Comical Books: "Nightbreed"

In 1990, Clive Barker's second film, "Nightbreed," bombed at the box office.

But, Phoenix-like, it spawned a comic book that continued for years after its release.¹

The first four issues loosely adapt the film script,² but from there- it goes its own way.

There's a lot to like. Imaginative creatures, interesting storylines, unexpected twists, and some gruesome concepts worthy of Barker's best fiction.

And it's neat to see this Barker-approved narrative arc, as the demonic Messiah, Cabal, seeks out a new sanctuary for his fellow misunderstood monsters. Some creatures go their own way and disregard their law against eating humans. Some stay faithful. Friends become enemies, enemies become friends. It's a dream come true if you didn't want the "Nightbreed" film to end.³

It has some flaws, the first being that it often loses its focus on its goal. The creatures are just wandering in the wilderness for the most part.⁴ And it was a mistake to focus so soon on a group of rebel flesh-eaters. It needed more time to clarify its quest and build momentum before presenting a gang war between good 'breed and bad 'breed.

The quality is wildly uneven, too. Some issues are awful and amateurish, in both writing and art:

I could draw this.

While some issues have some well-composed and shaded artwork:

For the most part, it's functional. Looks about as good as any mainstream comic from the early 90's, that brief boom time when everyone and their brother was putting out a "COLLECTIBLE FIRST ISSUE" with "LIMITED EDITION" tinfoil covers or whatever.

There's a two-issue side-series with the now-unfortunate title, "Jihad," where the demons from "Hellraiser" fight our friends from "Nightbreed." It's fine, and it sheds light on both Clive Barker franchises, but it also contains a MAJOR plot point: Cabal combining his physical form with the god Baphomet and becoming a hybrid creature. If you didn't read these crossover issues, you would have no idea why Cabal is all of a sudden running around the "Nightbreed" comics looking like Baphomet and being referred to as a god instead of a Messiah.⁵

And there's another crossover with another Clive Barker literary creation, the super-vicious king of monsters, Rawhead Rex,⁶ and that worked pretty well, too. This was the first legitimate visualization of Rawhead and his conflict with the 'breed made sense.⁷

There's a storyline involving forgotten Aztec blood sacrifice gods, revealing that they were actually Nightbreed. This was the most out-of-place and disconnected of the bunch, but it was brimming with strange and compelling texture and anthropological details.

The one-shot issues are fine, too. The "subway cannibal" issue is oddly touching.⁸

It falls flat with an arc involving werewolves on the loose in a small town. Those issues feel like "X-Men" comics with demonic creatures in place of mutants.⁹

Peloquin is a bit overused in that arc, and in several other arcs. He has maybe three lines in the film, but they made him the star here in the comics. Now Peloquin is cool and compelling, don't get me wrong, but more Cabal would have been better.¹⁰

Because most of the Cabal stuff is weak. He's mostly whining about being a latter-day Moses and wagging his finger at the human flesh-eating 'breed. The melodrama with his girlfriend feels a bit forced, too. There's enough cool stuff going on that we don't need soap opera drama between the main couple.

Plus- Narcisse gets decapitated and then reappears in issue 6 without any explanation.¹¹ Several readers in the letters column ask what that's all about and the editors keep promising it'll be explained. It never is!

But look at him- he's so happy! Let's let him be.

The final issue ends a bit abruptly, but apparently that's because it was canceled and they had to cram five issues' worth of story into one issue. Good for them for pulling that off and not leaving it unresolved!

Now there were problems with the source material, too.¹² For years, us fans assumed the film's problems were due to the studio drastically recutting the film. But last year, the "Director's Cut" hit Netflix and we could finally see the truth. And the truth is not always pretty.¹³

Now they rebooted the "Nightbreed" comic just last year.

The new issues are slicker-looking and the writing is better. But they feel flatter. They're smooth enough and are less wordy and awkward, but there's just not as much to them. It's cool that they fill in some background and story holes that left the movie feeling slim- such as Cabal's initiation into the 'breed- but after there, it becomes a generic chase between the vengeful priest and the 'breed. It ignores the original run of comics, which ended with them finding their new paradise.

Basically- it doesn't feel as bonkers and subversive as the original comic. Anything goes in comics these days, but in 1990, they were doing something odd and new. Not always good, but always interesting. And isn't "interesting" the most important attribute for a comic?

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1. I was only able to find issue 17 when I was a pre-internet kid and was delighted when a friend recently let me borrow the entire run of the series.

2. Including several scenes, including the original ending, that were cut from the theatrical film. Also there's no cussing or "adult content" in the issues that adapt the film, but for whatever reason- it goes bonkers with that stuff in the issues that follow.

3. It's like high-quality fan fiction, for better and for worse. Also worth noting- Barker wanted "Nightbreed" to be the first film in a trilogy. It never happened and these comics are the only material that followed-up on the story.

4. The writers are aware of this- there are frequent references to Moses and the Exodus.

5. Not to mention that- SPOILER- "Jihad" casually kills off ALL THE BERSERKERS. The most powerful creatures are wasted. Offscreen, to boot. Sheesh.

6. Rawhead fell victim to an AWFUL film adaptation in 1986 that sucked so bad, it motivated Barker to direct his own scripts. "Hellraiser" was the result.

7. At four issues, it was padded. But that's a small qualm.

8. This is the issue I had as a kid, and was pleased that it held up pretty well to adult eyes.

9. You know, the X-Men and the Nightbreed have a lot in common- they're both physical metaphors for discrimination and outsiders. But "Nightbreed" is at its best when it's mystical and transcendent and not so much monsters fighting each other. That's a comic cliche that's been done to death elsewhere.

10. He's the dark Messiah, for evil's sake.

11. Now the theatrical film was reshot so that Narcisse wasn't killed, but the comic follows the original script, so no excuse there.

12. Yes, the film "Nightbreed" was an adaptation of Barker's novella "Cabal," but the comic mostly ignores the book and follows the movie, so we're gonna stick to the movie here.

13. This is just a comic review, so I'll do a whole blog on the film someday. Suffice to say- the movie has problems.

-Phony McFakename

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