There's something sinister in the skin cream in "dark and demented" new thriller Rumpus Room

(Image credit: AWA Studios)

"Scares. Squirmy satire. Skin cream." That's what AWA Studios are promising from Rumpus Room, a new five-issue thriller by writer Mark Russell and Ant-Man artist Ramon Rosanas.

The new series follows billionaire Bob Schrunk, whose skin condition leads him to seek treatment using an illicit face cream created by grinding up the bodies of people who have offended him. Little does Bob know, however, that one of his prisoners is a cop - and she's armed.

AWA says the book, "takes aim at the foundations of the American social structure and incisively dissects it alongside the feeling many share that things are going okay for you as long as you're doing better than the people around you."

Check out the covers for the series below - including Russell's own delightful variant.

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Covers for Rumpus Room #1. — (Image credit: AWA Studios)

"Rumpus Room is a parable for how in American civilization, on some level, we're set against each other by forces that are too powerful for us to reach," Russell explains in a statement. "It parallels the underlying assumption of American life as well: 'I can’t do anything about the real things that are destroying me, so I'll take all my rage out against the people who cross me.' Rumpus Room is about this misguided anger that we all have and how it weaponizes us against each other."

AWA's chief creative officer, Axel Alonso, said of the new book, "Any project Mark Russell puts in front of me, I’m going to take a good look at it. With Rumpus Room, Mark once again displays his unique brand of black comedic social satire, perfectly complemented by Ramon Rosanas' incredible storytelling. Rumpus Room is a dark and demented thrill ride that holds up a funhouse mirror image of the world we live in - exactly the kind of very original storytelling we want to do at AWA. I'm proud he's a continued member of the AWA family."

You can see several unlettered pages from the book below.

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Pages from Rumpus Room #1. — (Image credit: AWA Studios)

This is Russell's second book for AWA, following last year's Eisner Award-winning Not All Robots. The new series is colored by Ive Svorcina and lettered by AndWorld Design, with covers by Tony Harris.

Rumpus Room #1 will be published by AWA Studios on September 20.

It sounds like Rumpus Room will appeal to anyone who likes the books in our guide to the best horror comics.

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.