Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment Will Reinvent CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON Next

As the seminal horror film Creature From the Black Lagoon approaches its seventieth anniversary, Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment has announced a four-issue limited series entitled Universal Monsters: Creature From the Black Lagoon Lives!, which will serve as a contemporary continuation of the 1954 cinematic classic, while introducing new characters and expanding the franchise’s lore.

First revealed by the Hollywood Reporter, renowned comic book creators Dan Watters and Ram V will be at the helm of the new series, which is set to debut in April. The book will feature art from Matthew Roberts, and color by Dave Stewart. Creature From the Black Lagoon Lives! will follow a new protagonist, journalist Kate Marsden, as her hunt for a serial killer puts her directly in the path of the eponymous Creature.

Preview pages for the first issue suggest that Marsden already fears drowning, suggesting her visit to the Black Lagoon will not be an easy one.

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Skybound Entertainment Resurrects Another Iconic Universal Monster

Creature From the Black Lagoon Lives! follows on the success of Skybound’s Universal Monsters: Dracula, the first entry in its collaboration with Universal Products & Experiences, the contemporary incarnation of the film studio that helped to define the early horror genre with its roster of iconic monsters. Rather than an adaptation of the original movie, Skybound’s Creature will serve as a contemporary sequel, bringing the “Gill-man,” as the Creature is known, into the middle of a cat-and-mouse game between reporter Kate Marsden and a serial killer named Darwin Collier. At the same time, the Hollywood Reporter noted that at least one original character, Dr. Edwin Thompson, is set to return.

Skybound’s decision to follow Dracula with Creature From the Black Lagoon as the second installment of its Universal Monsters imprint is an exciting indication of the company’s larger plans for Universal’s roster of famous horror characters. Unlike Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman, or even the Invisible Man, the Creature has not endured as an on-screen menace. Two sequels to the original 1954 film followed in quick succession, but in the decades since, repeated attempts to reboot the franchise have been stymied, despite at times having major names such as John Carpenter and Guillermo del Toro attached. Still, the Creature has endured in the popular consciousness, with Skybound now having the opportunity to reinvent the monster for a new era.

The Universal Monsters Aren’t Invading The Energon Universe – Yet

Skybound Entertainment is currently best known as the home of Transformers and G.I. Joe, two iconic franchises that the company merged into a shared continuity known as the Energon Universe. Skybound’s Universal Monsters line is a distinct project – for the time being. With access to Universal’s roster of famous (and infamous) characters, it may present too exciting of an opportunity not to merge them into the already-crowded world of Robots in Disguise and warring secret organizations. One of the promises of Energon was that it would continue to merge properties into its unified world; it would be hard to expect readers to not at least hope for the Universal monsters to be added to this thrilling narrative tapestry.

In any case, Universal Monsters: Creature From the Black Lagoon Lives! continues Skybound’s push to become one of the undisputed leaders in big, IP-based storytelling. While Dracula primed audiences for more classic monster stories by adapting the Bela Lugosi Universal version of the story, Creature will update and expand on the original tale. Though Creature From the Black Lagoon has struggled to return to the medium that birthed it, Skybound Entertainment now has the mandate to prove that comic books are the perfect medium for the character – and for its Universal monster brethren – to thrive in, where they can find a new generation of horror fans waiting for them.