Painter Scott Hampton (The Bible: Eden, The Life Eaters) loves ghost stories, and over the course of his long career he has painted many. In March, 2004, IDW Publishing will release Spookhouse, the first in a two-volume collection of Hampton’s favorite ghost story work, which will include original stories for which Hampton has received universal acclaim, including “The Upturned Stone,” as well as stories by writers such as Clive Barker and Robert E. Howard. In addition to the painted comic stories, each volume will include some classic prose ghost stories with new illustrations by Hampton.
“I'm looking forward to collecting these stories,” Hampton says. “I'm going into each one and tweaking for greater readability so these might be called the ‘artist's cut.’ I'm also doing some brand new work for these volumes. For #1 I'm adapting W. W. Jacob's classic ‘The Monkey's Paw’ in 19 pages. That comics story along with illustrations accompanying other classic short stories by E. F. Benson and M. R. James will total a fairly hefty amount of new material.”
According to IDW Editor-in-Chief Jeff Mariotte, “Scott has proven himself, over many years and works, as an artist of uncommon strength and quality. His storytelling skills are top notch and his pages glow with luminous beauty. If he weren’t a fan of ghost stories, we’d have to force him to become one, because the combination of artist and subject matter is just so perfect. Whether it’s a story of his own creation or an adaptation of one by a world-famous writer, the finished product is always brilliant.”
Spookhouse is a 136-page, full color trade paperback with a retail price of $19.99.
