EXCLUSIVE: Children Become Lovecraftian Monsters in Chris Kipiniak’s New Horror Series

CBR has an exclusive preview of Scout Comics' Behemoth, a new four-issue series from co-creators Chris Kipiniak and J.K. Woodward.

Behemoth comes from Kipiniak, Woodward and letterer Jesse Post. The series, which launches in July from Scout Comic's Black Caravan imprint, follows a group of children who are curiously and unpredictably turning into monsters. Once becoming these creatures, the kids are put into prison camps and given a difficult decision: continue living their lives as Lovecraftian-looking beasts or run suicide missions for the United States government's mysterious Behemoth project.

The CBR exclusive preview shows a young girl, Theresa, struggling as she's dealing with her ongoing transformation. When government agents show up to try and take Theresa away, the young teen wastes no time jumping out an upstairs window in an effort to make a run for it. She's quickly captured, however, and thrown in the back of a truck transporting her away from her family. Theresa's mother watches in horror, saying she "didn't know they'd --" before getting cut off. Theresa escapes custody for a brief moment before being put in the truck and promptly bites her mother, clearly angry that she allowed this to happen while also dealing with her new, still uncontrollable powers.

The synopsis for Behemoth reads, "Theresa woke up one day with claws. After a fight with her mother turns violent, government agents take her to an internment camp holding others going through similar transformations. As Theresa adjusts to life surrounded by monsters, she finds herself becoming more beast-like in mind as well as body. Her only hope to protect her intelligence is the training that is part of Project: BEHEMOTH, a covert program which turns volunteers into living weapons. But will joining protect her humanity? Or make her more of a monster? BEHEMOTH is a coming-of-age story told through horror, about contemporary themes of identity, individuality, and resistance. It’s like the 'X-Men' if the Xavier School were a government-run black site."

Kipiniak is a well-known comics creator who has worked on a number of Marvel titles, including X-Men Icons: Nightcrawler, Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man and Amazing Fantasy. He has also worked for Lion Forge Labs, Medikidz and Soaring Penguin Press. Woodward has worked with IDW on a number of Star Trek comics, including Mirror Broken and Harlan Ellison's City On The Edge Of Forever. He also did X-Men: Origins: The Beast for Marvel and a number of additional titles.

Cover art for Behemoth #1 comes from Woodward. The issue releases in stores on July 6 from Scout Comics with a final order cutoff date of June 5.

Source: Chris Kipiniak