Once upon a time, in a strange land called Florida… We’re thrilled to announce MURDER KINGDOM, the toon-themed terror comic from six-time New York Times bestselling and YALSA award-winning writer Fred Van Lente (Marvel Zombies), French artist Chris Panda (Chocklit Shoppe of Horrors: Night Shift, Rom: First Strike), and letterer Becca Carey (Radiant Black, Golden Rage).
“Murder Kingdom riffs on classic slashers and classic fairy tales in equal measure,” said Fred Van Lente. “It’s a giallo whodunit with a tomboy princess detective who has to make sure she and her best friend live to see the sunrise—and that means unmasking the killer. One of my first jobs was as a fry cook at a theme park and I feel like I’ve been working on this project ever since. I’m so thrilled that the team at Mad Cave have helped me bring it to bloody life. And I am so lucky to have Chris on artwork. His work is equal parts adorable and terrifying, resulting in some of the most shocking kills I’ve seen in any horror comic ever.”
“This has been a dream come true project mixing three things I’m really fond of: theme parks, horror, and fairy tales,” said Chris Panda. “When Fred and Mad Cave first sent me the pitch for Murder Kingdom, it took me five seconds to be sold on that project with just those three elements. On top of that, I have been a huge fan of Fred’s works for years so helping him bring that whole universe he created to life has been a blast. Him and the team have been stellar in letting my creativity go wild in designing every aspect of the storybook kingdom world.”
MURDER KINGDOM
Writer: Fred Van Lente – Artist: Chris Panda – Letterer: Becca Carey
Release Date: October 9th, 2024
Synopsis: You must be this tall…to DIE!
Once upon a time, in a strange land called Florida, a masked psycho starts murdering cast members of the Storybook Kingdom theme park in ways identical to the gory original Grimms’ Fairy Tales. Princess-turned-detective Tanith is the only person who can unmask the killer before she and her friends are all Dying Unhappily Never After!
MEET THE CREATORS!
![](https://madcavestudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Fred-Van-Lente-Icon-MCS-500x500.png)
Writer, Fred Van Lente
Fred Van Lente is a six-time New York Times bestselling comics writer, novelist and playwright whose work spans mystery/thrillers to historical fiction to superheroes to comedy.
Van Lente burst onto the scene with his first collaboration with cartoonist Ryan Dunlavey, Action Philosophers, which became a YALSA Best Book for Teens and the NYT called “intensely goofy but intellectually rigorous”.
From there he went on to a long career at Marvel, where he worked on titles like The Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America and Marvel Zombies. He’s also written for DC, Archie Comics, Dark Horse, Boom! Studios, Dynamite Comics, and Valiant, where his run on Archer & Armstrong was nominated for a Harvey Award for Best Continuing Series.
Artist, Chris Panda
Chris Panda is a French comic artist who’s worked on: MICRONAUTS, ROM, THE S FACTOR, SHE, POP’S CHOCK’LIT SHOPPE OF HORROR, and more.
![](https://madcavestudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Chris-Panda-Icon-MCS-500x500.png)
SNEAK PEEK!
Who knew working at a theme park would be such a scream? We’ve got a sneak peek inside the pages of our upcoming series, Murder Kingdom! Check it out below!
So preserve the magic… with your life! Murder Kingdom #1 with Cover A by Paulina Ganucheau and Cover B by Trevor Henderson is now available for pre-order on the official Mad Cave Studios website, and hits comic shops just in time for Halloween, expected Oct. 9th.
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