If there’s something that should stop you dead in your tracks while roaming social media, it’s an unpublished Creepshow 2 comic from legendary artist Kelley Jones.
Jones unearthed this terrifying treat of a horror story on his Facebook page, where he also discusses the reasons behind the comic’s untimely demise. The artist was recruited by Marvel Comics in late 1985/early 1986 to work on its comic adaptation of Creepshow 2 (1987). He was tasked with turning Stephen King’s short story “The Raft,” about an oil-like substance with a penchant for dissolving human flesh in a remote Pennsylvania lake, into a 12-page comic story.
Jones, a self-proclaimed fan of both Creepshow and the other works of Stephen King, gleefully accepted to work on the project, especially since very few horror comics were gracing comic stands in the mid-80s, according to the Facebook post. Unfortunately, the comic was cancelled due to a rights fight that killed the project altogether and tied up Marvel’s hands.
According to Jones, an editor said that King was delighted with his work, which was halfway inked by the time he got the call about the cancellation, and that he had hoped that Jones would take over the entirety of the adaptation.
One look at these pages and you can see why King took to Jones’ style. There’s a healthy dose of Bernie Wrightson—the illustrator behind the original Creepshow comic—in both his pencils and inks and he showed a good eye for the gruesome. Those who’ve read “The Raft” will find a lot to like in the comic version and those new to it get to see a master horror artist flexing his muscles.
Here’s the never before seen Kelley Jones adaptation of “The Raft” for the cancelled Creepshow 2 comic, which was released “as a tribute to the debut of the Creepshow TV series this Thursday on AMC’s Shudder network.”
