Oni Press has provided ComicBook.com with an exclusive first look at Cemetery Kids Don't Die, an upcoming miniseries from writer Zac Thompson and artist Daniel Irizarri. The series, which will launch in February, centers on a gaming console that you play while you sleep. The series sees the "Cemetery Kids" wandering the world of an immersive open-world horror game, hoping to do battle with "The King of Sleep."
We have a first look at all five covers for Cemetery Kids Don't Die #1, featuring art by Daniel Irizarri, Dustin Weaver, James Stokoe, and Vlad Legostaev -- as well as full art variants from James Stokoe (1:20 variant) and Dustin Weaver (1:30 variant).
"With each cover we wanted to evoke something striking and different from everything else on the stands," Thompson told ComicBook.com in a statement. "I like to believe we've channeled a really strong Shonen Manga energy while also having a distinct sci-fi/horror genre element that really jumps out at you. Daniel's A covers function both as incredibly strong pieces of character work and really kinetic action-horror storytelling. We've also got a murderers row of variants with the likes of Dustin Weaver, James Stokoe, Alex Eckman Lawn and others... we're positively spoiled!"
"I'm almost embarrassed by the amount of incredible variant covers we have lined up," Irizarri added. "Sierra and Jung (our amazing editors) have gone above and beyond in finding some of my all-time favorite artists to work on some truly great pieces. It's dream-come-true stuff seeing someone like James Stokoe draw characters we designed. Each one illustrates and flourishes elements of this world that have inspired and informed how I see things in the page as well. As for my own covers they've been some of my favorite pieces ever and as a painter, they're my opportunity to really set the stage for what readers can expect inside."
You can see the official solicitation text, synopsis, and covers below.
CEMETERY KIDS DON'T DIE
Written by ZAC THOMPSON
Art by DANIEL IRIZARRI
Covers by DANIEL IRIZARRI, DUSTIN WEAVER & MORE
YOU'RE ONLY ALIVE IF YOU'RE ONLINE . . . Experience 2024's most exhilarating, terrifying adventure downloading from critically acclaimed writer Zac Thompson (Hunt for the Skinwalker, The Dregs) and blockbuster artist Daniel Irizarri (XINO, Judge Dredd)!
The 21st century sucks hard, but it's been made somewhat tolerable by the latest and greatest media innovation to finally unseat the iPhone. Enter the Dreamwave: the first gaming console played entirely while you sleep.
Now the obsession of millions around the globe, it's also the one point of solace for four friends whose lives have been marred by trauma and dysfunction. Together, this group of ultra-online "Cemetery Kids" spend their nights roaming the open world of the most immersive and brutal horror game ever created: "Nightmare Cemetery." Together they seek to dethrone an enigmatic humanoid monster known only as the "The King of Sleep."
Which was fun—until one of them doesn't wake up . . . and finds their consciousness locked inside a horror game that is anything but imaginary. Now, the three remaining Cemetery Kids must navigate the game's forbidden landscape to rescue their friend . . . and pray that the secret lurking at its center doesn't follow them home.
FOUR ISSUES | BEGINNING FEBRUARY 2024 FROM ONI PRESS