What do you think?
Rate this book
Clive Barker's Hellraiser (2011) #1-5
Clive Barker's Hellraiser Omnibus Vol. 1
The Horror Master returns to his greatest creation.
Clive Barker has “touched” Hellraiser only twice once to write “The Hellbound Heart,” and once more to write and direct the original Hellraiser film. With the Hellraiser Omnibus , witness Barker’s long-awaited return to tell a new chapter in the official continuity—a trajectory that will forever change the Cenobites…and Pinhead!
Collecting Clive Barker’s Hellraiser #1-20 and Hellraiser Annual #1, prepare your soul for over 500 pages of epic horror from one of the genre’s greatest voices, starring one of the genre’s greatest characters.
Clive Barker has “touched” Hellraiser only twice once to write “The Hellbound Heart,” and once more to write and direct the original Hellraiser film. With the Hellraiser Omnibus , witness Barker’s long-awaited return to tell a new chapter in the official continuity—a trajectory that will forever change the Cenobites…and Pinhead!
Collecting Clive Barker’s Hellraiser #1-20 and Hellraiser Annual #1, prepare your soul for over 500 pages of epic horror from one of the genre’s greatest voices, starring one of the genre’s greatest characters.
528 pages, Paperback
First published October 25, 2017
66 people are currently reading
323 people want to read
About the author
Clive Barker
706 books15.1k followersClive 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,
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,
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
November 23, 2017
This was a good continuation of the Hellraiser franchise, but I have to admit I did get a little lost at times. This story ties into continuity but I wasn't sure exactly where it picked up. It stars the Harrowers who appeared in the Marvel comics series, and there's also hints of the story picking up after the film Hellraiser 2 which I think is where Clive Barker's storyline stopped. Overall the art is good and really fits the story, and the story does a good job of expanding on the universe. If you're a Hellraiser fan you should pick this one up.
November 18, 2017
Picking up an indefinite amount of time after the second Hellraiser movie, we are thrust into the terror that made the original movies so amazing.
The series then takes a step further into the macabre and insanity that I can only compare to the upped ante we received every new season of Supernatural.
Eventually, the series reaches End of Evangelion levels of wtfkery that brings you a bonkers fantasy Hellraiser story.
It’s not perfect, but it’s a Hell of an entertaining ride.
4/5
The series then takes a step further into the macabre and insanity that I can only compare to the upped ante we received every new season of Supernatural.
Eventually, the series reaches End of Evangelion levels of wtfkery that brings you a bonkers fantasy Hellraiser story.
It’s not perfect, but it’s a Hell of an entertaining ride.
4/5
October 25, 2019
Clive Barker's Hellraiser is 500 pages of some of the best art I've seen all year, it really brings the feel of the movies to a book. Unfortunately, I remembered that I don't actually like the movies all that much. I really like the idea of them. That hell opens up when you unlock a puzzle box and demons are actually a bunch of weirdly sexy BDSM extremists who spend eternity inflicting an exquisite pain on the damned. I love puzzles! But the movies, and this book, are kind of slow, kind of bogged down with a philosophy that isn't fleshed out enough, and try to make the conflicts too large when a personal existential crisis is good enough for most of us.
There are two things though that I absolutely loved about Hellraiser Omnibus. First, the aforementioned art. It's stunning. The colors, the designs, the spectacle. I would be proud to hang many of these pages on my walls. The digital download took my very out of date tablet an hour to download and I'm guessing the art had a lot to do with that.
Second, is that this book contained some reverse fridging that I got very excited about. If you are unfamiliar the gist is that a woman will get killed off as a way to kick start the hero into action. This book starts with our female hero, Kirsty Cotton, finally accepting her boyfriend's proposal after he is brutally slaughtered.
I have to give huge credit to a book that breaks the trope by killing off the man instead. This book also has some much appreciated equal opportunity graphic nudity. It's mostly women but there is a penis on proud display toward the end! If you're gonna do nudity do it all the way!
There are definitely some positives about this volume but overall I did not find the plot very engaging and kept going for the pretty pictures more than anything else.
for more reviews and content please visit my new blog amanjareads.com
There are two things though that I absolutely loved about Hellraiser Omnibus. First, the aforementioned art. It's stunning. The colors, the designs, the spectacle. I would be proud to hang many of these pages on my walls. The digital download took my very out of date tablet an hour to download and I'm guessing the art had a lot to do with that.
Second, is that this book contained some reverse fridging that I got very excited about. If you are unfamiliar the gist is that a woman will get killed off as a way to kick start the hero into action. This book starts with our female hero, Kirsty Cotton, finally accepting her boyfriend's proposal after he is brutally slaughtered.
I have to give huge credit to a book that breaks the trope by killing off the man instead. This book also has some much appreciated equal opportunity graphic nudity. It's mostly women but there is a penis on proud display toward the end! If you're gonna do nudity do it all the way!
There are definitely some positives about this volume but overall I did not find the plot very engaging and kept going for the pretty pictures more than anything else.
for more reviews and content please visit my new blog amanjareads.com
December 29, 2021
The first half of this book was fantastic. The art was beautiful and disturbing and the story seemed like a logical progression of the characters from the movies (even though they don’t explain how the Cenobites came back to life). The second half of the book was just off the wall bananapants crazy. I can suspend a lot of disbelief but that was too much even for me. And how exactly do they explain away all the hundreds of thousands of people who died in the incident? The ending just made no sense whatsoever.
February 23, 2023
The art was gorgeous and should receive 4 stars (some panels seemed to be incomplete or didn't match the quality of other panels, so I am deducting a star for inconsistency). The plot was all over the place and pretty atrocious. I appreciated the faithfulness of the adaptation to the existing source material, and I enjoyed revisiting old beloved characters once again. I didn't really feel anything though, it was a chore to get through and pinhead lost the little bit of humanity he had earned in the second Hellraiser film. I don't regret reading it but I wouldn't do it again and I would be reluctant to recommend it.
June 14, 2021
This is an excellent continuation of the Hellraiser story (really picking up years after Hellraiser 2 I believe) and really delves deeper into the mythos of the Cenobites. This book is a massive win because ultimately the Cenobites were the most interesting thing about the Hellraiser story! It was awesome to see the story really follow Kirsty’s battle with the Hell Priest (Pinhead) continued and greatly expanded in all sorts of crazy, engaging directions. The art was also downright breathtaking for the first 60% of the book, but then the artist’s changed and the visual quality of the book really dropped.
The story itself also grew to be too expansive in the last 5 or 6 issues I’d say, switching between too many perspectives and moments in time, whereas the beginning really only followed two perspectives at once which was much more digestible. If the art quality kept up the whole way through and the story didn’t start to falter towards the end this would’ve easily been a 5 star book. Even still, I am so glad I tried it out because it was quite a fun ride all in all.
The story itself also grew to be too expansive in the last 5 or 6 issues I’d say, switching between too many perspectives and moments in time, whereas the beginning really only followed two perspectives at once which was much more digestible. If the art quality kept up the whole way through and the story didn’t start to falter towards the end this would’ve easily been a 5 star book. Even still, I am so glad I tried it out because it was quite a fun ride all in all.
June 14, 2022
One of my all time favorite horror movie franchises is Clive Barker’s ‘Hellraiser.’ The queer undertones, religious iconography, and visceral storytelling bring me back to watching it sometimes multiple times a year. I’ve always wanted more about the cenobites and the graphic novel did just that! This graphic novel takes place after the second movie and dives into Kristy’s journey to end the cenobite head priest, Pinhead as he is known, and this journey is a wild adventure! The artwork is absolutely stunning and left me staring at pages to take it all in.
August 4, 2018
The world of Hellraiser (the real one, featuring the original fiction and the first two films) is one of my favorite places to visit, so I have no idea why it took me so long to dive into the comics. While the stories are entertaining and the artwork is brilliant, some of the choices left me a little flat. I did, however, love the Kirsty as Cenobite storyline.
November 23, 2024
I wanted to love this but I found the story a bit confusing and ultimately it didn't hold my interest. The art is great and I just can't give Clive Barker less than 3 stars since the Hellbound Heart is one of my favorite books.
February 16, 2022
A really good horror comic with great illustrations, I am taking one star away only because the plot can get a little confusing at times, especially if you haven't recently seen the first and second Hellraiser movies. Overall, I would love to read more from this series.
November 18, 2018
I guess I must be a glutton for punishment? I mean, I recently reread The Hellbound Heart (and found it wanting, alas) after forcing myself to sit through all the movies in the Hellraiser series. So of course, it was only natural that the next cab off the cultural rank was almost 600 pages of comics set in the same world, eh?
Thankfully, this collection wasn't a waste of time or good suffering, which is probably a better deal than you'd get from a Cenobite drop-in.
It's pretty coherent, which is a bit of a novelty for the setting. Many adaptations have seemed to focus on the hellish BDSM tones and throw in schlock and whack a Hellraiser stamp on things. The story seems to follow on from the second movie. It largely revolves around two people: Kirsty Cotton and Pinhead (well, Elliott Spencer if we're being truthful), though other favourites do make random appearances. (Hey there, Frank!)
The key thing to realise is that the story stays pretty accessible for the most part - Kirsty's involved in with a crew travelling the world, attempting to destroy Lemarchand's creations whenever they can, while Pinhead et al are in hell, bored - but by the end it will make fuck-all sense. I mean, it sort of does, but it's a very comic-book kind of universe-explodin' finale. By the end of it, I was pretty nonplussed, but it still made more sense than a lot of other stories involving the undead pincushion, so I let it ride.
What's good about this is that the art is stellar, the script isn't that clunky, and there's a real sense of dedication to the characters. We learn a lot more about Kirsty and about Pinhead/Spencer - particularly his talent for deception and his plans for something more. There was plenty of stuff in here to keep my interest, and it was a lot funnier than I'd expected. It also doesn't rely solely on gore and face-peeling grimness to create mood - though obviously there's a copious amount of blood to be found here, if that's your jam. I mean, in amongst the conspiracy theories, escapes from hell and try-outs for head underworld honcho, that is.
(Yeah, there's a lot going on.)
If you're a fan of the Hellraiser world, it's likely that you'll enjoy this collection a lot more than most of the films made since the early days of the series. It's aware of its own silliness, actually has decent writers attached - not only Barker, mind - and seems appropriately weighty. It's stupidly enjoyable, and as long as you take it on those terms, is a wild ride.
Thankfully, this collection wasn't a waste of time or good suffering, which is probably a better deal than you'd get from a Cenobite drop-in.
It's pretty coherent, which is a bit of a novelty for the setting. Many adaptations have seemed to focus on the hellish BDSM tones and throw in schlock and whack a Hellraiser stamp on things. The story seems to follow on from the second movie. It largely revolves around two people: Kirsty Cotton and Pinhead (well, Elliott Spencer if we're being truthful), though other favourites do make random appearances. (Hey there, Frank!)
The key thing to realise is that the story stays pretty accessible for the most part - Kirsty's involved in with a crew travelling the world, attempting to destroy Lemarchand's creations whenever they can, while Pinhead et al are in hell, bored - but by the end it will make fuck-all sense. I mean, it sort of does, but it's a very comic-book kind of universe-explodin' finale. By the end of it, I was pretty nonplussed, but it still made more sense than a lot of other stories involving the undead pincushion, so I let it ride.
What's good about this is that the art is stellar, the script isn't that clunky, and there's a real sense of dedication to the characters. We learn a lot more about Kirsty and about Pinhead/Spencer - particularly his talent for deception and his plans for something more. There was plenty of stuff in here to keep my interest, and it was a lot funnier than I'd expected. It also doesn't rely solely on gore and face-peeling grimness to create mood - though obviously there's a copious amount of blood to be found here, if that's your jam. I mean, in amongst the conspiracy theories, escapes from hell and try-outs for head underworld honcho, that is.
(Yeah, there's a lot going on.)
If you're a fan of the Hellraiser world, it's likely that you'll enjoy this collection a lot more than most of the films made since the early days of the series. It's aware of its own silliness, actually has decent writers attached - not only Barker, mind - and seems appropriately weighty. It's stupidly enjoyable, and as long as you take it on those terms, is a wild ride.
January 6, 2023
Absolutely love this compilation. I ate it up. Clive Barker is amazing, all the artwork is gorgeous. The storyline can be a tiny bit hard to follow because some of the characters look really similar in the form of the comic/graphic novel. There were a few parts where I thought to myself, “which man with brown hair is this supposed to be again?” But this is perfect and I love every second of it. Kristy is such a dynamic character in these comics. I’ve been searching high and low for the second volume. I’m reading the hellbound heart now!
February 9, 2018
Starts off strong, but has a steep decline about half way through. Seems to only have the first two Hellraiser movies, and some other Clive Barker writings, in continuity. It's a personal story in the beginning with everyone trying to get revenge on He'll itself, but it ends up with a giant blue electric Pinhead fighting battleships... wish I was making that up.
Not too sure I'll b picking up the second omnibus of this.
Not too sure I'll b picking up the second omnibus of this.
September 28, 2019
Decent
I enjoyed this, but the story makes no sense whatsoever. But the movies don't make much sense either, so that's forgivable. The art is fantastic, especially the Tim Bradstreet covers. Gruesome, grotesque, imaginative, and awesome. I wish volume two was out, because this ends on a cliffhanger.
I enjoyed this, but the story makes no sense whatsoever. But the movies don't make much sense either, so that's forgivable. The art is fantastic, especially the Tim Bradstreet covers. Gruesome, grotesque, imaginative, and awesome. I wish volume two was out, because this ends on a cliffhanger.
August 6, 2018
The plotline is often hard to follow, and I'm curious if this narrative is or will be compatible with the events described in the Scarlet Gospels. The additional back story on Elliott Spencer (Pinhead) is interesting, as is the introduction of Leviathan as a speaking character.
March 8, 2024
Hellraiser Omnibus Vol.1 - A Tedious And Disappointing Addition To The Hellraiser Mythology
This omnibus collection started out great but then, in the middle, it got extremely slow and wordy. In the beginning of this story, Pinhead sounds like Pinhead. I can hear Doug Bradley's voice perfectly. But, as the story progresses, I can't hear the words Pinhead says coming out of Doug Bradley's mouth.
This story started out great with lots of action and horror. Then it took a turn for the worse and became about Pinhead achieving godhood. But he's not Pinhead now. He's been turned back into Elliott Spencer, his human self.
And Kirsty Cotton has now switched places with Spencer and she's become the new Pinhead. She was the hero in the first two movies. But, in this story, because she has lost everything, she's not the hero anymore. According to the story Clive Barker tells here, Kirsty Cotton and Elliott Spencer are two sides of the same coin now.
To Leviathan (whom we actually see in physical form in this story), they represent apathy (Pinhead) and empathy (Kirsty Cotton). As if that's not confusing enough, this story also contains an origin story for Elliott Spencer (Pinhead) that lasts quite a few issues. And, according to Mr. Barker, (major spoiler here) Pinhead gets into an incestrous relationship with his daughter and they wind up having a daughter of their own who was born with cerebral palsy and apparently she's the only one able to defeat Pinhead simply by touching him (and that's a plot point that Mr. Barker took from Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday The 13th. The only way to stop Jason Voorhees in that movie is by another Voorhees killing him.). That's what I mean when I say that this book started out with such promise and then it all just went away as the story went on.
I'm not even interested in continuing this story into the different miniseries that BOOM released after this series wrapped up that's how disappointed I am in it. I really can't recommend this collection, even to long time fans or die hard Hellraiser fans. The incest thing with Pinhead is just ridiculous! Clive Barker took that from another horror movie as well and that movie was Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.
That movie came out back in 1995. In that movie, Michael Myers has sex with his niece, Jamie Lloyd, and she gives birth to his son. Clive Barker took that same idea and just switched the gender of the baby and made it grosser by having Pinhead sleep with his actual daughter. Then there's the artwork.
In the beginning, it was gorgeous to look at. But, as the series progresses, it got darker and scratchier and just harder to see things clearly and I just wasn't feeling it. Some people may like that style but I don't. I like to be able to tell what I'm looking at and, in the second half of this book, I can't.
So I can't recommend this book just because of the ridiculous way the story goes in the second half of the book. I was really looking forward to continuing reading this series too. It's such a shame that it turned out to be such a disappointment. I kept thinking when I first started reading this "Oh, I wonder what sights we'll see in this story".
Upon finishing this collection, the way I feel now about this story, the profound disappointment I feel with it, they can keep their sights because I'm not interested in finding out what comes next 🙂.
This omnibus collection started out great but then, in the middle, it got extremely slow and wordy. In the beginning of this story, Pinhead sounds like Pinhead. I can hear Doug Bradley's voice perfectly. But, as the story progresses, I can't hear the words Pinhead says coming out of Doug Bradley's mouth.
This story started out great with lots of action and horror. Then it took a turn for the worse and became about Pinhead achieving godhood. But he's not Pinhead now. He's been turned back into Elliott Spencer, his human self.
And Kirsty Cotton has now switched places with Spencer and she's become the new Pinhead. She was the hero in the first two movies. But, in this story, because she has lost everything, she's not the hero anymore. According to the story Clive Barker tells here, Kirsty Cotton and Elliott Spencer are two sides of the same coin now.
To Leviathan (whom we actually see in physical form in this story), they represent apathy (Pinhead) and empathy (Kirsty Cotton). As if that's not confusing enough, this story also contains an origin story for Elliott Spencer (Pinhead) that lasts quite a few issues. And, according to Mr. Barker, (major spoiler here) Pinhead gets into an incestrous relationship with his daughter and they wind up having a daughter of their own who was born with cerebral palsy and apparently she's the only one able to defeat Pinhead simply by touching him (and that's a plot point that Mr. Barker took from Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday The 13th. The only way to stop Jason Voorhees in that movie is by another Voorhees killing him.). That's what I mean when I say that this book started out with such promise and then it all just went away as the story went on.
I'm not even interested in continuing this story into the different miniseries that BOOM released after this series wrapped up that's how disappointed I am in it. I really can't recommend this collection, even to long time fans or die hard Hellraiser fans. The incest thing with Pinhead is just ridiculous! Clive Barker took that from another horror movie as well and that movie was Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.
That movie came out back in 1995. In that movie, Michael Myers has sex with his niece, Jamie Lloyd, and she gives birth to his son. Clive Barker took that same idea and just switched the gender of the baby and made it grosser by having Pinhead sleep with his actual daughter. Then there's the artwork.
In the beginning, it was gorgeous to look at. But, as the series progresses, it got darker and scratchier and just harder to see things clearly and I just wasn't feeling it. Some people may like that style but I don't. I like to be able to tell what I'm looking at and, in the second half of this book, I can't.
So I can't recommend this book just because of the ridiculous way the story goes in the second half of the book. I was really looking forward to continuing reading this series too. It's such a shame that it turned out to be such a disappointment. I kept thinking when I first started reading this "Oh, I wonder what sights we'll see in this story".
Upon finishing this collection, the way I feel now about this story, the profound disappointment I feel with it, they can keep their sights because I'm not interested in finding out what comes next 🙂.
July 13, 2020
I read 1-5 (or is it 1-20?) individually over Kindle Unlimited. Rating the omnibus so it feels like one full novel instead of 5 partial stories (comic books are so annoying).
Certain parts of this were okay. To be upfront, I'm not a huge Hellraiser fan. From my review of volume one: "Every iteration feels like a bunch of hell demons who constantly move the goalpost and torture people just to torture them; they bloviate and barf up all sorts of christian-adjacent religious nonsense in a world where very few non-white non-christians exist. I know that's all some people need to enjoy it, but it doesn't feel like there's much of a story when the answer always seems to be "actually there's no god here *tears your face off with hook chains*. This happens approximately two hundred thousand times. I also hate how Barker seems to embrace gender roles in such a boring, biological way. If you're a gal your story will inevitably involve rape, abortion, miscarriage, traumatic birth, some kind of ridiculous menstruation, etc. All of that is still in this series so it's not like, a massive improvement."
So that is all still true and it's why I'm not really into Barker's stuff. But in small doses this universe is bearable. It is definitely stylish, the most stylish splatterpunk I've seen, and I appreciate that the Cenobites seem to hold themselves to that dominatrix dress code, they are all maimed in symbolic and artsy ways, and that their gadgets are lovely shiny gold. I liked Kirsty's new look as well, and when she was the main focus of the story, it moved at a great pace. All of that combined with an abundance of blood on virtually every page makes for some decently stylish horror in the earlier volumes. The artist in me likes all of this enough to get through this whole comic. It holds to a nice aesthetic and I appreciate that.
Sadly, the story started strong but by the end was somewhat convoluted, especially once it zoomed out into a world-wide scope. Seeing groups of men in suits yelling at each other about clearance levels is absolutely boring and it feels old fashioned and trite. Also, the art in the last bit, volume 5, was a huge downgrade. At that point you're finishing it to finish it.
But if you like chains with hooks ripping people's faces off, and a dozen or so sad micro-stories of people fucking up and then getting ripped apart by chains, it might be worth reading. I mean, if you get a free month of Kindle Unlimited, this will cost you zero dollars to read, so it's definitely worth it if you're a fan of Barker, Hellraiser, Splatterpunk, or if you're just curious and want to see some gore and nudity to spice up your day. But it's not the comic that will win you over to liking comic books, it's not going to win you over to the Hellraiser franchise, and it's not even that fascinating of a stand-alone story.
Certain parts of this were okay. To be upfront, I'm not a huge Hellraiser fan. From my review of volume one: "Every iteration feels like a bunch of hell demons who constantly move the goalpost and torture people just to torture them; they bloviate and barf up all sorts of christian-adjacent religious nonsense in a world where very few non-white non-christians exist. I know that's all some people need to enjoy it, but it doesn't feel like there's much of a story when the answer always seems to be "actually there's no god here *tears your face off with hook chains*. This happens approximately two hundred thousand times. I also hate how Barker seems to embrace gender roles in such a boring, biological way. If you're a gal your story will inevitably involve rape, abortion, miscarriage, traumatic birth, some kind of ridiculous menstruation, etc. All of that is still in this series so it's not like, a massive improvement."
So that is all still true and it's why I'm not really into Barker's stuff. But in small doses this universe is bearable. It is definitely stylish, the most stylish splatterpunk I've seen, and I appreciate that the Cenobites seem to hold themselves to that dominatrix dress code, they are all maimed in symbolic and artsy ways, and that their gadgets are lovely shiny gold. I liked Kirsty's new look as well, and when she was the main focus of the story, it moved at a great pace. All of that combined with an abundance of blood on virtually every page makes for some decently stylish horror in the earlier volumes. The artist in me likes all of this enough to get through this whole comic. It holds to a nice aesthetic and I appreciate that.
Sadly, the story started strong but by the end was somewhat convoluted, especially once it zoomed out into a world-wide scope. Seeing groups of men in suits yelling at each other about clearance levels is absolutely boring and it feels old fashioned and trite. Also, the art in the last bit, volume 5, was a huge downgrade. At that point you're finishing it to finish it.
But if you like chains with hooks ripping people's faces off, and a dozen or so sad micro-stories of people fucking up and then getting ripped apart by chains, it might be worth reading. I mean, if you get a free month of Kindle Unlimited, this will cost you zero dollars to read, so it's definitely worth it if you're a fan of Barker, Hellraiser, Splatterpunk, or if you're just curious and want to see some gore and nudity to spice up your day. But it's not the comic that will win you over to liking comic books, it's not going to win you over to the Hellraiser franchise, and it's not even that fascinating of a stand-alone story.
May 26, 2019
Travel back with me, my friends, to those distant, hazy days of the mid-1980s. Your humble narrator, aged 16, discovers Clive Barker, and specifically Books of Blood: Volume One. This was a life-changing event for our hero: sex and gore and twisted, dark imaginings the likes of which our young reader had never encountered before. I. Was. In. Love. I read all three volumes, and sought out as much of the young Barker's work as I could.
In 1987, while I was a freshman in college, I went to see the film Hellraiser in a cheap theatre in Bangor, Maine, and thought it was the highest for of Art imaginable.
So I enjoyed the 500+ page gory horror comic book, even as I found the plot in the later third of the story to be a bit confusing. I love me some Cenobites! Horrid things. I most recently read and loved The Scarlet Gospels. These dark, Hieronymus-Bosch-meets-M.C.-Escher stories hold a dear place in my heart. Clive Barker's imagination is a twisted garden where Persephone herself would pause before harvesting the luscious, blood-filled fruits.
I love you, Clive.
In 1987, while I was a freshman in college, I went to see the film Hellraiser in a cheap theatre in Bangor, Maine, and thought it was the highest for of Art imaginable.
So I enjoyed the 500+ page gory horror comic book, even as I found the plot in the later third of the story to be a bit confusing. I love me some Cenobites! Horrid things. I most recently read and loved The Scarlet Gospels. These dark, Hieronymus-Bosch-meets-M.C.-Escher stories hold a dear place in my heart. Clive Barker's imagination is a twisted garden where Persephone herself would pause before harvesting the luscious, blood-filled fruits.
I love you, Clive.
October 20, 2024
Hellraiser is one of my favourite horror franchises, so I was immediately excited for this omnibus. After reading it, I do have some notes. Some pros: I loved the gritty and grungy art style and felt it fit the nature of the story well. I loved the new and returning characters and their characterizations and introductions felt like they fit the story. I loved how the story itself took bold directions with Kirsty and Pinhead’s characters and how it took those arcs as far as they could. Some negatives: I did feel like once the story got bigger and the government got involved that it felt like the story itself couldn’t keep up with how big it had gotten. It felt like it meandered and struggled to find a way to resolve. While this omnibus did have a definite conclusion and ended with the promise of a second omnibus release "coming soon" (it has been years and there may never be any such release), I did feel pretty unsatisfied with the ending knowing I would have a hard time searching out the continuation of the story from here. Overall, this was an interesting continuation of the Hellraiser books and movies and I hope that I am able to continue on reading from this world someday.
September 17, 2021
This one was good! As a continuation from the Hellraiser movies (one and two), you'd need to be familiar with them to fully grasp this one, but as a fan of the movies, I really enjoyed it! The art is actually really pretty. I also love a complicated storyline, which I feel that I don't get a lot in graphic novels/comics as much as I'd like, but this one delivered. My only gripes with it are that the last quarter became difficult to follow, especially as I didn't know who certain characters were, as they were introduced pretty rapid-fire. But overall? A great comic continuation. I'd recommend to any Hellraiser fans, and maybe anyone who enjoys horror and is looking for a horror comic to get into. I really enjoyed this one!
July 24, 2022
Earlier this year, I became a fan of Clive Barker, THE HELLBOUND HEART, and the HELLRAISER films. I decided to check out this omnibus that collects the five volumes of Barker's 2011 return to the series, a legacy sequel of sorts that picks up 25 years after the 2nd movie. The first two volumes are quite strong, with terrific artwork, disturbing imagery, and a compelling narrative of Kirsty Cotton hunting down cenobites and Lemarchand boxes, with Pinhead trying to become human for a nefarious purpose. However, this REALLY loses focus in the second half, and ends up being messy, dull, banal, and nonsensical. Worth it for the first two parts and the art, otherwise it was ultimately a disappointment.
August 15, 2018
The first half was amazing. I loved seeing these Characters again and the story felt true to the films, the art style fits very well, that's what I want a continuation of the original movies to be. The second half went so far off the rails I honestly don't know what to make of it. It becomes a globe-spanning, metaphysical dark fantasy epic that's hard to follow, with the tone shifting like crazy - from horror to pulp to military thriller to superhero comic... Most of it feels nothing like Hellraiser. I'll still get the second omnibus when it comes out though. Have to know where the hell this goes from here. And it's definitely way better than the later movies. (duh.)
August 9, 2020
Solid Work
Horror is always hard. Especially as a comic. Words let the reader see it in their own mind the way they want to, without constraints. With pictures, everyone is stuck with the concepts the writer and artist choose. There is no room to be fanciful. Horror and fantasy need to be fanciful. This was very good despite the limitations of being a comic. I enjoyed it, which surprised me.
Horror is always hard. Especially as a comic. Words let the reader see it in their own mind the way they want to, without constraints. With pictures, everyone is stuck with the concepts the writer and artist choose. There is no room to be fanciful. Horror and fantasy need to be fanciful. This was very good despite the limitations of being a comic. I enjoyed it, which surprised me.
March 12, 2025
This book was certainly something. I appreciate how much the lore of this universe was expanded, but feel like some parts would have been better saying a mystery. The art is beautiful, but I feel like turning the female cenobite into an quipy femme-fatale thoroughly destroys her scare factor. I also feel like Kristy's "cenobitum" are more just generic monsters than cenobites. It expands what a cenobite can be, but at the same time waters down the concept.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2020
This book is about a race to find Hell's artefacts that murder people. I didn't like it. It was gory just to be gory. I was expecting manipulation, tears and suffering, but there was only blood. I felt the characters were trowned into my face and I didn't connect with any of them. I'll have to find an evil pov somewhere else...
March 18, 2020
Awesome Hellraiser comic!
Naturally I'm a big fan of Clive Barker's Hellraiser series. I was satisfied with this being the first Hellraiser comic I read on Kindle and I intend on reading the others.
Naturally I'm a big fan of Clive Barker's Hellraiser series. I was satisfied with this being the first Hellraiser comic I read on Kindle and I intend on reading the others.
November 19, 2017
3.5
Solid horror comics that expand the "Hellraiser" mythos far more satisfactorily than any of the sequels. Not the highest praise, I know.
Solid horror comics that expand the "Hellraiser" mythos far more satisfactorily than any of the sequels. Not the highest praise, I know.
January 26, 2018
ehhhhh i guess. it's not bad but you have to be VERY invested already. http://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2017...
May 17, 2019
Top notch graphic novel from Clive Barker. I like how it goes way deeper into the mythology and the history of both Pinhead and the Cenobites. Will definitely check out Vol. 2 soon.
May 23, 2019
I like the story and art style of the book but I do not like the direction it is going. The later bit of the story and the ending is not as captivating and lost its charm.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews