Clive Barker's Hellraiser: The Road Below

I received my Clive Barker "Hellraiser" illustrated book in a reasonable amount of time. To call it a paperback is misleading. No, it is not a hardcover book, but it is larger than a "trade paperback". It is a 112 page graphic novel that measures approximately 8 inches by 11 inches. It is very well illustrated, and what can I say about Clive Barker? If you are a fan, then you know what to expect from him, and this book does not disappoint!

I really love the Hellraiser universe. Turning Kirsty Cotton into Pinhead is such a cool idea. However, they kind of lost me. The story isn't solid, the writing is okay but I feel like they could have done so much more with this premise. I guess I see it as having potential that so far has not been fully realized.The art work is gorgeous, but 90% of the time Kirsty Cotton doesn't look like the actress who portrayed her (Ashley Laurence) in four of the films, so I'm not sure whose face they are basing her on. That fact alone ruins it for me.

big fan of hellraiser and clive barker for 20 years its nice to have kirsty back in the thick of things

Great

This Hellraiser comic is in beautiful condition and full color. The person I gifted it to loves it. My only complaint is the cover art. It is being advertised with a different cover which can be important to collectors.

I was over halfway through Clive Barker's Hellraiser: The Road Below trade paperback when I found the most interesting bit of the story, and the most unexpected. The character Joseph Neithercoate tells young Cordele, "It was in the 1980s. After decades living in seclusion, my people were forced out into the lands of those who tried to wipe us out--humanity. And by some cosmic coincidence--your kind had just gone through pretty much the same kind of thing. Your refuge unraveled around you. Our families were both outsiders. Pooling our efforts, watching each others' backs? It just made sense...so of course it was doomed from the start."Hmm, I thought. So that's what happened to the Nightbreed after they left Midian.While this story never specifically calls Neithercoate or his monstrous kin by that famous name, is it really that farfetched that Clive Barker's Hellraiser and Nightbreed worlds would be connected?I've read a few of the older Hellraiser comics, but wasn't impressed with many of them. These Boom! Studios books, though, rule. This book was published between the end of the first Hellraiser run and the start of the new "The Dark Watch" series, but in chronology it comes earlier in the previous series. "The Road Below" is a flashback story, telling of Kirsty Cotton's first days as the new Pinhead, before the war against Elliot Spencer.Kirsty is summoned to earth by Rhea Wolfe who was recently contacted by the aforementioned Neithercoate. Several years ago, Joseph Neithercoate's wife killed Rhea Wolfe's husband who, she said, was planning to rat them out to the humans. In retaliation, Rhea killed Joseph's wife, then fled with her daughter Cordele. Over the years, Joseph killed every living relative of Rhea's he could find, and now he's finally tracked down the last two members of the family. But, before he kills Rhea, he's going to make her watch him kill Cordele.Panicked, Rhea does the only thing she can think: she summons a demon to kill Neithercoate for her. However, Rhea's knowledge of magic isn't quite as developed as she'd thought and, instead of a demon, she calls forth Kirsty Cotton. Kirsty wants no part of killing Joseph, but when Rhea tries to bind and command her, Kirsty fights back, taking Rhea to hell just as Cordele walks into the room and sees what's happening.Shortly after, Joseph tracks down Cordele who knows nothing of her family's history, nor of her own supernatural powers--that is until she suddenly uses them against him. Joseph decides to spare her for now, because he really really wants to kill her in front of her mother. Coming to terms with what she is, Cordele uses her mother's magic to summon the demon that took her and demand her return.The title for this story, "The Road Below", refers to the saying "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions", because that's what everyone involved here is basing their actions on. Joseph is merely getting justice for his dead wife. Rhea is doing anything she can to protect her daughter. Cordele just wants her mother to return to her. And Kirsty, who isn't given all the facts upfront, is basing her decisions to help or not to help on half the information and what she believes is the right thing to do. See, Kirsty isn't the cold-hearted priest of Hell Pinhead was. Kirsty maintains some of her humanity and her memories and is striving for change. She may have the job, but the job doesn't have her.Brandon Seifert is making some great strides in the Hellraiser world, bringing a depth to the mythology that none of the movies ever could. He's developing these characters way beyond their few lines here and there in the movies (especially the female cenobite from the first two who, in these books, becomes a very strong supporting character), and finding order in the chaos of Hell.His dialogue comes across as weak in some places, but his plots are strong and the ideas he's coming up with are what keep me coming back issue after issue.The art in this book was by Haemi Jang who possesses a great understanding of what makes the cenobites work and is able to portray them with their own personalities and abilities. I think his faces all seem pretty similar, but his use of contrasting blacks and whites works well when it comes to establishing mood.Most of the action scenes are well-done and only in one panel did I have to stare at it for a while to figure out what I was looking at (a from-the-top-looking-down shot of Kirsty near the end of chapter 3), but he's very good at rendering the monstrosities of Hell.I like that "The Road Below" showed us more of Kirsty's time as Pinhead, since the previous series didn't have a lot of time for things like that without losing the momentum of what was a very fast-moving plot.I like the themes in this story and I liked how well Seifert developed the characters. This was a Hellraiser story worthy of the name and I look forward to as many more of these as Boom! Studios wants to produce.

I had great expectations for this graphic novel as it comes from the mind of Clive Barker in what can be termed his most lasting and influential contribution to the horror genre - The Hellraiser franchise. However, this graphic novel is a great letdown.

The artwork was top-notch, but other than that...Let me put it this way, I am so glad that I picked this up from the library and didn't actually spend money on this graphic novel. As stated before, I loved the artwork! The artwork is probably why I'm giving it three stars instead of two. However, the writing was a tad lacking. I don't quite know how to describe it other than it reminded me of some crappy teen novels I read as a kid. While reading I kept gettin thrown out of the action because the dialogue is off-balance with the situation being presented. I did laugh at the ending because (in all the media formats she's been placed in) Kristy Cotton can't seem to win for losing!I've loved the Hellraiser series since I was a tween, but reading this comic has made me wary about purchasing any other comic in the Hellraiser series.

cuando lo pedí estaba agotado pero aun asi me llego lo mas pronto posible, las condiciones en las que me lo entregaron fueron perfectas, el comic parecía recién salido de la imprenta :D, me encanto, me sorprendió que me llegara tan pronto. lo recomiendo 100%.

Ich empfehle diese Comicreihe allen Hellraiser Fans. Die Geschichte knüpft sehr gut an die Filme an. Wirklich spannend zu lesen.

perfect!

I love Hellraiser