This Looks Cool: Bunn, Mutti, and Wooten Enter "A Legacy of Violence"

 


It's been quite a year for Cullen Bunn and Andrea Mutti, with both creators extremely active this year with some amazing books (like Shadowman for Bunn and the return of Bunny Mask for Mutti, just to name two off the top of my head). Now two of my favorite horror comics people are teaming up together again for A Legacy of Violence from Mad Cave Studios, in collaboration with letterer Russ Wooten.


What's the main story on this one? Glad you asked:

When Dr. Nicholas Shaw joins a humanitarian medical outfit in Honduras, he hopes to recover from a recent traumatic event and actually help those in need. But something sinister has followed Dr. Shaw, something that wants to put his medical skills to ghastly tests, something connected to the young doctor’s past… and to untold horrors that occurred long before he was born.
From the ominous PR text, it sure seems like Dr. Shaw might be the cause of all his own problems, which would fit nicely into the horror wheelhouse of Bunn, whose stories often explore what happens when a character who thinks they're (relatively) normal is forced to face the fact that they're anything but ordinary. He's got an amazing mind for psychological horror and for pushing characters to face the reality they fear most. Whether or not they survive that confrontation--or how they are transformed/consumed by it--is what makes reading Bunn's stories so interesting.

Meanwhile, Mutti is just such an incredibly talented artist. He has a style that fits perfectly within the horror genre, able to draw everyday life slow sinking into dawning horror. And when the time comes to let loose and show the gore, he's right there and ready for it. This is what makes comics like Maniac of New York work so well on a visual level. You have to establish the everyday in order for the horror to hit home. But if you don't make things a  little creepy all around, it doesn't feel like a natural, organic switch is being flipped. 

Mad Cave was kind enough to include a few unlettered preview pages, which show exactly what I mean about her art:

At first we have a patient who seems to be bloodied, but nothing out of the ordinary. The doctors are looming in the background and semi-shadowed, a key that something isn't quite right. Then in the second page, the patient goes on the attack, and it's brutal! He lunges, he's bloodier than ever--and he's out for blood. The switch is flipped.

Bunn promises that this story will "surprise" his regular readers and Mutti says that it's a "tight narrative full of twists!" As a fan of both creators, I'm really looking forward to seeing this one. It's going to be a few months yet, but I fully expect it will be worth the wait!

A Legacy of Violence #1 is available for pre-order on the Mad Cave Studios website, in Previews July 20, 2022, and officially in stores October 5, 2022.