One of my favorite comic book publishers is AfterShock Comics. This is because this seems to be one of the few places where creators can come in and let their creative juices run wild. With fantastic titles like Adam Glass’ Rough Riders, Paul Jenkins’ Replica, Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti’s Super Zero and Garth Ennis’ Jimmy’s Bastards to name a few. Even going through the list of their books to put here as examples was tough as they have so many quality books.

One book they released last year was their first Anthology featuring amazing creative teams titled SHOCK. With the success of that book, this week AfterShock Comics was proud to announce SHOCK VOLUME 2. This oversized hardcover second volume will once again contain so many of today’s top creative talent to compose stories of “the fantastic, the horrific and the bizarre”.

Speaking of the talent, it will feature Goosebumps creator R.L. Stine, Garth Ennis, Cullen Bunn, Russ Braun, Marguerite Bennet, Juan Doe, Jill Thompson, Sam Kieth, Aaron Douglas, Cliff Richards, Jim Starlin, Larry Stroman, Jamal Igle, Ray Fawkes, Joe Pruett, Kevin J. Anderson, Steve Rasnic Tem, Andrei Bressan, Tony Harris, Francesco Francavilla, Darko Macan, Don Handsfield, Phil Hester, Supernatural show runner Andrew Dabb and more, with outstanding Cover art by Timothy Bradstreet which you can check out below!

The book was conceived and edited by AfterShock Publisher and Chief Creative Officer Joe Pruett, who in the beginning of the first anthology book talked about how his first real success in the comic book industry came in the classic multiple Eisner and Harvey Award nominated series Negative Burn back in 1993. He commented about how this second volume came together.

“When I started putting together the first volume of SHOCK I thought it would be a one-time event. I’d gather some great creators and allow them to tell some fun and intriguing short stories and that would be that. But, the first volume was met with such great enthusiasm and was received so well that that idea of doing additional volumes only made sense. Which is fine by me, as I’ve always loved the anthology format and have throughout my career embraced the challenge of gathering the best talent and allowing them to tell short, yet entertaining stories.”

If you keep up with AfterShock’s titles (and you should) you would agree that these volumes should be done periodically as we can speculate that there are many writers and artists out there in the comic book industry who have many stories to tell and would probably fit perfectly in this type of book for comic book fans everywhere to enjoy. Pruett also commented about how many more volumes he hopes to do saying that, “putting together a project like this demands time and attention, but there is a lot of personal satisfaction when the end product is complete. As long as the demand remains, I could see myself doing a volume every six months or so. I hope we can continue for years to come.”

One of the names that you will easily recognize in the list of writers is R.L. Stine, whether you are a comic book fan or not. He talked a little bit about his story that will be part of SHOCK 2 commenting that, “I like stories in which everything seems normal, but there’s actually something terrifying very nearby. In this story, a movie director buys a perfectly beautiful luxury condo and has no idea of the evil lurking behind one door. I also like horror stories with a funny punchline, and I was very pleased when I came up with this one.”

Stine also commented about how his project ended up with AfterShock his childhood love for comics, “I wrote a series of Man-Thing comics for Marvel year before last. Now I’m working on some graphic novels for kids in a series called Just Beyond. When Joe Pruett asked me to contribute to this anthology, I was delighted. When I was a kid, I was a comic book freak. I guess things have come full-circle for me.”

One comic book writer who has had a lot of success at AfterShock for her amazing work on titles like Animosity, Animosity: Evolution and Insexts is Marguerite Bennett. She was part of the first SHOCK anthology book and will once again be featured in the second volume. She also shared a little bit about her title in the book.

“Our story is a disturbing erotic thriller about a vampiress who comes upon a repressed town in the 1600s. Zac Roane is an absolute master of the sensual, righteous, and profane, and I can’t wait to bring the teeth back to the legend.”

She then goes on to talk about her experience with working with AfterShock and the reason she keeps returning saying that, “AfterShock has given me the most wonderful creative freedom and the support, structure, and contacts to bring our story to audiences new and old. I am extremely grateful to have been able to tell my stories with them.”

Given the list of creators this is an exciting announcement. Be sure to check out some of the preview pages below provided by AfterShock Comics. SHOCK VOLUME 2 will hit comic book stores on June 26th, 2019. Also in case you haven’t had the opportunity to read the first volume, we over at The Comic Source highly recommend it!

Page by Bo Hampton

Page by Andrei Bressan

Page by Cliff Richards

Page by Milan Jovanovic

Page by Russ Braun

What names stand out to you the most? Let us know in the comment section below!

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Source: AfterShock Comics