Fog has been generous to horror. It creates an oppressive and threatening atmosphere as it literally creates an air of uncertainty regarding who or what might be lurking within. Werewolves, vampires, and ghouls have all found the fog to be a willing friend, a reliable force very much in league with the supernatural. Alfred Hitchcock used it for a whole movie once in his 1927 silent film The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, about the hunt for a Jack the Ripper-like serial killer. Clive Barker conjures some of it for a terrifyingly gruesome werewolf sequence that takes place in his short story “Twilight at The Towers,” one of the finest lycanthrope tales ever crafted.
Now, Dead Sky Publishing is throwing its hat into the misty ring with The Order of The Circle, a story of magic, the occult, and hellish revenge. It’s written by Levi Cory and illustrated by Elisabeth Mkheidze, with Eva de la Cruz on colors and María Letizia Mirabella on lettering.
Here’s the official plot summary from the press release:
“The winter of 1952. A mysterious and deadly smog has enveloped the city, leaving it in a panic. Crime is up, hospitals are overrun, businesses are closed, and all travel is shut down. It’s the perfect cover for Dorothy Schafer to carry out her revenge plan against The Circle, an agency of mages and witches sworn to protect London from crime and disease since the Middle Ages. The Circle has sentenced Dorothy’s husband, John, to death by murder and the punishment was swift: a summoned demon dragged him straight to Hell. To get vengeance, Dorothy undertakes a daunting quest to craft a blade to battle against The Circle. . .and Hell itself.”
It’s apparent rather quickly from these pages that the fog is a constant presence that will affect the story and its characters directly. It doesn’t come off as a gimmick, or a mere feature of the setting. Also, there’s a bit of Hellraiser here with the whole ‘demons dragging people to Hell’ business. It comes out a bit more clearly in the exclusive preview pages, which already indicates that fans of horror will be rewarded if they take the time to scan each page carefully. Looks like there’s more than we initially thought hiding in the fog.
The Order of The Circle is an original graphic novel, and it will be released on February 18, 2025. The exclusive preview pages follow below.
