The Silent Hill logo used on comics published under IDW.
In 2004, IDW Publishing began production of a series of Comics spun off from Konami's Silent Hill series. To date, eight distinct titles have been released across many different issues. With the exception of Sinner's Reward and Past Life, all titles have been written by Scott Ciencin, while illustrations have been provided by various artists.
In 2006, Konami released its first Silent Hill comic, titled Cage of Cradle, which was released only in Japan with illustrations provided by series artist Masahiro Ito. Two others would follow, which were also Japan-exclusives and featured illustration by Ito.
IDW Publishing comics
All the comics up to Dead/Alive were written by Scott Ciencin, while Sinner's Reward and Past Life were written by Tom Waltz. All comics were illustrated by various artists:
- Dying Inside (2004)
- Three Bloody Tales: (2005)
- Among the Damned (2004)
- Paint It Black (2005)
- The Grinning Man (2005)
- Hunger (2006)
- Dead/Alive (2006)
- Sinner's Reward (2008)
- Past Life (2010)
- Anne's Story (2014)
Dying Inside, Three Bloody Tales, and Dead/Alive were collected into a single trade paperback titled the Silent Hill Omnibus in 2008. In addition to its inclusion into the Omnibus, Dying Inside appeared alongside Hunger on the UMD The Silent Hill Experience.
Game/comic discrepancies
While the IDW comic books are based upon the video game series of Silent Hill, there are noticeable differences, not just with the town's aesthetic element, but also with its history and the nature of the forces at work in Silent Hill. This has led many fans to consider the Silent Hill in the comic books as existing in a different fictional universe, much like Silent Hill as it appears in the film.
Examples of such discrepancies include:
- In The Grinning Man, the Lakeview Hotel is actually not on Toluca Lake, as opposed to the Lakeview Hotel from Silent Hill 2.
- The comics tend to focus on its own collection of key characters, who have little or no connection to the key characters from the video game franchise, and no characters from the video games are physically introduced into the comics. Monsters, however, are generally based on their Konami counterparts.
- Locations borrowed from the games include the Lakeview Hotel, Brookhaven Hospital, the Lighthouse, and Pete's Bowl-O-Rama. As borrowed entities, the locations have had their attributes altered in order to better their purpose in the comic universe.
- While the catalyst for the town's increase in power in the video games was Alessa Gillespie's impregnation with the embryonic form of the Order's God through a ritual conducted by her mother, in Hunger the catalyst of the comic universe is the similar impregnation of a woman, through Whately.
Konami comics
All of the following are illustrated by Masahiro Ito, and both Cage of Cradle and Double Under Dusk were written by Hiroyuki Owaku:
- Cage of Cradle (2006)
- Double Under Dusk (2007)
- White Hunter (2008)
Reception
Scott Ciencin's comics, Dying Inside, Dead/Alive, Paint It Black, The Grinning Man, and Among the Damned received generally negative reviews from critics and fans. Hunger received more mixed reviews. Common criticism includes some of the art appearing to be lazily drawn and re-cycled, unrelatable characters, and convoluted plots with little connection to the games.
Tom Waltz's comics, Sinner's Reward and Past Life, which are more connected to the game series, gained generally more positive reviews.
| IDW Publishing comics | |
|---|---|
| Dying Inside | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 |
| Among the Damned | One-shot issue |
| Paint It Black | One-shot issue |
| The Grinning Man | One-shot issue |
| Hunger | Released on UMD |
| Dead/Alive | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 |
| Sinner's Reward | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 |
| Past Life | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 |
| Anne's Story | 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 |
| Masahiro Ito comics | |
| Cage of Cradle | Released in Japan only |
| Double Under Dusk | Released in Japan only |
| White Hunter | Released in Japan only |