Broken Frontier

An army determined to test its nuclear bombs in the New Mexico desert.  Decent folks driven off their land by any means necessary. Innocent lives lost and a desire for vengeance found.

Radioactive fallout that will make good people go very, very bad. What genetic mayhem will future generations endure? And how will they take their revenge on those who have turned them into killers? THE HILLS HAVE EYES: The Beginning (Fox Atomic Comics/ HarperCollins Publishers; On Sale: July 3, 2007; $17.99; Trade Paperback Original) delivers the gruesome answers in a riveting graphic novel by horrormeisters Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray.

Inspired by Wes Craven’s 2006 cult classic, The Hills Have Eyes, directed by Alexandre Aja, and its 2007 sequel, The Hills Have Eyes 2, this chilling, all-new morality play is also the second release in a dynamic collaboration between Fox Atomic Comics and HarperCollins. A can’t-miss combination of propulsive storytelling and eye-popping illustrations from the comic book world’s elite -- with art by John Higgins (Watchmen, Hellblazer) and a cover by Greg Staples -- this prequel serves up shocks and scares on every page.

THE HILLS HAVE EYES: The Beginning reveals for the first time the explosive history behind the big-screen franchise. The saga begins when the United States Army rolls into a small New Mexico town to conduct atomic testing and demands that its citizens clear out. But the descendents of Sawney Bean refuse to leave their land. That night, drunken soldiers led by Lieutenant Ryan pay a visit to the Bean homestead, and Mr. Bean is killed off in the scuffle.  A grieving Mrs. Bean vows to get even, masterminding an ambush on an army caravan.  The military sends in tanks to put down the uprising, and they slaughter the town’s men as the women and children flee. 

Lieutenant Ryan finds Mrs. Bean and blames her for all the carnage. He shoots her son in the heart and prepares to cut her up before his superior intercedes. But that’s not the end.  Mrs. Bean won’t let them get away with killing her family.  She turns revolutionary, making her way to the underground mines where she becomes the leader of a ragtag band of survivors. Outside, the army begins setting off their nuclear bombs.

Two years later, Mrs. Bean divulges a stunning secret: she’s pregnant, even though she hasn’t been with a man since her husband died.  After the army packs up and moves out, many leave the mine and resettle their town but they have no idea they have already been exposed to massive doses of poisonous radiation.
Before long, Mrs. Bean gives birth -- to a hybrid mutant creature she names Hades. The frightened townspeople give her a choice: leave at once or her freakish son will die.  She defeats the man responsible for turning everyone against her and returns to the mines.

Soon more infants like Hades are born, a devolving breed to replace the dying humans. Years pass.  With supplies and money running low, Mrs. Bean knows what she must do to protect her people.  She hatches a lucrative scheme with the local gas station owner to trap and kill any tourists who come along, resell their valuables and split the proceeds. Eventually the radiation gets to Mrs. Bean. Before dying, she makes Hades promise to continue her work and to stay away from the men and women above ground. 

But after her death, Hades learns the truth about his mother’s heroics and the townspeople’s betrayal, and he slays them all. Then things begin to go wrong – as shown in The Hills Have Eyes remake, an attack on some tourists backfires and for the first time there are survivors, who escape, unleashing the law upon Hades and his followers.   Inevitably, the ensuing battle escalates into a climactic showdown between the military and the mutants -- and between Hades and Ryan -- that has been looming for decades.  And this bloody confrontation can have only one outcome…

From cover to cover, THE HILLS HAVE EYES: The Beginning takes readers on a non-stop thrill ride into the dark recesses of human nature, one that will leave fans of the films and horror lovers alike shocked, disturbed – and eager for more.