Spring may just be getting underway but it’s never too early to look ahead to fall. This year, comic book fans and fans of author Anne Rice, two groups that normally don’t have much in common, have a lot to look forward to. Rice’s Servant of the Bones coming to graphic life with a new six-issue adaptation from IDW Publishing.
“This is an exciting adaptation! IDW has certainly chosen the finest artists and writers for the project,” said Rice. “The script is marvelous. Renae De Liz’s penciling has captured my characters exquisitely. Ray Dillon’s colors are alive and gorgeous. The Servant of the Bones adaptation is perfect!”
This is not the first time Rice’s works have found their way into comic books. The short-lived Innovation Publishing (which closed it’s doors in 1994 leaving behind substantial debts) published adaptations of Interview with the Vampire (#1-12), Queen of the Damned (#1-11, #12 unpublished), Vampire Lestat (#1-14) , The Vampire Companion (#1-3) and the one-shot The Master of Rampling Gate. The independent Millennium Comics published The Mummy or Ramses the Damned (#1-12) and The Witching Hour (#1-5) with Sicilian Dragon comics publishing the first four issues of twelve planned issues for The Tale of the Body Thief.
IDW’s adaptation of Servant of the Bones takes readers on an opulent journey from ancient Babylon to modern New York City and the madness of fanaticism to the peace of faith as the immortal spirit of Azriel seeks to understand and accept his nature. Bound to a mortal body with gold encased bones, Azriel winds his way through the royal plots and religious upheavals of Babylon and follows the Black Death to and through medieval Europe before finding himself in modern-day Manhattan. In Manhattan, Azriel finds himself confronting his own human memories as well as the dark forces that have sought to condemn him to a life of evil.
Coming August 2011
Written by Mariah McCourt, with art by Renae DeLiz and Ray Dillon, Servant of the Bones delivers the psychologically charged and somewhat melancholy moods Anne Rice fans have come to expect from her whether she is writing about the preternatural or about her religion.
“Servant of the bones is a deeply layered, lush and lyrical story. It’s visually rich, compelling and asks the really big questions about life, love and death,” explains IDW editor Mariah Heuhner. “We’re very excited to be working with Anne Rice, on of the most prolific writers of this generation, and we just hope we can do the story the justice it deserves. Getting to work with Renae DeLiz and Ray Dillon, the remarkable team behind the Last Unicorn, assures me that we can.”
Servant of the Bones (graphic novel) #1 will be available in August 2011.
Preternatural Post 