barker's Hellaraiser Materpieces es infinitamente más bueno que el primero. Aquí sí que los relatos son interesantes y macabros.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Very similar to the first volume, maybe slightly better. As usual the stories are really weird and some I just don't get. The art is good for the most part, and some of the stories aren't bad. I really like The Harrowers, as with villains as evil as the Cenobites there really needs to be someone to oppose them.

Overall something hardcore Hellraiser fans will enjoy, but casual fans might find too over the top.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book confirmed that this series isn't for me.

The art in this collection features styles that have aged much better than the first volume did. Most of the stories embrace the ethos of Hellraiser more than the first volume's, and reminded me just how much it bothers me now. The Tontine, for example, is a 20+ page story about a group of soldiers who play Russian Roulette each year to see who gets to inherit the others' luck. It's dark and it revels in misery and the pointless waste of life, which are two of the things I find most unpleasant. The whole pleasure of pain ethos is also central to many of these stories, and it's something I never connected with in the first place, so it pushed me even further away.

If you love Hellraiser, I think this second volume will be more enjoyable than the first; it features the Cenobites much more centrally in the stories, and there are no real happy endings. There are two more Harrowers stories, too, if that's your interest, although neither does a whole lot for me. But what this volume really said to me was that the Hellraiser realm is no longer one I care to revisit.

[Michael J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like Volume One, this collection reprints short stories from the HELLRAISER comics anthology series of the 1990's from Epic/Marvel Comics.
Almost all of these thirteen stories by various creative teams stay true to the Hellraiser universe created by author Clive Barker. They capture the fear, creepiness and overall uneasy atmosphere that began with Barker's short story The Hellbound Heart and later transferred to the series of Hellraiser movies. However, nothing here matches the magic and shock value of the films, including
"The Harrowing, Part Two: Insurrection" - - the story that Clive Barker wrote for this series.
The best story in the bunch is also the most disturbing - - "The Tontine" with story by Scott Hampton and art by Scott Hampton and John Van Fleet. Other stand-outs include "Babycakes" by Faye Perozich and Gerry Talaoc; "With My Lips"any John Rozum and Rod Whigham; and "Later" by C.J. Hendersonand Vincent Cecolini.

[Matthew Gleason · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some really great stories in here such as "The Tontine" but the whole thing is a bit less strong on average than the first volume. Still the art is spectacular throughout. Alex Ross in particular lends a lot of beauty to the book. The main detracting factor is how inconsisent the dialogue and plot of The Harrowers is. The whole storyline presents the mythology in a way that doesn't fully work for me and feels too moralistic and almost like it's trying to be a conventional superhero comic. Also the way it tries to be pro trans people doesn't fully work for me as it paints cenobites as being transphobic and also implies that a trans person can't be happy unless they're magically transformed and their whole life up until that point is essentially wiped away. Like I said there are a lot of really strong standalone stories and the art is amazing so I do recommend this book to fans of the franchise or horror comics in general.

[Ares · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am so torn on these, but I lean towards not liking them.

The stories seem to be picked without a thought, which makes this easily confusing.

You get gorgeous and detailed stories and then some that can't keep up, making the whole thing feel off.

A randomly thrown together collection is not the way to go. It would be better to follow a character, style or storyline.

I still like most of the stories, but the collection doesn't make sense to me. The story that I still remembered was "Babycakes" so it was a surprise to see it here.

[Vampyranha Pointe du Lac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hellraiser is now my new obsession—I mean, Clive Barker is my new obsession. ✨✨✨👑 All the short stories in this collection weren't written by him, but they all take place in the Hellraiser universe. Some stories are better than others, but they're enjoyable just the same. I can't wait to read The Hellbound Heart. 🖤

[Mark Pidgeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one had a few bleaker stories, the Russian Roulette pact in particular but when Pinhead arrives in one of the latter stories he seems off and I can’t quite pin (ha) down why.

Worth reading if you are a Barker fan and interesting enough to hold your attention

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

These terrible stories make volume one seem like fine art? So bad I am giving up on the extended franchise. Torture porn with little else to recommend it.

[Therese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than the first volume and I really liked the Harrowers storyline

[Jacinta Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like the stories in this collection as much as the stories in the first volume. However, the stories "The Tontine" and "With My Lips" are amazing and definitely worth a read.

[Lucy Batson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty similar to the first Masterpieces volume: a little less top-heavy on future-comics-star power, but with slightly more excelllent stories in the dry, ironic Hellraiser vein.

[Myk Pilgrim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag, some stories I LOVED others not so much.
Fairy typical anthology collection of cenobite tales.

[Mr. M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as Vol. 1. Read it only if you must have more. There were 2 stories that I liked, but they weren’t good enough to merit buying the book.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good and interesting collection, asides from some unfortunate transphobic elements in the second last story.

[Juhani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nämä Marvelin vastavetona DC:n hyvin menestyneelle Vertigo -nimikkeelle perustaman Eclipse Comicsin julkaisemat Hellraiser-stoorit on kyllä hyvin kirjavaa kamaa. Pahimmillaan ne ovat keskinkertaista roskaa, mutta parhaimmillaan ne ovat komeasti maalaattuja (Bolton jne.) ja tarinaltaan erittäin toimivia pieniä kauhutarinoita. Tästä ensimmäisestä kokoelmasta jäi parhaiten mieleen Jan Strnadin kirjoittama ja Mark Chiarellon maalaama To Prepare a Face, jossa päähenkilö on eräänlainen Lon Chaneyn The Man With a Thousand Faces -pastissi, joka ei käytäkään pelkästään perinteisiä maskeerausvälineitä uniikkien elokuvamaskiensa tekemiseen. Pelkästään tämä tarina on tarpeeksi nostamaan tämän kokoelma-alpparin keskinkertaisuuden suosta, johon se muuten olisi vaarassa upota.

[Sylvester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Significantly better than the previous volume, Hellraiser Masterpieces volume 2 offered a more comprehensive story and some gritty horror.