Clive Barker's Nightbreed Archive Vol. 1

Nightbreed (Collections) #4

by Clive Barker, Various (Artist)

Explore horror master Clive Barker’s ’90s cult-classic Nightbreed series like never before in this comprehensive hardcover archive collection. Features the adaptation of Clive Barker’s original screenplay; year 1 of the original ’90s Nightbreed Epic comic run; and the Hellraiser/Nightbreed crossover, all remastered and collected for the first time.nFirst appearing in the cult classic 1990 film, the Nightbreed is a tribe of monsters and outcasts who hide out from society in an underground community called Midian. Features a Foreword written by D.G. Chichester.

Genres: Horror, Graphic Novels, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics

421 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 14, 2016

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

[Johann (jobis89) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stuff... some not so good stuff.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read some of this years ago, but it was nice to revisit it. The book itself is a nice hardcover with high quality paper and colors. The volume starts off with an expanded adaptation of the NIGHTBREED movie. Its a step above most comic book movie comics and was taken directly from the original screenplay, so you get a "director's cut" type story. The follow up story deals with some renegade Nightbreed who decide they want to eat human flesh regardless of whether it's against tribal law. This volume wraps up with a pretty cool Hellraiser/Nightbreed crossover where we get to see the Nightbreed vs. the Cenobites. This was during a time when you didn't see crossovers on the comic racks ever week. The painted art was nice as well. I will say that as far as the crossover goes, it started off with a bang then lost me as the second part got really weird, even for a Barker story. Still entertaining though.

If you are a Clive Barker fan who reads comics, this is worth checking out.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, you'll get your money's worth. At 432 pages, there's 12 issues of content here, plus some commentary. And those pages are dense with content - this was late 80's/early 90's comics, where more is always more, be it frames on the page or syllables in the words (the language gets overbearing on many occasions). On a good comic, this could be overlooked. On this... it's a distraction. The art varies between artists some, but the Nightbreed series in general is dark and heavily colored, and it suffers from the style (the Jihad two-issue series is a bit better, especially the first issue). The first four issues retell the movie Nightbreed, the next six make a separate arc about renegade Nightbreed challenging Boone, which really didn't work well for me. And the Jihad storyline goes for excess as it brings in the Cenobites and then manages to make Pinhead at least temporarily on the same side as the Nightbreed. I don't know; this collection was a chore to get through - although I am a Barker fan, I'm on the casual side of the term, and it's been decades since I watched the movie. The back cover says this is good for neophytes to the concept, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone that isn't a dedicated Clive Barker fan.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I'm a big fan of Nightbreed and Clive Barker in general, there were some issues here (pun... not entirely intended). First off is the adaptation that makes up the first four comics, which to me feels slapdash and I assume would be tough to follow for non-fans. It's not necessarily a bad comic, but as an adaptation it could have done so much more.

The follow up story introduces some great new characters (Oral is my personal favorite) and an arc that continues directly from the movie/adaptation. While it is far more, well, comic booky, than the film, it's still aggressively entertaining in that early '90s comic book kind of way. It's dark and grungy and, while corny and dumb at times, contains very memorable material.

Then there's Judas, the crossover between Hellraiser and Nightbreed. While I feel many might like this, and it should be right up my alley, it just didn't do much for me. The art is chaotic and hard to follow (good at times, bad at others) and the writing is paper-thin despite a bevy of five dollar words. Another problem is that it brings in characters I've never met and I can only assume they show up in other comics not included in this volume. Also, Alastor is a shitty villain.

So overall, while worth it for the fan and for someone just looking for some of the craziest comics around, I can't give this incomplete archive top marks. It's 100% a fun read, but with far more detractors than I'd like.

[Dave Farrance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting! This collection contains graphic novelisations of the movie, it’s intended sequel content and then a mad NightbreedxHellraiser to finish.

The stories were good, the artwork enjoyable throughout for the most part, but strangely enough the Hellraiser mix which I was most intrigued by didn’t hit the mark for me as I had hoped, so over all this is a 4.5 stars for me. I just don’t like the art style for the Nightbreed/Hellraiser story and that made the bonkers story a little too weird to follow, leaving me hoping to get through it quicker. But it was an interesting story, so it gains some admiration for that.

This was good fun though!

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nightbreed was one of my favorite movies as a teenager. It's a story filled with monsters but where humans are the true monsters. David Cronenberg was so damn creepy in this. Even though the first 4 issues are a faithful adaptation of the movie, I suggest watching the movie if you haven't seen it. It just conveys more emotion than the comic. Then the next 6 issues are the original ongoing Nightbreed comic from Epic Comics, Marvel's adult line and attempt of making their own version of Vertigo. I really liked the ongoing back in the day as Boone was given a mission to find a new version of Mideon for the Nightbreed to live in. The arc here is about a new group of Nightbreed who are breaking the laws against eating humans with Boone and his friends out to stop them. The final two issues are the crossover between Hellraiser and Nightbreed. The art by Paul Johnson is often indecipherable. The crossover is terrible. It's completely obtuse in story and art.

[Missy (myweereads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There’s a place where the pain ends, a place where night’s chill kiss brings absolution, sparking life in tortured shadows…a place where the monsters go.”

This volume of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed Archives begins with an extended version of the film. I have enjoyed the film and the book Cabal so to read it in this version was great. The monsters of Midian are shown in all their glory. Following this are a few stories where the characters of Nightbreed are causing trouble. Towards the end of this volume are the stories Jihad featuring the crossover with Hellraiser. These were fun as it’s the Nightbreed vs Cenobites.

I enjoyed picking this up and revisiting the stories I’ve loved by Clive Barker.

[Lucy Batson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok collection of the Nightbreed series Epic Comics put out in the late 80's that adapts the Nightbreed movie, and then continues the story. Good art, the story can be a little hokey at times, which tracks with Nightbreed's hostory of being a franchise with a lot of potential that it never gets close to fulfilling.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Post fall of Midian, the Breed try to find their new home, while some indulge their base tastes. Boone struggles with his new purpose Cabal. Good art and action, not keen on the art for the battle with the Cennobites, the last section. Cool expansion of the world. Check it out.

[Kaitlyn (ktxx22) Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feels more like a 3.75 mostly because I feel unsatisfied in the ending, but at the same time I’m excited to read the source material this series is based on. Because it was a good time, and I think I need more.

[Mariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The person that reccomended this said I should see the movie after reading this. The book was weird and interest I just hope the movie is as well.

[Lucian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Nightbreed and some of the stories in this collection were good but most felt a bit mediocre.

[Aleck H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked the art on some of the issues.

[Bookhode · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been roughly two years, since my 2019 vacation, that I've lagged behind with reviews of books on Goodreads, so it seems fair that I try to catch up with everything I missed, during my current 2021 vacation.

Nightbreed is one of Clive Barker's most popular works, that found its version in several different forms of media. Initially it was a novella, which was then turned into a pretty decent movie, and then we also got a graphic novel, which had spawned multiple sequel chapters, continuing the original story and finally even crossing over with another, even more famous staple of Barker's art - Hellraiser.

The edition I'm reviewing here contains all those graphic novel chapters, from the original book, up to the Boone/ Pinhead meetup. And while I definitely appreciated the idea of the extended storyline, and all those pretty little Cenobite Easter Eggs, I must say that eventually I ended up rather disappointed with the whole thing. The early chapters that cover the original novel are very good, the drawing is nice, writing is great, and everything seems to flow naturally and makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately later, after the fall of Midian, the story becomes harder to follow, drawing gets rougher and less precise, colors are much darker, and none of the new characters (including the new main antagonist) are interesting enough to carry the plot.

Boone, as the new messiah, tries to lead the remnants of his people to find them another home, but their various road trip adventures turn into an ugly mess of betrayals, hunger, and weird character choices. The monsters all have diverse looks and abilities, and they employ them often to inflict plenty of damage and produce a lot of gore on their victims, but like I said, nothing is very well drawn, and the book is really not a pleasant one to read. One could argue that a graphic novel about a bunch of creatures of the night should not be a pretty thing at all, and I agree with that in theory, but at the same time, I think that it should be discernible and clear enough, so that the reader can at least know what is going on with all those teeth and claws.

Overall, this was a solid collection, that has enough of authentic Barker feel to make his fans happy, and to find its place on their bookshelves, with strong beginning and nice fan favorite toned finish.

Current score: 57/100

[Justin Troville · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I have come around to reading more often again. Let alone getting back into a horror grind.

The overall storyline and character progression is really good. They all seem to flourish with each different personality.
The art was amazing, especially for the fact that it was hand drawn. Overall it had really good details.

One of the things I picked up on/enjoyed was the Thelemic and Pagan references. They're interesting to research in themselves, but to see both embedded into the dark story was great.

The only complaint I have is some of the dialogue. There were moments where conversations didn't seem natural, sometimes a bit too forceful with the phrasing. It also would have felt a lot more natural if the main characters actually cussed instead of what felt like being censored.
Regardless, really entertaining.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This covers the movie and what happens immediately afterward. While it is interesting to see some new characters, I did not find them interesting enough to warrant being the main characters for the bulk of the story. This also includes the Nightbree/Hellraiser crossover Jihad. While presenting some interesting ideas regarding order v chaos, it felt that the elements were underused.