‘Event Horizon: Dark Descent’ Prequel Comic Introduces New Demonic Villain and Sequel Potential
In 1997, Paul W.S. Anderson forever left his mark on the horror genre. While the director might be best known for his work on franchises like Resident Evil or Mortal Kombat, it is Event Horizon – the science fiction horror movie written by Philip Eisner – that continues to best stand the test of time. Equal parts Alien and Hellraiser, Event Horizon tells the story of a search and rescue team who tries to recover a missing research vessel, only to discover that the ship, the Event Horizon, may very well be a gateway to hell.
Event Horizon is terrifying. It’s ambitious. And, much to the delight of horror fans everywhere, it’s back from the dead. This week, IDW Publishing will release the first issue of Event Horizon: Dark Descent, a new series from author Christian Ward, artist Tristan Jones, and colorist Pip Martin. And to hear Ward say it, this may just be the beginning for everyone’s favorite damned spaceship.
While many horror fans would discover Event Horizon on video years after its release, Ward was one of the lucky few to see the film in theaters. Originally, the appeal was British electronic duo Orbital – who collaborated with composer Michael Kamen on the film’s final score – but it didn’t take Ward long to fall in love with the film itself. “It felt unlike anything you’d ever seen,” the writer recalls. “This was almost medieval in its tone. It was like a cathedral of terror in space.”
Even then, Ward saw the connection between Event Horizon’s signature visuals and the limitless potential of comics. “There are panels of horror. There are splash pages of horror cut into the film.”
Fast forward a few years, and the author – now an Eisner-winning comic book creator – would get a chance to realize that vision. Ward recalls meeting with an old friend at New York Comic-Con, who had recently become a senior editor at IDW, to talk about the publisher’s upcoming slate of licensed adaptations. “She got to Event Horizon, and I think I dropped my sandwich,” Ward says with a smile. “I was like, ‘Hang on, what?’”
It wasn’t long before IDW reached out with an invitation to put together a proposal. Ward had only a single weekend to put together his pitch, but he only needed one rewatch to lock in his idea. “I watched the film and within five minutes, it just clicked,” he admitted. From there, Ward’s proposal made its way from IDW to Paramount Pictures before finally landing on the desk of Philip Eisner, the original screenwriter of the film. “He had the yay or nay on it,” Ward adds, “and he loved it.”
Based on the first issue, it’s easy to understand why. Dark Descent serves as a prequel to the original film, filling in the blanks of what happened to the crew of the Event Horizon when they fired up their revolutionary gravity drive for the first time. This new series mirrors many of the best beats from the original film, from Jones’s splashy visuals to the grief-fueled storytelling for the crew of the Event Horizon. The first issue even sets the stakes for the horrors that will come next – not every character makes it out of the first issue alive, and Ward, Jones, and Martin demonstrate real restraint in building to the carnival horrors we, as fans of the original movie, know will soon follow.
While Dark Descent may expand our relationship with some of the characters, Ward’s goal was never to fill in some of the missing pieces from the original film. Event Horizon is one of horror’s most egregious examples of studio interference. As shared by the cast and crew since the film’s release, Paramount originally trimmed over 30 minutes from Anderson’s original cut, and those scenes are now lost to time. Many fans often wonder what was left off the screen, and some may even hope that Dark Descent will serve as a kind of director’s cut from the original material.
When asked if Ward leveraged the scripts or storyboards from the original feature, the writer is quick to say no. While his series will “wink” at some of the elements from the original film, Ward’s focus was on the film that made it to screen and the story he had on the page. “I didn’t want to cut our story off at the knees because I was so enamored with what the film could have been,” he explained. “All those little bits of what ifs and maybe, we use those as Easter eggs for the readers who’ll be, like, ‘Oh, I know what that is.’”
What we will see more of is William Weir, Sam Neill’s character in the original film, and the inventor of the Event Horizon’s gravity drive. From the opening panels of Dark Descent, Ward makes it clear that the story is inexorably linked with the fate of Dr. Weir, and he could not imagine making a prequel to the series without revisiting this character. “If you’re doing a prequel, and you’re looking at how the ship was created and how the gravity drive was created, you can’t tell that story without the man that did it,” Ward explains.
New to the series is Piemon, one of the demonic entities who will soon play a role when Event Horizon folds space and time and enters the chaos realm. Despite gracing most of the covers for the first issue, we know very little about the Piemon, but Ward explains his role in Dark Descent as an example of the story evolving in a new medium. “I think you’re playing with slightly different rules in a comic,” Ward explains, describing the form as much more “show me, show me” than cinema. “Because we are playing by these comic book rules, I really wanted to have a far more comic book-type villain.”
But for those wondering if these changes mean that Dark Descent will pull back on the gore, rest assured that this is not the case. As with any good horror story – and much like the original film – Dark Descent will root its violence in the emotional stakes of its characters. But when things ramp up in the chaos realm, the creative team behind the series did not want to disappoint. Ward is quick to give credit to Jones for embracing the best (or the worst) of the chaos realm on the page. “I will say this,” Ward adds, “I would struggle to draw some of the things he’s drawn. There are pages that make me wince.”
And while horror fans may still be working to wrap their heads around more Event Horizon three decades later, Ward points out that this may not be the end for this godforsaken ship. “When I did my proposal, the prequel was very much the beginning,” Ward adds. “But we’ve also got what happened after the film, after the credits swirled. What happened there? My hope is if this does really well, we can find out.”
Event Horizon: Dark Descent hits comic shelves on August 20 from IDW Publishing.
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