Back in 2018, comic creator Vicente Cifuentes published his original horror graphic novel Murdervale for the European market through SAF Comics. Today, Dark Horse Comics announced that it will be publishing an English translation of the graphic novel later this year. No translator was identified in the announcement.
Here’s how Dark Horse describes Murdervale:
Victor and Sara are going through a rough spell. Stress from work leads to constant arguments, but when Victor collapses, the couple decides it’s time to go on a vacation—doctor’s orders! With no destination in mind, they get in the car and drive. They encounter a shopkeeper who tells them about a town so remote it isn’t even on the map. When they manage to find it, Victor starts to get the feeling the town isn’t what it seems. Worse yet, Victor’s medication is causing nightmarish hallucinations—but what if they’re real? Now, it’s no longer about making sure their relationship survives–it’s about making sure they do.
If you’re a DC Comics fan you’re probably familiar with Cifuentes’s work inking fan-favorite and acclaimed books like Batgirl, Green Arrow, and Brightest Day, among many others over the years. However, Cifuentes explained that writing and drawing his own creator-owned project has brought the creator immense satisfaction:
“Murdervale has been one of the works that have brought me the most joy personally,” Cifuentes said, “not only when I started to write it, but also after the years, seeing how fans keep asking me for a new installment. When I started writing the first book, I could not imagine what I was really creating, I used it more as an artistic and personal catharsis; I needed to release this story into the world.
“I wanted to tell ordinary stories, with characters that people could easily connect with, and stories that would show us their inner worlds and their personal growing. This is what I wanted to do in Murdervale, by developing each character little by little and seeing how they evolve in an environment that I’ve always been a big fan of: horror-thriller. Well, in Murdervale I also wanted to honor some of the movies I grew up with in the 80s-90s.
“Also, I looked for a comfortable rhythm for the reader, and this is why each arc starts with a similar structure in the making of the story, with the intention that the reader feels comfortable in a journey that somehow seems familiar, but that changes and provides new information every time, creating an atmosphere that catches her/him from the very first minute.”
Look for Murdervale to arrive in bookstores on Tuesday, September 19th, and in comic shops on Wednesday, September 20th.
