Clive Barker is an English playwright, novelist, film director, and visual artist. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the Books of Blood, which established him as a leading horror writer. He has since written many novels and other works, and his fiction has been adapted into films, notably the Hellraiser and Candyman series.
Pinhead, or the Hell Priest, is the recurring antagonist of the Hellraiser franchise, first appearing as an unnamed figure in the 1986 Clive Barker novella The Hellbound Heart. When Clive Barker adapted the novella into the 1987 film Hellraiser, he referred to the character in early drafts as "the Priest" but the final film gave no name. The production and make-up crew nicknamed the character "Pinhead" and fans accepted the sobriquet, which was then used in press materials, tie-in media, and on-screen in some of the sequel films. Clive Barker himself did not care for the nickname. In the 2011 comic book series Hellraiser published by Boom! Studios, Barker refers to the character as "the Priest." In that comic book series and the subsequent series Hellraiser: The Dark Watch, Cenobites refer to him as holding the title of "the Hell Priest" or "the Pontifex", making him "Hell's Pope." Nearly thirty years after The Hellbound Heart was published, Barker's 2015 novel The Scarlet Gospels cements the character's official title and rank is "the Hell Priest" and that he hates the nickname "Pinhead." In a later novella, Hellraiser: The Toll, it is said the character is also known to some as the Cold Man.
Books of Blood is a series of six horror fiction anthologies collecting original stories written by British author, playwright, and filmmaker Clive Barker in 1984 and 1985. Known primarily for writing stage plays beforehand, Barker gained a wider audience and fanbase through this anthology series, leading to a successful career as a novelist. Originally presented as six volumes, the anthologies were subsequently re-published in two omnibus editions containing three volumes each. Each volume contains four or five stories. The Volume 1–3 omnibus contained a foreword by Barker's fellow Liverpudlian horror writer Ramsey Campbell. Author Stephen King praised Books of Blood, leading to a quote from him appearing on the first US edition of the book: "I have seen the future of horror and his name is Clive Barker."
Clive Barker, Illustrator is a book of ink sketches and some full-color paintings by British author Clive Barker. It was published in 1990 by Arcane/Eclipse Books. It also contains a lengthy interview with Barker, in which he talks about the various aspects of his work. As with his fiction, his artwork is concerned with mythology, monstrous figures, the grotesque, human sexuality, and secret identities. He also discusses his influences, which range from Jean Cocteau, Goya and William Blake to various Disney movies.
Steve Niles is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery, Simon Dark, Mystery Society, and Batman: Gotham County Line.
Ben Templesmith is an Australian comic book artist best known for his work in the American comic book industry, most notably the Image Comics series Fell, with writer Warren Ellis, and IDW's 30 Days of Night with writer Steve Niles, which was adapted into a motion picture of the same name. He has also created book covers, movie posters, trading cards, and concept work for film.
Razorline was an imprint of American comic book company Marvel Comics that ran from 1993 to 1995. It was created by filmmaker and horror/fantasy novelist Clive Barker, with its characters existing in one of the many alternate universes outside the mainstream continuity known as the Marvel Universe.
Daniel Alan Brereton is an American writer and illustrator who has produced notable work in the comic book field.
Hellraiser is a horror franchise that consists of 10 films, a series of books, various comic books, and additional merchandise and media. The franchise is based on the novella The Hellbound Heart by English author Clive Barker, who also wrote and directed the film adaptation of his story, Hellraiser. The films, as well as the comic book series, continually feature the Cenobite Pinhead.
Ectokid is a superhero comic book series published by Marvel Comics' Razorline imprint that ran from 1993 to 1994. Created by filmmaker and horror/fantasy novelist Clive Barker as one of the imprint's four interconnected series, it starred teenaged Dexter Mungo, the child of a mortal and a ghost, who is able to see and interact with the dangerous, interdimensional Ectosphere.
Dan Wickline is a published writer and photographer.
Tapping the Vein may refer to:
Nick Percival is a British graphic artist and graphic novelist primarily known for his published comic book, concept artwork and career in computer animation directing.
Checker Book Publishing Group was an independent publisher of comics reprints, from newspaper strips to contemporary out-of-print titles and collections from defunct publishers. In 2012, they seemingly disappeared from the market. A few years later, they re-emerged as a presumptive publisher of projected role-playing super-hero board games. However, none of this seems to have materialised, and no more news of the company has been heard since 2017, which was the last time their company website was updated.
Kris Oprisko is an author who worked for Wildstorm from 1995–1999, and was one of the four founders of Idea and Design Works, LLC/IDW Publishing, where he continues to work. He has written many books such as the original Metal Gear Solid series, Case Files, the CSI series, and more. Some of the books he's written feature the art of Gabriel Hernandez and Ashley Wood, and others. He also created the Cardcaptors and Wizard in Training CCGs for Upper Deck, as well as the innovative board game/card game/miniatures game Gregory Horror Show for the same company. He currently lives in southern Spain with his family.
The X-Files was a spin-off from the television series of the same name, originally published by Topps Comics and, most recently, DC Comics imprint Wildstorm.
FantaCo Enterprises was an American comic book store and publishing company founded and created by Thomas Skulan and based in Albany, New York. As a publisher, FantaCo was known for its idiosyncratic line-up of mostly black-and-white titles, including the humorous Hembeck Series and the horror title Gore Shriek. FantaCo also published "The Chronicles Series", which cataloged top-selling Marvel Comics titles. In its later years, FantaCo published mostly horror comics and a small number of "good girl art".
Epic Comics was an imprint of Marvel Comics from 1982 to 1996. A spin-off of the publisher's Epic Illustrated magazine, it published creator-owned work unconnected to Marvel's superhero universe, and without the restrictions of the Comics Code. The name was revived by Marvel in the mid-2000s for a short-lived program inviting new writers to pitch series proposals to the publisher.
TKO Studios is an American comics publisher founded by Tze Chun and Salvatore Simeone in 2017.
