The next thing is not exactly a donkey.
The children in the cemetery in 2024 did not die. The honorable youth barely escaped in life and sane after spending countless nights trapped in Nightmare Cemetery, where video games were played while they were sleeping. However, the children in the series Cemetery run Rabid (scheduled on August 13th), with author Zac Thompson and artist Daniel Irizarri returning to the horrors of the Dreamwave console, returning for a more personal, highly intrusive journey at the crossroads of technology and humanity.
In that space video game, the newly released DLC, the desolate Sprawl promises answers about the game’s mystical origins, and as nightmares begin to bleed into the awakened world, he forces his friends to once again confront the boundaries between the game and reality.
“We’re taking everything we explored in the first volume and pushing it deeper,” Thompson said in a recent chat. “What part of us are losing to the digital world? And can we get those parts back?”
The result is a horror story with sharp teeth. From the beginning, both creators wanted to raise the ante emotionally, visually and viscerally.
“It had to push everything even further: the horror of the brain, the character-driven drama, and the war-related battle scenes,” Thompson said.
For Ilizari, it meant ensuring that “none of these kids are safe… they are emotionally at the edge, they don’t have the maturity to understand what they are going through, and they bring them all into the world of gaming ready to weaponise those emotions.”
Provided by Oni Press.
Gamification of suburban collapse and ruin
The devastated sprawl serves as a major environmental shift from the creepy Americana in the first volume.
“We moved beyond the restrictions of a small town,” Thompson said. “Now we’re in the chaos of dead malls, cookie cutter houses, highways. It’s a suburb that’s dying beyond the limits of the city.”
The game’s design itself deepens myths and introduces Yzhog to Yzhog, a new demigod at the heart of this corrupt codebase.
Ilizari describes the aesthetic as “close to home.” He sees the environment itself as an explanation.
“It evokes the sense of anxiety that arises from seeing a child hold the Walkman like an artifact.
Two Realities, One Nightmare
One of the most fascinating aspects of the series is its way it spans real-world anxiety and digital terrorism. According to Thompson, their storytelling craft is similarly layered.
“You get clean grooves and lines in the ‘real world’ and ‘gaming world’ with jagged, dark grooves and strange page designs,” explains Thompson. “Real world tensions bleed in the conversations they have in the game.”
Ilizari added that as the child’s psychological grip slips, their visual language becomes increasingly unstable.
“The textures of the game start to appear in the IRL… the panels start to fall apart,” Ilizari said. “I want the characters to feel with them when they start to lose grip on things.”
Provided by Oni Press.
Children have changed fragile friendships
The children in the cemetery have been there enough time, but with it there is a fracture and changing role in their lives and groups of friends. Birdie and Piku are back, but not. Enid drifted after a brutal injury. Meanwhile, Wilson deals with conditions that make dreams deadly. And there’s a new presence in this tense mix: Maddie. Ilizari had the opportunity to redesign the looks of the cast to reflect these changes.
“Enid was a glittering beacon of light and warmth… the space is now filled with Maddie’s chaotic energy,” Ilizari said. “If I did my job right, I’ll see that it’s reflected in her design.”
Thompson is more dull about group status.
“They all made a vow from the dream bet until the DLC fell,” Thompson said. “This is not about a best friend solving everything with the power of love. By ignoring the truth, the wounds have forgiven fester.”
Techno horror rooted in real life
Run Rabid’s horror is more than just an imagination. Thompson elicits fears about actual game addiction and technology overreach.
“We are worried about the year we will give to these secondary realities while our main reality is falling apart around us,” Thompson said.
Ilizari links it to modern “psychotechnology” that manipulates our emotions.
“Anger, love, sadness – (it’s) all translated into metrics,” Ilizari said. “If that barrier is broken, it could be game over. Are our feelings our own?”
Provided by Oni Press.
What really hids in the code?
The new DLC promises answers, but creators are interested in the blurry lines.
“Like a good sequel, we’ve answered a few questions from the first book,” Thompson said. “But we also want a lot of new things.”
Or, as Ilizari added, “There is little information about the people developing these technologies, and the online community is full of liars and trolls. So, can kids really trust them?”
Therefore, new volumes do not avoid visual shock.
“Daniel just delivered the sequence from the end of issue #2 that honestly left me breathless,” Thompson said. “It’s a dream when I’m making a horror book.”
And Ilizari is just as impressed with Thompson’s skills/feats as the writers.
“Zack has a deep knowledge of the film, so I feel comfortable coastting his vision,” Ilizari said. “But he twists the details, twists the choreography scenes differently, gives me space to really make it my own.”
Hope, fear, and dead futures
Ultimately, the cemetery kids are more than running Rabid and surviving another nightmare. That is to consider the cost of survival.
“If we’re back to an incurable illness, will we really win?” Thompson said. “You could lose sight of your future in your teen years, and you could lose sight of yourself just as easily.”
It is still unclear whether the cemetery children will accomplish it through this new trial or lose themselves in the process. But one thing is certain, the game isn’t over. It’s not a long shot.
