Writer Zac Thompson has announced a new comic called The Replacer, which will draw heavily from his own experiences as a child coming to terms with a disabled parent.
The Replacer is a complete 64-page story set for release in April (price tag $7.99). It will feature art from Arjuna Susini (Made Men) and colors by Dee Cunnieffe. Released by AfterShock Comics, it’s being billed as a “graphic meditation on loss, tragedy, and fear told through the eyes of a nine year old.” It’s also being billed by the publisher as a mashup of IT, The Exorcist, and The Diving Bell and Butterfly. The story is set in the ‘90s, and the inciting incident involves a debilitating stroke and a family’s youngest child becoming convinced his paralyzed father has been possessed by demons.
“My father suffered a from a massive stroke when I was seven, and it took me a very long to understand what that meant to me as a person and how much it changed the way I see the world,” Thompson said in a press release announcing the new title. “I’m excited for people to read a horror story with a different kind of lens, and to shine a light on how we treat people with disabilities.”
Some of AfterShock Comics best titles involve darker takes on family, including Eliot Rahal and Jorge Fornes Midwestern crime drama Hot Lunch Special, as well as Donny Cates and Garry Brown’s satanic paternity adventure story Babyteeth. This also marks Thompson’s third book for the publisher, following the critically-acclaimed Dante’s Inferno analog Her Infernal Descent, and the mind-bending psychedelic sci-fi book, Relay.
A full press release and preview pages can be found below:
THE REPLACER / $7.99 / 64 pages / Full Color / ON SALE 04.24.2019
Writer: Zac Thompson
Artist: Arjuna Susini
Colorist: Dee Cunniffe
Cover: Arjuna SusiniThe 1990’s. Tragedy strikes the Beharrell family in the form of a debilitating stroke. Now the youngest child in the family is convinced his paralyzed father didn’t truly fall ill but is possessed by something sinister. He believes a demon, THE REPLACER, has come to take away his jolly, agreeable, tech-obsessed Dad. But no one seems to see the monster — and with every passing day, his father falls deeper into the clutches of evil.
Based on Zac Thompson’s true story of coming to terms with a disabled parent, THE REPLACER is a complete 64-page graphic meditation on loss, tragedy and fear told through the eyes of a nine-year-old — a horror tale about learning to walk again, even if a demon has to teach you how to do it. A bizarre mashup of IT, The Exorcist and The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, with stunning visuals by Arjuna Susini (Made Men), THE REPLACER is not for the faint of heart.
ZAC THOMPSON ON WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT AND WHY HE’S EXCITED FOR IT TO COME OUT:
“The Replacer is a concept I’ve been developing for a few years. It’s about how a little boy, Marcus, who’s world is irrevocably changed after he witnesses his father suffer a massive stroke. When his disabled father returns home, permanently paralyzed and unable to speak full sentences, Marcus becomes convinced that his father has been replaced by a demon. I’m excited for this to come out because this book is a rumination on my own life experience. My father suffered a from a massive stroke when I was seven, and it took me a very long to understand what that meant to me as a person and how much it changed the way I see the world. I’m excited for people to read a horror story with a different kind of lens, and to shine a light on how we treat people with disabilities.”
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