Exclusive Black Mask Preview: Curt Pires & Eric Pfeiffer Doom the Decadent in The Forevers

Black Mask —the upstart comic publisher founded by horror maestro Steve Niles, Bad Religion veteran Brett Gurewitz and multimedia storyteller Matt Pizzolo—is prepping for a pretty damn big year. Its Class of 2016 overflows with ambition from industry legends like J.M. DeMatteis and brave new voices, including (full disclosure) Paste contributor Tini Howard, who’s readying the ‘60s psychic bombshell The Skeptics alongside artist Devaki Neogi. And though we’ve only witnessed the first two issues, Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss’ 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank is turning into a sublime escape of nostalgia and style.

But one of the most ambitious projects awaits readers this October, helmed by writer Curt Pires and artist Eric Pfeiffer. The Forevers incorporates the burnout celebrity hedonism and supernatural peril Pires showed in his last Black Mask series, Mayday, with the creeping, moody multimedia art of Pfeiffer.

The plot revolves around a circle of friends who make a dark deal for money and fame, but that material high comes to a screeching halt ten years later when one of them perishes. The power from the deceased distributes evenly among the survivors, inspiring one of them to murder the competition in a bid to absorb all of the magic. Like an unholy Lynch project filtered through Karen Berger-era ‘90s Vertigo, The Forevers seethes with atmosphere, personality and bottom-shelf depravity.

Most Popular

Check out the five-page preview below. The Forevers #1 debuts this October.

Live fast. Live forever.

Five friends struggling on the brink of stardom sacrifice everything in a black magic pact that brings them all the wealth and glamour they ever wanted. But now, years later, the glow is fading. When one of them is killed in an accident, they each feel a pulse of magic rise in them. They realize the glow is spread evenly among the group, and if one dies that power is passed along to the rest. Suddenly, they are being hunted. One of them has decided to kill the rest and harness the remaining power.

As they search for the killer, each of The Forevers will be confronted by the macabre reality of the lengths people will go to be adored, to make sure the spotlight never fades.

The Forevers #1 Interior Art by Eric Pfeiffer