Kickstarting Comics — ‘Hedrek: Night Of The Mummers – Collected Edition’ Is A Fabulous Folk Horror Detective Tale

Hedrek: Night Of The Mummers – Three issues of genuinely chilling folk horror given a police procedural twist, plus the one-shot Broken Pieces – now in an essential collection crowdfunding right now on Kickstarter.

Welcome to the Macabre World of Hedrek – it’s a wonderfully dark and strange place to be, and now it’s all been collected in Hedrek: Night of the Mummers, collected edition.

Now, I rather liked this one – liked it a lot. Here’s what I had to say in the review of issues 1 & 2…

“Columbo meets the Wicker Man, police procedural meets folk horror… Hedrek: Night Of The Mummers is all that and more. Perfectly executed, beautifully drawn, with a plot to draw you in and art to put a chill down your spine. Welcome to your new favourite comic.”

Coming from Shane Chebsey’s Scratch Comics, this new series launched back in April 2022, with writer Laurence Alison and artist David Hitchcock delivering a top notch three-issue series, plus the special one-shot Broken Pieces with various artists visiting the strange world of Hedrek, including Steven Austin, Damian Edwardson, Adam Jakes, andPaul McAffrey. All of the comics are pretty much sold out and won’t be reprinted, so I’d be recommending for you all to back this one to get hold of a truly excellent series.

 

Hedrek comes from Alison’s desire to write a different sort of hero, a dedicated cop thrown into something very strange and dark indeed. You can bet a lot of the motivations and character come from Alison’s work as a forensic psychologist, seeing TV cop shows just get things oh so wrong in their portrayals of the police. So what we get throughout Hedrek is a more realistic, although fantastical, thing, with Alison’s cop doing it way more true to life. Add to this the glorious artwork of series artist and co-creator Hitchcock, perfect for showing us both the real and the bizarre, twisted folk horror elements in his distinctive and beautiful style, and you have something very special indeed.

Again, as I said in my review of those first two issues:

“It’s all the vibe of Midsommar, Inside No. 9, The Prisoner, Worzel Gummidge, Tales of the Unexpected, Wicker Man, Columbo, and Batman. But we’ll go with the shorthand of Columbo meets The Wicker Man that they use on the Kickstarter – that’s the perfect imagery and tone planted in your head right there…

It’s above and beyond anything I was expecting, a complex and involving read, lots of threads of the investigation unfolding in front of you and one that requires the reader to concentrate and follow, enmeshed in Hedrek’s case almost as much as he is. But you can’t help following it because Alison’s storyline sinks its teeth into you and just will not let go. 

‘And of course, so much of the credit for making it read so well belongs to Hitchcock’s artwork. He’s an artist I’ve known of for many years now and his style has always been eminently suited for darkness and for these essential chills. His black-and-white art is always packed with fine detail yet it never ditches a looseness, a little ethereal, a lot nasty, that makes it organic, readable, flowing artwork that elevates Hedrek in ways other artists just wouldn’t be able to do.”

Yep, I really liked this one a hell of a lot.

 

Now, as for a bit of background on the story, here’s what Scratch Comics have to say about it…

“Set in the south west of England in a small coastal town, Hedrek: Night of The Mummers introduces us to Detective Inspector Hedrek Stern… A slightly eccentric but highly competent detective who has the begrudging respect of his peers in the force. He cares deeply about the people he serves and about upholding the law. His methods and attitudes don’t always align with his colleagues, but he gets results.

‘When a string of mummer related crimes that look to be nothing more than pranks taken too far start to turn into murder, blackmail and mayhem Hedrek’s case is suddenly put under the spotlight and the pressure is put onto our hero to solve it.

‘However, as Hedrek starts to dig deeper and deeper into the circumstances and people involved with the more violent crimes being committed, he finds himself being sucked into situations that not only threaten his safety but his sanity as well.

‘After an incredibly traumatic encounter with those who seem to be the villains of the story, further investigation uncovers an even more malevolent force that makes plain old murder seem pretty tame in comparison.

‘But how far will Hedrek go and how much will he risk, to overcome this evil and find justice for those wronged?”

For the Kickstarter, the main draw is, of course, the book, 140-pages of it, available in oversized deluxe hardcover and softcover editions, collecting all three-issues of Hedrek: Night of The Mummers as well as all of the stories from Hedrek: Broken Pieces that take place during the events of the series.

There’s also five brand new pages of art by Ess Kaydee, specially commissioned by Alison for this book and not available anywhere else, Alison writing on the creation of Hedrek, and a covers gallery featuring all of the covers from the series including the variant art and guest art from Neil McClements, Jimmy Broxton, Warwick Fraser-Coombe, and Shane Oakley.

As for rewards, there’s new pages from Ess available, Hitchcock’s original artwork, signed and remarqued book plates from David Hitchcock. Add-ons include a range of Scratch Comics issues, including Alison’s other book Warfigher.

 

HEDREK: NIGHT OF THE MUMMERS – COLLECTED EDITION

Written by Laurence Alison

Art by David Hitchcock

Additional art and covers by Steven Austin, Damian Edwardson, Adam Jakes, Paul McAffrey, Neil McClements, Jimmy Broxton, Warwick Fraser-Coombe, and Shane Oakley

Published by Scratch Comics.
Kickstarter runs until Monday April 15, 4:00 PM BST.

Now, as a little extra tempter – not that you need it – some of David Hitchcock’s artwork from Hedrek…