Zac Thompson Explains the Origins of Cemetery Kids Don’t Die

Zac Thompson, the writer of Oni Press’s upcoming title Cemetery Kids Don’t Die, reached out to ComicBook.com to share an essay about the factors that inspired the comic ahead of Monday’s Final Order Cutoff Date for the first issue. The four-issue miniseries, which will be in comic shops beginning February 7th, 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.” In the essay, titled “The Second Chances of Second Lives,” Thompson opens up with ComicBook.com’s readers about the way World of Warcraft helped him reinvent himself, and how that informed the comic that riffs on those kinds of alternate realms.

You can get a copy of the first issue by contacting your local comic shop, or popular online comics retailers, between now and Monday. After Monday, you might be able to get a copy on a new release wall, but the likelihood is you won’t be able to have it reserved in your pullbox.

Here’s Thompson’s essay, along with some preview pages and the solicitation text for Cemetery Kids Don’t Die #1. 

The Second Chances of Second Lives

By Zac Thompson

Some video games require such an intense investment, that they can change who you are. World Of Warcraft definitely did that for me. It was released when I was fifteen. At the time, I was a typical teenager – emotionally stunted, angry at the world and terrified of the future. But World of Warcraft gave me so much in the way of experiences, interpersonal skills, and self confidence that I couldn’t put it down. I was so addicted that it actually scared me. The second life I created in WoW was far better than reality.

The game is also the first place I can remember being “friends” with my little brother. By the time we were both teens, and for reasons that are too long to get into her, our relationship was strained. Namely, our Father had a stroke when I was in the second grade. So life at home was complicated. We never grew up with the things that other kids had. Our family just moved through life at a different pace. We had one computer that we’d share. Gaming time was sacred, allotted into 1-hour-chunks, and fiercely protected. Many fists fights broke out whenever somebody went over their time.

Things changed in 2007 when I bought my first computer. Suddenly the computer wasn’t contested ground. We could both play whatever we wanted for as long as we wanted. But we were both addicted to WoW and didn’t have time for anything else. Then came the release of Word of Warcraft: Burning Crusade. We were both so excited

that my younger brother and I decided to roll Blood Elves together. I was Wingleaf the Warlock and he was Picklesoup the Hunter. In reality, we still couldn’t stand each other’s company.

In the game, we were Sin’dorei brothers fighting our way through Eversong Woods on a quest to earn ourselves a place among The Horde. Immediately, we started to share hours of conversation. We’d play all weekend, sessioning quests and leveling our characters in complementary ways. We’d always be focused on what part of the game to tackle next. Before long, we learned how to work together as a team and accomplish goals. It was glorious.

Maybe it seems silly but the ability to embody different characters allowed us to set aside our petty sibling bullshit and just be friends. WoW is such an immersive experience that it demands a lot of you. You have to invest real time and effort to reach the end game. So eventually things started to bleed into the real world. My younger brother and I were starting to do very normal things that friends do – like going to grab some food, catching a movie, or hanging out with friends.

Up until World of Warcraft came along – those things were a struggle. The kindness and teamwork we shared in the game had left its mark on us. It changed our relationship in a way that still lingers over 15 years later. Before this experience, I was dismissive about online gaming. I didn’t think it “counted” as spending time with people. I certainly didn’t see it as a viable alternative to hanging out with people in “real life”. Then I got hopelessly addicted to it. My “real life” stopped mattering.

WoW gave me a chance to have a second chance with my little brother – removed from all the baggage that made friendship complicated when we were growing up. It was also a highly addictive space that really acted as a viable alternative to reality. We’d rather hang out there because the truth was – that second reality was just more fun. Those formative experiences with my younger brother and that sense of dissonance between the two realities is how my new horror comic series Cemetery Kids Don’t Die was born. I wanted to write about the alluring nature of secondary realities. The spaces just outside our grim real world where we can be anyone and do anything.

Cemetery Kids Don’t Die follows siblings Birdie and Pik Cutter. They live in a shitty future and are both addicted to the most immersive horror game ever made, Nightmare Cemetery. It’s a massive-multiplayer survival horror/fantasy game that you play in your dreams. They must work together to survive the hellish world of the game. In the process they must face complex puzzles, blood-thirsty monsters, and how little they actually know about one another.

Their story of estrangement lies at the heart of Cemetery Kids Don’t Die… along with a sinister secret about how the game, Nightmare Cemetery, actually works. If Pik and Birdie are going to survive the experience they must find a way to bridge the gap between their two distant realities and find common ground. Sounds easy, right?

Well not when the game does everything it can to keep you playing…

Cemetery Kids Don’t Die #1 hits comic shops everywhere on February 7th, 2024.

Cemetery Kids Don’t Die #1 Cover A

Cemetery Kids Don’t Die #1 Page 1

Cemetery Kids Don’t Die #1 Page 2

Cemetery Kids Don’t Die #1 Page 3

Cemetery Kids Don’t Die #1 Page 4

Cemetery Kids Don’t Die #1 Page 5

Cemetery Kids Don’t Die #1 Solicitation Text (And Cover B)

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