comics have a wide and varied history with horror. From Swamp Thing to Blade to Ghost Rider, we’ve seen the derring-do mixed with the dark in a multitude of manners. However, so often it feels like one part of the recipe overpowers the flavors of the other. Either the comic leans more macabre with a smidge of superheroics or more action with just a small spice of the supernatural.
Of course writer Cullen Bunn would be able to perfect that balance, as we see in his new comic book Jumpscare, out this week from Dark Horse Comics. Set in the world of his graphic novel Beyond Mortal, Jumpscare posits, “What if a horror fan gained superpowers?” Bunn takes that concept and runs with it, adding a whip of wacky for good measure.
I spoke with Cullen Bunn recently about the idea behind Jumpscare, his collaboration with the creative team, the book’s connection with the Beyond Mortal comic universe, and the blend of retro-future vibe and Satanic panic nods that he brings to the book.
I re-read this book three times and it just hit all the buttons of what I love in fiction and what I love about Cullen Bunn’s work in particular. It’s drenched in horror and horror tropes, sure, but like all of his work, Bunn is just so damn smart with it. You never feel like he’s taking shortcuts for shock value. No line is wasted. No scene feels superfluous. And his characterization is just spot-on. In the following interview, Bunn says he wonders what his Deadpool and Harley Quinn would look like. I see that, sure, but I also love that this character stands on its own and there’s just nothing like her in comics right now. And with the market as wide and varied as it is right now, that’s a supernatural feat.
JUMPSCARE #1 cover
FreakSugar: The first issue is so much freaking fun. What is the genesis of the idea behind Jumpscare?
Cullen Bunn: Thank you! I think it’s pretty fun, too! Jumpscare came about while I was sitting around brainstorming something new that artist Danny Luckert and I could work on together. We had wrapped up Beyond Mortal and we wanted to do another comic set in that world. At this point, we knew only that we wanted this new project to stand on its own. A lot of different concepts went through my head before I started wondering… what would OUR Deadpool look like? What would OUR Harley Quinn look like? A fun character, yes, but one with horror baked into the DNA. It hit like a lightning bolt. I started jotting down ideas in a fast and furious fashion, and Jumpscare quickly came to life. I texted the idea to Danny. I’m not sure how long it took, but it seemed like only a couple of minutes passed before he started sending concept art my way.
FS: What can you tell us about the conceit of the series?
CB: Jumpscare is a superheroes-meets-horror comic. The story is set in Empire City, the primary location of the OGN Beyond Mortal. It is a superhero universe that might be a little familiar to fans of the genre. However, in the recent past a host of eldritch deities descended on the planet, causing mass chaos. While the heroes turned them away, these horrors left their mark on the world. Life goes on, but there is definite darkness to be found if you’re not careful.
All that said, you don’t need to know ANY of that to read and enjoy this book!
It presents its own story without needing to read Beyond Mortal.
You should… but you don’t need to.
FS: What can you tell us about Allie, the titular Jumpscare?
CB: Our title character is a horror fanatic turned vigilante. Once, Allie was just a girl from an overly religious family who loved all things horror-related. However, an encounter with… something else… transforms her in a major way. Allie finds that she’s stronger than before. Faster. She discovers she can teleport short distances (as long as no one is looking). Most miraculously, she discovers she can summon any weapon from any horror movie she has ever seen.
And she’s seen a LOT of horror movies.
She decides to put these newfound powers to work—as Jumpscare!
Jumpscare is the blood-soaked hero we never knew we needed… and she quickly becomes the most popular hero in the world.
FS: I’ve known Allie and I probably was Allie (a little) at certain points in my life—minus the superheroics. Is there any of you that you put into her character?
CB: With or without powers, Allie is a lot cooler than I ever was. But, yes, there’s a little of me… and my love of horror movies… in there. There’s really just a lot of all the horror fans I’ve ever met in Allie. I hope most horror junkies see that.
FS: I mean this in the best possible way: One of the things that shines about issue #1 is that it takes the personal-and-private-lives collision seen in some superhero comics and looks at it in a very unique way. Was any of that on your mind when framing the story?
CB: This was something I thought about a lot. I knew there were dangers of it being too familiar, too much of a trope, so I wanted to shake it up a little. I wanted it to feel a little different. In many ways, everything Allie does as a hero is influenced by her personal life, so I just tried to let it happen naturally over the course of the story. There are moments in upcoming issues that really drive it home, I think.
FS: When we meet Allie, we get a brief glimpse of her acquiring her abilities. Will we see why she was chosen to receive them? Or if it was luck and chance?
CB: Are you suggesting that there might have been more to her transformation than chance? Why, I wouldn’t know WHAT you are talking about! I mean, it seems to me that such a revelation would be best reserved for much, much later in a hero’s story!
FS: The reaction of Allie’s parents on TV to superheroes and Jumpscare in particular very much had “Satanic panic/Tipper Gore vs. Rock Music” vibes. Was any of that an inspiration to this story?
CB: Oh, for sure! I wanted it to feel a bit like that, wanted it to feel like Tipper Gore’s crusade, like the anti-D&D movement from when I was a kid. A lot of Jumpscare has this sort of retro-future vibe, and it seemed to fit. Maybe I’m just still shaken up by living through those days.
FS: At times I felt like I was reading the offspring of an older EC comic and a superhero book, and the art has a lot to do with that. What is the collaboration like with the creative team?
CB: Danny is a terrific collaborator. He just gets me. And he just gets the world in which Jumpscare lives. It’s a pretty smooth collaboration. We talked about the series in the beginning, kicked e-mails and phone calls back and forth. Then, I wrote a script and sent it is way. When his art comes in, it’s more about me being in awe of his talent than me saying, “this needs to be drawn differently.” It’s a true collaboration in the very best of ways.
I mentioned the retro-future vibe earlier, and I think that has a lot to do with what you’re talking about.
From a story perspective, I wanted this to feel like an 80s or 90s superhero/action movie. I don’t know what, but I keep thinking of the live action adaptation of The Guyver… only with the pedal to the metal and the awesome factor dialed up to 11.
Danny just picked up on that for the look of the book.
FS: Allie rattles off so much horror film trivia throughout the first issue, which is appreciated. Is there a horror film series that you gravitate to most?
CB: There are a lot of horror movie references in the book. In some ways, I placed those there as a challenge to die-hard fans. Can you spot them all? I’m a fan of many, many horror franchises. If I’m gonna pick one that just hits me where I live, it’s probably the Phantasm series. I love the surreal weirdness of it. I love the action movie horror vibes that we get, especially in the third and fourth films.
FS: Is there anything you can tease about what we can expect later in the series?
CB: Well, we’ll learn that Allie was not the only person impacted by rogue elder gods. There are others, some of whom are really, really twisted. We will also be meeting a group of nightmarish creatures called the Dismal Concordat that will be causing all sorts of problems. Beyond that, the action and horror just get bigger and better!
FS: If you had one final pitch for Jumpscare, what would it be?
CB: If you like superheroes, this is the book for you. If you like horror movies, this is the book for you. If you simply like fun, this is the book for you.
Jumpscare #1 goes on sale this Wednesday, February 26, 2025, from Dark Horse Comics.
From the official issue description:
From the co-creator of The Sixth Gun and Harrow County comes a new action horror superhero event that ties into the hit Beyond Mortal series!
In a world rife with crime, horror, and bloodshed, Jumpscare is the hero we deserve! Strong, fast, violent, and able to conjure any weapon from any horror movie she’s seen (and she’s seen a LOT of horror movies), Jumpscare hacks her way through ne’er-do-wells and monsters alike. Not only is she the bloodiest hero of Empire City–she is the most popular! No wonder her enemies want her dead.