As Panick Looks to Reshape Horror Comics, Its Creators Discuss The First Wave of Titles

Panick Entertainment is one of a new wave of comics publishers, run by familiar industry names and looking to own a niche in the comics industry by opening up both barrels and unloading a barrage of high-quality content into the market all at once. Like Ghost Machine or DSTLRY, the company is populated by names fans will recognize, here led by former Heavy Metal boss Kris Longo.

The aggressive new slate of titles includes T.A.M.A. (from Adam Schlagman, Doug Pasko, and Daniel HDR); Savager (from Shannon Eric Denton, Dirk Blackman, and Kewber Baal); and Black Diamond (from Brendan Columbus and Danilo Beyruth). Several members of the Panick Entertainment staff recently joined ComicBook to talk about the first wave of titles, which you can preorder right now on Zoop.

“I had a pretty well publicized exit from Heavy Metal,” Longo admitted, adding that he still had a “list of things that that I still wanted to see happen, regardless of where they happened. So that’s when I just started reaching out and kind of forming the Dirty Dozen, so to speak. The first order of business was was reaching out to Adam and talking to him purely as a creator, and trying to see where he was going to go with with his writing. In talking to Adam and Doug, and hearing a pitch for T.A.M.A., it just made sense to ask them to join the company. Not only are they brilliant writers and creators, but they understood what I was looking to do with Panick, and my take on where horror comics were in general, and they instantly fell in line with with that mission, which was wonderful.”

The idea that underlies the company is a fans-first approach, trying to create something that feels legitimately new and scary, according to Longo. He told us that the writers and artists are all on board for the philosophy.

“We’re all comic fans and horror nerds, and I personally feel there’s a lot of publishers doing great work with horror titles, but I don’t think there’s one definitive publisher that kind of owns that space,” Longo explained. “I was hoping to claim some of that territory with Heavy Metal. It didn’t go in that direction, unfortunately, and this is my stab, pardon the pun, to kind of put us a bit more on the comic map. What’s frustrating with a lot of horror comics now is that you can see punches being pulled, and I think sometimes it’s hard to generate suspense in this medium, so instead you get excessive gore and things like that to fill the void. One of the things that I love with with our slate is, we’ve managed to find creators like Brandon, Dirk, and Shannon, who who are able to create sustained tension in that medium, and then find comic artists who are willing to do the same. I just want to go to my comic shop and read some kick ass horror comics, and if we have to facilitate that ourselves, here we are to do it. It’s just been an absolute thrill.”

“When you talk about assembling a dream team, PANICK is a prime example,” Jordan Plosky, co-founder of Zoop, said in a statement. “Having seen their individual growth over the years to the Voltron they are assembling now is awe-inspiring.  We couldn’t be happier to be working with them on their debut launch, and know there are great things in store for this team, and their slate of books.”

There’s just a few days left in the initial Zoop campaign, but ComicBook can confirm that the campaign — which launched last month on Friday the 13th — will no longer end on that original date, but has been extended through Halloween. That means you’ll get to span the entirety of spooky season thinking about what’s coming.

They’ve also given us a sneak peek at some of the stretch goals they’ve got set up. They’ve already blown past the first one, which will offer every physical “Primer Pack” buyer a complementary digital bundle. Next up? Well, here’s a quick rundown:

At $10,000 (which is a few hundred bucks away as of this writing, they’ll add a “thank you” page featuring the names of all supporters of physical product tiers in every comic. At $15,000, you’ll get 8 pages of extra murder…err, extra matter. Concept art, sketches, and interviews will be appearing in the back of all three comics at that level.

So, what are the books you’ll be ordering if you jump on board for all this? Before we get into the rest of the interviews, here’s the solicitation text for each, which gives you a sense for the books:

T.A.M.A. #1

Imagine the pint-sized horror of Don Mancini’s CHILD’S PLAY meets the multi-generational phenomenon of POKEMON – Meet the virtual pet that’s gotta kill ‘em all!

When neglected Teen Kit discovers a defunct virtual pet system, he finds the companionship he desperately seeks. But when mysterious and gruesome deaths begin to pile up all around, Kit wonders if his ‘new friend’ could be the “virtual” common denominator. 

How far is Kit willing to go to feel loved? And how many people have to die before Kit understands the cost of an AI friend who will do ANYTHING to receive that love back in return?!

Writers:  Adam Schlagman (Executive Producer SHAZAM!, BLACK ADAM / writer Flashpoint: Hal Jordan, Batman: Brave & the Bold); Doug Pasko (Executive producer THE OUTPOST, MYTHICA 1-5)
Pencils & Inks: Daniel HDR (Masters of the Universe, Injustice: Gods Among Us, X-Men Forever)
Colors: TBA
Letters: Patrick Brosseau (Hellboy, Creepshow, G.I. Joe)
ZOOP Cover: Shane Pierce (Heavy Metal, Vikings)

SAVAGER #1

Mad Max meets HP Lovecraft in the ultimate post-apocalyptic survival horror!

Fifty years post-invasion – Earth is a dead world – all organic life consumed by voracious cosmic parasites. Inhabiting barely recognisable husks of earth’s former lifeforms, these remnants fight for dominance in a horrific post-apocalypse. 

Riley Philps is the Savager – once a human warrior, now an infected shell – at war with the parasite within him. When Savager discovers the last living humans, he must battle his personal monster and face the harrows of his past if he’s to save their future from the deadly creatures on their trail. Protecting the last of a ‘presumed extinct’ humanity from a new and permanent extinction!

Writers: Shannon Eric Denton (Monster Forge Productions, Kingdom Riders); Dirk Blackman (UNDERWORLD: RISE OF THE LYCANS, OUTLANDER)
Pencils & Inks: Kewber Baal (Elvira, KISS, James Bond, Vampirella)
Colors: TBA
Letters: Sal Cipriano (The Batman Who Laughs, Carmilla, Resistance Universe)
ZOOP Cover: Shane Pierce (Heavy Metal, Vikings)

BLACK DIAMOND #1

A horrifying nordic thriller that’s equal parts Hitchcock and THE WICKER MAN.

When a family ski trip to Norway devolves into the cult kidnapping of their son –  Owen and Victoria Howard will do anything to get him back, even if it means compromising everything they believe in. Tasked by the cult to find a replacement sacrifice, the Howards must breach their morals and their sanity to steal another child. With an impending deadline and their son’s life in the balance – the law closing and time running out, how far will the Howard’s go to save their son? And who will they have to kill to do it?

Writer: Brendan Columbus (Savage Circus, Heavy Metal)
Artist: Danilo Beyruth (Venom, Carnage, Ghost Rider, Deadpool)
Colors: TBA
Letters: Saida Temafonte (DCeased)
ZOOP Cover: Shane Pierce (Heavy Metal, Vikings)

The first issues of these three new series are featured in the PANICK Primer Pack, in exclusive formats, including metal covers, CGC-graded versions of all three, and the opportunity to be drawn into and murdered in a PANICK comic.

“Post-DC, I wanted to do something more for myself, develop some of my own ideas,” explained Schlagman, co-creator of T.A.M.A.. “I just had the basic concept — what if your virtual pet that you’ve neglected for years, came back to kill you? We were talking about it, and then it just kept evolving and evolving. We would be at Starbucks all the time. It turned into a pretty long pitch. We brought that to Chris — this is before either of us were part of the company — and then that’s how it got picked up.”

“Our story started with this crazy idea Adam came told me about, and then we built these characters,” Pasko added. “Heck, T.A.M.A. itself. By the end, you’re you, kind of rooting for T.A.M.A., even though T.A.M.A.’s doing some pretty sketchy stuff. You’re like, ‘Well, I know why T.A.M.A.’s doing it, though. T.A.M.A.’s got a whole reason for being, and its own trauma that it went through.”

It’s a complicated story, with a sympathetic monster and a lot of moral gray. Which is of course ideal for a story about a children’s toy gone awry.

“Rather than making the right choices, we featured younger characters so they could make the mistakes that you wouldn’t believe as an adult would make,” Pasko explained. “Kids can make those mistakes, and they see what happens. So you can totally see yourself, if you were that character, making that mistake. When I was 14 or 15, I could have done that.”

Along with Dirk Blackman, Denton co-created Savager, which has a different feel to T.A.M.A., leaning heavier into the science fiction side of the horror spectrum.

He describes the series as “an apocalypse where the creatures — the monsters — they won. We’re cutting in 100 years later, and we’re following this person on this journey. It’s seen through his eyes: what it would be like to be in solitary, you know? You think about prison, that’s the worst thing they do to people, is when they put them by themselves. This is a person that’s been in solitary for 100 years, and so we’re coming in with him at this point, introducing you to him and what he’s going through, but also the world that he’s been living in.”

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All of these monsters have a slightly different bent — you have a futurist version of horror in T.A.M.A., and then a science fiction take in Savager. Black Diamond, meanwhile, looks and feels like a more grounded, traditional kind of monster.

“I wrote Black Diamond like a serial-style thing, because with Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spielberg said, every 10 minutes there’s a cliffhanger,” Columbus explained. “It’s based on Flash Gordon, and serialized stuff like that. So I tried to write Black Diamond with every 10 pages, five pages, there’d be a reason to keep on going. So the 30-page format is perfect, because you get almost three cliffhangers, three twists per issue, and then you just cannot stop reading. Hopefully.”

Starting today, you have three more weeks to get on board at the ground floor of the Panick movement. Check it out at the link above, and keep an eye on ComicBook for more news and interviews in the coming weeks.