Bubba Ho-Tep Prequel Coming to Comics From Joe R. Lansdale and IDW

Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers, a prequel to the cult classic horror comedy Bubba Ho-Tep, is [...]

Bubba and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers, a prequel to the cult classic horror comedy Bubba Ho-Tep, is coming to comics in 2018 from IDW Publishing and the character's creator, writer Joe R. Lansdale.

The story was published as a prose novel in October, and is available as an ebook or hardcover from Subterranean Press. Lansdale, an award-winning novelist, comics writer and screenwriter, is bringing the novel to life as a comic book miniseries beginning in March.

"Bubba Ho-Tep was an accidental story that turned out to be my first film adaptation, and it's still going strong in story and film," said Lansdale. "And finally, it has inspired a background story that was first a novel, and is now represented in the medium that first made me want to be a writer: comics. Graphic novels. What we used to call Funny Books. I'm excited and looking forward to readers discovering it all in color and looking fine. May more Bubba comics burst into existence and give the world the true story of how the world has been protected from evil, and for quite some time. Thank goodness these defenders are out there, working in the shadows."

By "accidental story," Lansdale refers to the original short story's genesis: he had joked that if he were to write a mummy story, the antagonist would likely end up as "Bubba Ho-Tep." After briefly imagining it as a redneck mummy tale, Lansdale visited his mother, who was in a rest home following an injury, and was struck by inspiration.

The eventual tale centered on Elvis and John F. Kennedy, both of whose deaths had been faked, now living out the end of their lives in a nursing home together. They had to overcome age, adversity, and constant disagreements to battle the armies of Egyptian undead.

The short story was adapted into a film starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis.

For the comics adaptation of Cosmic Blood-Suckers, titled Bubba Ho-Tep and the Cosmic Blood-Suckers in comics (likely to capitalize on the name recognition of the film in a way the novel did not), Lansdale will be joined by writer Joshua Jabcuga and artist Tadd Galusha (Godzilla: Rage Across Time).

In the prequel, Elvis is part of a secret government organization designed to protect civilians under the direction of President Richard Nixon. He and a group of hardcore warriors set out to save the world from an invasion of hive-minded, shape-shifting, vampire-like creatures from a dark dimension.

The first issue arrives this March with covers by Galusha, Baldemar Rivas, and Timothy Truman.

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