Red Thorn (2015-)

RED GOD RISING Although she grew up in America, gifted artist Isla Mackintosh is a Scot at heart. Both of her parents were born in Glasgow, and 25 years ago her older sister Lauren vanished during a visit to the land of her ancestry. Now, Isla is following in her sister's footsteps, hoping to discover the truth behind her disappearance. The secret she's about to unearth, however, is far older and more dangerous than she ever could have guessed. Something has been waiting for Isla, deep beneath the moors. A pagan demigod has been trapped there for millennia, caged inside the bones of ancient gods. He smells of the blood of a thousand enemies and the sweat of countless lovers. His name is Thorn, and Isla's art is the key to his freedom. Writer David Baillie and artists Meghan Hetrick and Steve Pugh bring the myths and legends of Scotland roaring back to life in RED THORN VOL. 1: GLASGOW KISS-a sweeping, supernatural saga in the classic VERTIGO tradition! Collects RED THORN #1-7.

After lying entombed in a subterranean prison for 2,000 years, the Celtic demigod known as Thorn has finally escaped-thanks to the power hidden in a determined young artist named Isla Mackintosh. Now the tremors from his supernatural jailbreak are shaking the British Isles from Glasgow to London-and breaking down the barriers between this world and the Otherworld beyond. Long-forgotten gods and monsters once more roam the land, wreaking havoc on everything they can sink their talons into-including a contentious general election featuring politicians even more two-faced than usual. But the forces that have invited Thorn's wrath have plans of their own-subtle designs woven around Isla and her missing sister, whose murder 25 years ago set everything in motion. Will Thorn's carefully plotted coup succeed against them? Or will Scotland and the rest of the mortal realm sink into a new dark (and bloody) age? Writer David Baillie and artist Meghan Hetrick bring their masterful modern fantasy to its transformative conclusion in RED THORN VOL. 2: MAD GODS AND SCOTSMEN, collecting issues #8-13 of the acclaimed Vertigo series and featuring a special sketchbook section from Hetrick.

On the rain-soaked streets of Glasgow, a girl whose drawings somehow come to life has just stumbled across her one true love. And thousands of miles below those streets, an ancient demigod plots his escape from the prison where he's been held for nearly two thousand years. Evil forces are at play and no one is safe as the legends of Scottish mythology collide with the modern world. Fans of FABLES and THE SANDMAN won't want to miss this riveting dark fantasy epic!

It's Halloween night, and something wicked and powerful is stirring beneath the streets of Glasgow. Join Isla on the day she meets a bloodthirsty army she thought was a myth and breaks the heart of the only man she ever loved. Innocents are slaughtered, a demigod is crowned king, and history is rewritten in the second issue of this new series!

Thorn and Isla travel to Morocco to meet Tarek, a young boy who's been drawing maps his whole life-maps of a realm that doesn't seem to exist. We also introduce the fiercest Redcap of all: Franint, whose hobbies include murder, being angry and more murder. And you won't believe which long-time Celtic celebrity turns out to be an old flame of Thorn's.

Travel to a walled Moroccan city by the sea, where you'll meet Tarek, a boy who's been drawing maps his whole life-maps of places that don't exist. Get a glimpse of what Thorn was up to in 410AD, and watch as a castle is magicked out of thin air onto a hill in the middle of Glasgow. Witness how Isla discovers how awful Red Cap wine tastes before seeing the most gorgeous double-page spread of the year, as we thunder toward the terrible revelations that will soon bring our first arc, "Glasgow Kiss," to a close.

Red Cap Franint meets her newest admirers, and Thorn meets the God of Lost Faith. Isla and Tarek decide to work together and we get a look inside one of Belatucadros's Upstart Gods. Glasgow has never looked better.

"Glasgow Kiss," the first RED THORN epic, comes to an end-and nothing in this world will ever be the same again. In our nerve-shredding finale, you'll discover the nature of Thorn's grand plan, and truly understand the many reasons for his rage. But in the end, there's only one question that counts: can Isla possibly survive this, her greatest trial?

Come with us as we visit the Glasgow of 1991, where you'll find a few familiar faces, and some of the answers you've been searching for these past six months. Guest artist for our intermission chapter, "Hairspray Queen," is none other than the legendary Steve Pugh (ANIMAL MAN), and he is pulling precisely zero punches in his depiction of this story. Prepare to weep.

Thorn discovers kilts, the Stepping Orc visits the Whitburn Wiccan and the Upstart Gods rain bloody chaos down on Glasgow. But where are Isla and Tarek? And what secret does the Couril of the Callanish Stone Circle so jealously protect? Meghan Hetrick and David Baillie answer all of these questions and more in "A Wicked Garden," the eighth chapter of RED THORN, and the start of a whole new arc!

There have been many secrets and many questions since Thorn broke free from his prison beneath the Earth nine months ago-but all of that is about to change. There is a woman stalking the streets of Glasgow who won't rest until she has the answers she seeks. And what she discovers will alter the fates of two worlds forever. Join us on this epic journey as Lura Investigations gets to the bottom of what makes this dark Celtic fantasy tick.

While Tarek embarks on the most arduous journey of his life, Thorn hunts upstart Gods on the streets of Glasgow and ends up discovering something about himself that will change him forever. Why is the city erupting with violence, and what does all this have to do with the Otherworld? Political rallies, nudity, snow and unspeakable violence-the tenth issue of the critically-acclaimed dark fantasy hit of the year, Red Thorn has all this and more wrapped in a gorgeous cover from Choong Yoon.

Isla and Tarek explore Glasgow of the Otherworld, while the Red Caps visit the London of ours. Back in The Necropolis, Amaka knocks on a familiar door and makes an offer that might just give Isla what she was looking for in the first place. All of this, and the world wakes up to its newest leader as the bloody story of Thorn and Belatucadros rumbles towards its inevitably costly conclusion.

Thorn travels to the Otherworld and does not like what he finds there. Tarek takes on a villain, but not the one you're expecting. Amaka tells us how she managed to survive a threat that would have killed anyone else on Earth...and Ness prepares to do something she'd sworn she never would. The twelfth chapter of Red Thorn answers almost all the questions you've been asking all year. Almost.

Cadros and Thorn face each other for the last time, as Isla's new powers grow explosively and Tarek is forced to make the most important decision of his life. Join us as our story of Pagan Gods, Demigods and Red Caps comes to a close. Who lives, who dies and...will our world survive?