Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning Book

Deep within the remote hills of the New Mexico desert, a group of townspeople thought wiped out by the United States government when it began above-ground atomic testing has returned to the now-irradiated land they still claim as their home. Within the eye of this nuclear storm good people will go bad, battle lines will be drawn, and a new family of mutated monstrosities must protect their own at all costs in a mind-boggling orgy of blood and vengeance.

The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning tells for the first time the epic origin story behind Wes Craven's classic tale of mutant carnage, leading into and bridging the gap between the 2006 remake of The Hills Have Eyes and its sequel, The Hills Have Eyes 2. Written by acclaimed storytellers Jimmy Palmiotti (Painkiller Jane) and Justin Gray (Countdown) with shocking art by John Higgins (Judge Dredd, War Stories), this is mutant mayhem as you've never seen it before.

Publishers Weekly

This tie-in to the horror film series created by Wes Craven serves its genre well-the book will appall tasteful readers while delighting its bloodthirsty core audience by delivering all the expected gore and formulaic horror tropes. An origin story, the book explains the murderous proclivities of the Sawney Bean clan, deformed freaks who live in the desert of the American West, luring unsuspecting travelers into their cannibalistic trap. Using the faintest dash of social-political commentary-arrogant government jackboots and atomic testing are the source of the clan's sorry state-the story incorporates the movie plots into a larger tale about the group's attempt to avenge its abuse at the hands of the U.S. military. Written more with professional skill than originality, Palmiotti and Gray deliver the hallmarks of conventional horror-extreme brutality and numbing violence delivered with a minimum of wit or characterization. These efforts are ably assisted by explicitly detailed, albeit rushed-looking art that manages to capture all the gruesome splatter. Higgins even manages a vivid injury-to-eyeball homage to the infamous 1947 Jack Cole image in True Crime Comics#2. While fans of the genre will likely flock to the book, more casual readers should beware. (This volume was edited by PWcontributing editor Heidi MacDonald.) (July)