Fans of Neil Gaiman will be excited to learn that four of his most creepy short stories are going to be adapted into a graphic novel anthology named ‘Likely Stories’. The book will be illustrated by artist Mark Buckingham, who has previously worked on Gaiman’s Sandman series as well as the popular Fables comics.
“The whole experience will be immersive, and unnerving,” Buckingham said to Polygon, “as the reader inhabits the narrator, encountering the other storytellers directly, and looking them in the eye as they slowly pull us into the darkest places in their lives. It should make the whole book a compelling and unsettling experience.”
Likely Stories has already been adapted by the on-demand video service Shudder, but Buckingham stated he’s drawing inspiration from the original source material. “This will be quite a different experience to people’s previous encounters with these tales. I knew I wanted this to read as a cohesive whole, rather than a set of short stories, so I have woven them together, into a single narrative.”
The four spooky tales told in Likely Stories are called ‘Looking for the Girl,’ ‘Foreign Parts,’ ‘Closing Time,’ and ‘Feeders and Eaters’. Feeders and Eaters tells the story of a man who lives next door to a woman who only eats raw meat. Looking for the Girl follows a photographer as he tries to track down a pinup model. Foreign Parts is a story about a terrifying sexually transmitted disease, and Closing Time is a classic ghost story with a twist.
“I love the fantastical and the strange,” said Buckingham, “especially those unsettling things that lurk in the periphery of your vision. The things you can ignore in the hustle and bustle of daytime or curled up in comfy armchair of a well lit and cozy home. Other people’s worlds. Other people’s stories. Things that, when moved to a darkened after-hours bar, when you’ve missed the last bus home, and find yourself talking to a stranger whose words are dragging you deeper and deeper into their personal hell become the thing of nightmares. That’s where Neil and I take you in the Likely Stories.”
It looks like Likely Stories is the perfect read for those wanting to creep themselves out this Summer. The hardcover edition is set to be released in comic book stores on Aug. 29, and a release in general stores will follow on Sept. 11. It will be priced at $17.99.
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