Survival horror Blood Commandment pits an isolated family against a vampire

Art from Blood Commandment #1. — (Image credit: Image Comics)

Spawn and Punisher artist Szymon Kudrański is writing and drawing a new horror miniseries for Image this November. Kudrański has described Blood Commandment as "a story about the relationship between a father and his growing up son living far away from civilization in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by thick forests and mountains." Which sounds lovely, until you learn that it's also a story about a vampire...

Kudrański was keen to dig into the existential horror of being a bloodsucker for the four-issue series. "I tried to return to the most classical rules of vampires and reinvent them a bit, where their origin lies in the bearing of a damned soul, instead of a 'monster' that just acts as a killing machine... Staying within the framework of faith and God, it deepens the tragedies of these characters."

Check out some of Kudrański's atmospheric unlettered pages for the new book in the gallery below.

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Pages from Blood Commandment #1 — (Image credit: Image Comics)

Image's official synopsis for the new book reads:

"Being a single father can be tough, but for Ezra Connolly, it's a duty he doesn't take lightly. Living off-grid, away from prying eyes, in the heart of forest country, he spends his days teaching his teenage son Wil survival skills. But Wil has questions, questions Ezra fears to answer - about his past, and about why they never leave the valley before sundown…"

You can check out the cover for #1, along with four variants - all drawn by Kudrański! - below.

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Covers for Blood Commandment #1 — (Image credit: Image Comics)

The writer/artist has also been working on his ongoing fantasy series, Something Epic, also for Image. The timing is perfect, says Kudrański.

"The first arc of Something Epic ends in November, the second arc starts in March. Blood Commandment is a great story for someone who is following and waiting for my solo work as a creator, writer and illustrator. I assure my readers that they will experience a lot of emotions while reading it!"

Blood Commandment #1 is published by Image on November 1.

Not all vampires are evil. Some are even superheroes, including all the characters in this list.

Will Salmon is the Streaming Editor for GamesRadar+. He has been writing about film, TV, comics, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he launched the scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for well over a decade. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places too.