Horror fans have a new Image Comics series to put on their radar in the form of The Voice Said Kill. Hailing from writer Simon Spurrier (Six-Gun Gorilla) and artist Vanessa Del Rey (Redlands), Fango is proud to offer you, dear reader, an exclusive look at the limited series here today. Based on the artwork in question, as well as the mysterious synopsis, we’re looking at the comic book equivalent of Fargo meets Deliverance.
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The four-issue limited series hits shelves in July and is one of the many horror comics to look forward to this year. FANGORIA today brings you selected artwork from the book both above and below, which includes interior pages, cover art and character sketches.
Aside from the artwork, we’ve also got some insight from the book’s creators. Spurrier had this to say about these images:
“These are two of my favorite pages from Issue 2. The first (page 9) is a perfect example of how art can evoke a mood, a feeling, a place. Staring at it, one can almost hear the cicadas shrilling, feel the wind through the Spanish moss, sense the sweat prickling on your neck. Here our hero, Marie, is at her most meditative; simultaneously vulnerable and powerful. She understands the chaos of the bayou like few others. Its simple contract: life feeds on life. It both comforts her and unnerves her. The second example, page 15, is quite simply one of the most impressive pieces of dynamic composition I've ever seen. From a formalist perspective, as well as the sheer aesthetic beauty of it, it's exceptional work.”
“Here's Vanesa's very first pass on the cast of characters,” Spurrier added of the above image. “A lot of these have evolved significantly since then, but it's lovely to look back and see how their personalities were already hard-baked into the designs. Having something like this in front of you while you write can be invaluable; one gets a sense of who these people are, what they want, and – most especially – how they'd resist if you tried to push them into decisions that didn't feel honest.”
As for the story at hand? The admittedly vague synopsis for the book reads as follows:
“The wet heat of the Louisiana bayou. Alligator poachers prowl the mudbug mire. A park ranger, heavily pregnant, raises a hateful mug of moonshine with a criminal matriarch. And one deadly sonuvabitch, out of his mind on shrooms and retribution, loads his rifle for the Human Hunt and screams down the stars.”
“Another stunningly beautiful piece, dripping with atmosphere; and another nod to our primary goal: to present a tale that is both familiar—a crime story, a hike into the wilderness, a tale of the anxiety of impending parenthood—but also one that's visually unique, seething with trippy strangeness, which twists expectations at every turn,” Spurrier said of the below cover art for issue #3.
“I wanted to emphasize the urgency of the sequence on page 15 by using this dynamic layout,” Del Rey added. “It breaks the page in jagged edges also playing with the shape of the stairs, it makes the reader feel like they could miss a step and fall…”
The Voice Said Kill #1 hits shelves on Wednesday, July 23. For more, check out the recent Resident Evil Requiem gameplay footage reveal.
