PAUL TOBIN, ANDREA MUTTI AND TAYLOR ESPOSITO REUNITE FOR BUNNY MASK: THE HOLLOW INSIDE, THE SECOND VOLUME OF THEIR AFTERSHOCK COMICS SERIES.
The AfterShock Comics horror series Bunny Mask is gearing up for a comeback in the spring of 2022.
CBR can exclusively announce Bunny Mask: The Hollow Inside, the second volume of writer Paul Tobin, artist Andrea Mutti and letterer Taylor Esposito’s hit comic. The series finds Bunny Mask free from her cave while still dishing out her signature brand of justice.
“As AfterShock’s second highest-selling title of all time, bringing Bunny Mask back for a second volume was a pure no-brainer,” AfterShock Comics editor-in-chief Mike Marts said. “Writer Paul Tobin and artist Andrea Mutti have rewritten the rules on what a horror comic can actually be. And if you thought the first volume was full of turns, twists and terror, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
“Bunny Mask is the story of how Tyler Severin, a doctor, accidentally unleashes Bunny Mask herself – an eerie supernatural woman with uncanny powers – into the world. With his more-than-reluctant aid, she seeks out ‘sickness,’ as defined in her own unfathomable mind, and deals with it in her own creepy and often fatal manner,” Tobin said. “It’s basically as if you became friends with the girl from The Ring. In the first volume, Tyler attempts to deal with Bunny Mask, meanwhile getting to know (and fall for) a woman named Bee Foster, who is supposed to be dead, and who has some strange connection to Bunny Mask herself. The second volume continues to focus on the theme of identity, now with a new character called the Hollow, a bizarre creature who devours the very existence of his victims, leaving no memory or mark of the person behind, wiping away any memories or physical evidence the person ever existed at all! This is something Bunny Mask DEFINITELY defines as sickness!”
Tobin also gave his thoughts on who could direct and star in a Bunny Mask feature film. “Oh! Good question! I’d love to see a film or tv adaptation! As for director, someone like Takashi Miike would be amazing, though there’s an amazing wealth of other people I’d love. I’ve an affinity for Japanese and Korean horror directors, as I feel they work with the pure tension of horror in interesting ways,” Tobin opined. “Wouldn’t have to be a horror director, though, because I think a good comedy director has the chops to make a horror film. The two genres have such focus on precise timing that if you can do one, you can do the other. For that reason, people like Olivia Wilde (who I thought was amazing with Booksmart) or Rian Johnson with his impeccable Knives Out would be fantastic. There’s a lot of others, though. And, an actress to portray Bunny Mask? Hmm…I’d probably go with someone new who could really make her mark. Someone who can exude presence even while just standing still. A Veronica Lake. A Theda Bara. A Josephine Baker.”
When asked if Tobin has a favorite page or panel from either the first or second volume, he replied, “There’s a page in the fourth issue of the first volume that I’m particularly proud of, one where Bunny Mask speaks a line that I’m proud to have written. I won’t spoil it by blathering about it here. And the sequence we chose for the preview of the second volume, with Bunny Mask speaking with a dying woman in a hospital bed, is one I really like. There’s another scene in the first volume where Bunny Mask reads the future of a young girl by holding her teeth, and I like that one, too. Honestly, I like any of the scenes where Bunny Mask feels otherworldly and eerie, a creature that you can feel you’re on the verge of understanding, but never will.”
He concluded with his thoughts on what he hopes readers take away from the new volume. “A sense of dread,” Tobin concluded. “A feeling that they’d like to meet Bunny Mask, and the knowledge they’d regret it if they did.”
Bunny Mask: The Hollow Inside #1 goes on sale in spring 2022 from AfterShock Comics.
BUNNY MASK: THE HOLLOW INSIDE #1
- Writer: Paul Tobin
- Artist: Andrea Mutti
- Letterer: Taylor Esposito
- Cover: Andrea Mutti w/ Colleen Coover
- On sale Spring 2022
Her footfalls don’t exist. She leaves no marks. Her eyes are a white abyss. Her name is Bunny Mask, and she’s free from her cave and moving through the city, searching for sickness and enacting her own unfathomable sense of justice. Can Tyler Severin control her? Does he want to? The answers to that are still hidden, but what’s clear is that Bunny Mask is back to grab you by your teeth, and never let go.
