The Harrowers Facsimile Edition #1 Preview: BOOM! Studios Reopens Clive Barker’s Road to Hell
Clive Barker’s The Harrowers are heading back into the abyss.
BOOM! Studios is resurrecting a piece of 1990s horror-comics history with The Harrowers Facsimile Edition #1, bringing the original debut of Barker’s infernal strike team back to readers in a new facsimile presentation.
Originally published in 1993 as Clive Barker’s The Harrowers #1, the story returns with its original creative team led by writers Malcom Smith and McNally Sagal, legendary penciler Gene Colan, inker Joe Rubinstein, colorist Mel Sanchez, and letterer Vickie Williams. Clive Barker is credited as creator, while Gene Colan also provides the unforgettable original cover.
The new edition comes from BOOM! Studios, returning readers to a dark corner of the wider Hellraiser mythology more than three decades after the original comic first appeared. The facsimile itself identifies the material as a reproduction of the 1993 Clive Barker’s The Harrowers #1.
For another look at the returning horror title, Daily Dead has an exclusive preview of The Harrowers Facsimile Edition #1, while readers can explore more upcoming releases through our continuing BOOM! Studios coverage at Comic Book Addicts.
Six Strangers Have Been Chosen to Invade Hell
The premise wastes no time getting strange.
In Manhattan’s Lower East Side, six strangers gather inside the abandoned Bleecker Street Hotel.
They have little in common.
They do not trust one another.
And they have not exactly volunteered for what comes next.
Each has been selected by the mysterious and powerful goddess Mortē Mammē, a supernatural figure who has granted them extraordinary abilities for one almost impossible purpose:
Break into Hell and rescue innocent souls from eternal torment.
Together, these reluctant warriors become The Harrowers.
It is an immediately strong horror concept because these characters are not entering Hell because they are searching for treasure or trying to satisfy their curiosity.
They are being sent there on a mission.
And Hell already knows they are coming.
Meet the Harrowers
The opening chapter introduces a deliberately mismatched team whose personalities are almost as dangerous to one another as the creatures waiting beyond the portal.
Among them is Winston Gage, whose enormous intellect does not necessarily make him good at reading the room.
Dublin Morse has a talent for killing and a reputation that makes him one of the more dangerous members of the group.
Ron Ringwood is a rebel carrying plenty of anger.
Vera Wyshak brings her own secrets to the team.
And twins Lavinia and Lucinda Claire add another unusual dynamic to an already unstable group.
They have been brought together because Mortē Mammē sees something in them that they do not necessarily see in one another.
Before they can fight Hell, however, they need to learn whether they can survive each other.
Their Powers Are Anything but Conventional
One of the entertaining qualities of The Harrowers is that this is not a traditional superhero team dressed up as horror characters.
Their abilities are strange.
Dangerous.
Sometimes grotesque.
And often tied directly to their personalities.
Their first encounter makes it clear that Mortē Mammē has equipped them for supernatural warfare, but possession of power and knowing how to use it are very different things.
The team is immediately forced into combat against a creature connected to the infernal realm, and the confrontation becomes a chaotic demonstration of what the Harrowers can—and cannot—do.
Bodies are wounded.
Flesh behaves in unnatural ways.
Weapons appear with bizarre properties.
And what initially resembles a training exercise becomes genuinely lethal very quickly.
This is Clive Barker territory.
There is no clean line separating magic from flesh.
Hell Is Ruled by Something Much Worse
The Harrowers are not simply being sent into an anonymous underworld.
Their enemy is connected to Leviathan, one of the central forces associated with Barker’s Hellraiser mythology.
Mortē Mammē describes Hell as a prison filled with countless cells, each containing souls trapped in endless suffering.
The Harrowers’ job is not to conquer the entire realm.
It is to enter.
Find those prisoners.
Break their bonds.
And somehow get back out.
That sounds straightforward until the portal opens.
The transition from Manhattan into the infernal dimension remains one of the issue’s strongest ideas. The characters go from arguing on a rooftop to suddenly confronting a place governed by completely different rules.
They wanted proof.
Hell gives it to them.
Gene Colan Gives the Horror Constant Movement
For many collectors, Gene Colan may be the biggest attraction of this facsimile edition.
Colan’s work has a natural fluidity that fits Barker’s world remarkably well.
Characters rarely feel frozen in place.
Figures twist.
Weapons swing.
Bodies fall through panels.
Creatures seem to push against the boundaries of the page itself.
That restless quality becomes especially effective when the supernatural elements begin escalating.
Even early confrontations feel unstable because Colan rarely allows the action to become visually comfortable.
The layouts frequently lean, overlap, or break from rigid panel structures.
Hell should not feel orderly.
Neither does this comic.
Joe Rubinstein’s inks reinforce the darker textures while Mel Sanchez’s colors embrace the loud, sometimes surreal palette associated with horror comics of the period.
The result is unmistakably a comic from another era—and that is precisely why the facsimile approach works.
A Real Piece of 1990s Horror-Comics History
Modern facsimile editions are most interesting when they preserve more than simply the story.
The Harrowers Facsimile Edition #1 provides readers with an opportunity to revisit the visual language, pacing, lettering, coloring, and overall presentation of a 1993 horror comic rather than presenting the material as a completely modernized remake.
That matters here.
The exaggerated colors, unusual page layouts, dense dialogue, grotesque transformations, and pulpy character introductions are part of the experience.
This is not a modern reinterpretation of The Harrowers.
It is an opportunity to go back to where they began.
For collectors interested in Clive Barker comics, Gene Colan artwork, Hellraiser history, or BOOM! Studios’ continuing exploration of influential horror material, the issue has considerable archival appeal.
The Harrowing Begins
The title eventually earns its name when the newly assembled team crosses the threshold.
Hell is presented as something vast rather than simply a burning cavern filled with demons.
Mortē Mammē describes an enormous system of imprisonment and suffering, and the Harrowers are effectively being sent into hostile territory to break people out.
Their first mission immediately reveals the problem.
Hell is not empty.
It has prisoners.
It has monsters.
And it has guardians.
The team also carries personal secrets that could become just as dangerous as anything they encounter on the other side.
That internal tension gives the concept room to operate beyond monster fights.
These six people have been forced together by a goddess.
Trust has not been included in the package.
Why The Harrowers Facsimile Edition #1 Is Worth Watching
There are several reasons this re-release should attract horror readers and collectors.
First, it revives a lesser-seen corner of Clive Barker’s comic-book mythology.
Second, it gives readers another chance to experience Gene Colan’s artwork in a supernatural horror setting.
Third, the concept remains wonderfully direct:
Six damaged people.
One goddess.
A collection of supernatural weapons and abilities.
And a mission to break into Hell.
That is the kind of horror-comic premise that does not require much convincing.
The facsimile format also makes the release especially interesting for readers who were not collecting comics when the original appeared in 1993.
Where to Find The Harrowers Facsimile Edition #1
The Harrowers Facsimile Edition #1 is being released by BOOM! Studios, bringing the original Clive Barker horror series back for a new generation of readers and collectors.
The new edition is scheduled for August 19, 2026, with a $4.99 cover price.
Readers looking to reserve a copy can also check Golden Apple Comics’ listing for The Harrowers Facsimile Edition #1 or ask their local comic shop to add the issue to their pull list.
Final Thoughts
The Harrowers Facsimile Edition #1 is more than an unusual artifact from Clive Barker’s comic-book history.
The premise is still strong.
A goddess recruits six strangers, gives them unnatural abilities, and sends them into Hell to liberate tortured souls while an incomprehensibly powerful enemy waits on the other side.
That is pure horror-comic fuel.
The characters are abrasive enough to make the team dynamic unpredictable, the supernatural mythology is suitably bizarre, and Gene Colan’s artwork gives the entire issue a constant sense of movement and instability.
For established Hellraiser fans, this is a chance to revisit an unusual extension of Barker’s infernal mythology.
For readers who have never encountered the Harrowers before, the facsimile edition provides the perfect place to discover why somebody thought the best solution to Hell was assembling a team crazy enough to invade it.
The doors are opening again. The Harrowing begins within.
Join the Discussion
Have you ever read the original Clive Barker’s The Harrowers #1? Will you be adding the new BOOM! Studios facsimile edition to your collection?
And if you could assemble a team to invade Hell, who would you want fighting beside you?
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