Image Comics announced the November 2023 release of The Deviant, a holiday horror story by James Tynion IV and Joshua Hixson.
As snow falls over Milwaukee in 1972, a blood-stained Santa Claus commits unimaginable atrocities against young men. Fifty years later, a troubled young writer interviews this so-called “Deviant Killer,” who still maintains his innocence from behind bars. And as Christmas approaches once again, the past returns, wielding a sharpened ax.
“The Deviant is something a little different,” said Tynion IV in a press release. “A dark, focused psychological crime thriller where I get to explore the intersection of my queer identity and a broader scope of cultural transgression and deviance. This is my response to Silence of the Lambs and Jeffrey Dahmer serving as my first real glimpses of my queer identity as a young closeted Midwestern boy. It’s one of the darkest and most personal stories I’ve ever written. It’s also a story about Christmas.”
The Deviant #1 arrives on November 15, 2023.
