The Bone Orchard Mythos

***The Bone Orchard Mythos*** is a 2022 comicbook series created by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, published by Image Comics. It is a series of standalone horror stories in various formats that exist in a shared universe.

## Publication history

### Announcement

Throughout October, Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino teased an announcement coming. On Halloween, Image Comics revealed a trailer for *The Bone Orchard Mythos* followed by a full press release a few days later.

In the initial announcement, three titles were revealed: *The Passageway*, *Ten Thousand Black Feathers*, and *Tenement*. An additional story, to come out as a part of Free Comic Book Day, was mentioned in a follow-up post in Lemire's Substack newsletter. Lemire stressed this new project would not be connected to either *Gideon Falls* or *Primordial*, but was a new thing all on its own. Unlike *The World of Black Hammer*, *The Bone Orchard Mythos* universe will not have a "main" story with spinoffs constructed around it, nor will there be guest artists on the comic. The creative team will be the same for the entire series with Jeff Lemire writing, Andrea Sorrentino illustrating, Dave Stewart coloring, Steve Wands lettering, and Greg Lockard editing.

### Promotional images gallery

*The Bone Orchard Mythos* publishing schedule at announcement*The Bone Orchard Mythos* publishing schedule as of Halloween 2022
### *The Bone Orchard Mythos* stories

* ***Shadow Eater*:** a Free Comic Book Day one-shot, published May 7, 2022
* ***The Passageway*:** an original graphic novel (OGN), published June 15, 2022
* ***Ten Thousand Black Feathers*:** a five-issue miniseries, published from September 14, 2022 to January 11, 2023
* ***Tenement*:** a ten-issue miniseries, published from June 21, 2023 to 2024
* ***Starseed*:** an OGN scheduled for late 2024

## Inspiration and process

The initial idea for *The Bone Orchard Mythos* came from Andrea Sorrentino, who wanted to create smaller, self-contained stories operate on an expansive canvas, similar to H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. He wanted the freedom to do a stories in various formats and experiment with the visual style, and he wanted to do something dark and horror-focused. Jeff Lemire was initially intimidated by the idea, but was convinced as Sorrentino kept sending him emails about it—ideas began to take root as connections between stories formed. Both creators felt it was essential that the stories of *The Bone Orchard Mythos* could be read in any order and still make sense. The connections between the stories are not designed to be an essential part of the experience, but rather an additional feature for dedicated readers.

Lemire has mentioned that he generally works two years ahead of publication. In May 2022, he was already at work on the sixth *Boneyard Orchard* book. Sorrentino is given free rein to expand or compress the script as he lays out pages, with Lemire remarking that sometimes he gets pages back with things in them he didn't expect at all. This looseness in their collaborations has led to some of their best best work.

Lemire has said he is not a fan of horror, but finds it cathartic to write horror. Sorrentino, however, feels very passionately about the horror genre and it is the genre he feels most comfortable working in. He grew up reading Bram Stoker's *Dracula* and H.P. Lovecraft, and horror both inspired and compliments his art style. Both Lemire and Sorrentino has expressed a dislike for splatter and gore horror, and want to express existential horror and character-driven horror in their work. Lemire believes part of the reason he and Sorrentino work so well together is their differing interests. Lemire is inspired by the works of David Lynch in how he approaches stories, but he notes Sorrentino is not a fan of Lynch, and Sorrentino brings in influences he is not familiar with. Sorrentino wanted the series to be flexible, able to blend with other genres and with a chronological canvas that could potentially span from the origin of the species to the far future. He did not want to be locked into a single visual style, and actively pursued story ideas that would give him opportunities to experiment.

Lemire and Sorrentino have fully fleshed out the mythology that underpins the *The Bone Orchard Mythos* universe, but they will not reveal it to readers, preferring instead to imply to foster a deeper engagement with the work. They are very careful in finding a delicate balance between giving readers too much or too little.

## Collections

Though *The Bone Orchard Mythos* will be coming out initially in various formats, Lemire has stressed that everything will be collected in a unified hardcover library.

 *Ten Thousand Black Feathers* |  |  | May 10, 2023 (comic book stores)May 16, 2023 (book stores)
 *Tenement* |  |  | Scheduled forJuly 2, 2024 (book stores)

## Foreign editions

### *Mitos del huerto de los huesos* (Spanish)

*Mitos del huerto de los huesos* (*Myths of the Garden of Bones*) is published by Astiberri Ediciones with translations by Santiago Garcia.

 *Diez mil plumas negras*(*Ten Thousand Black Feathers*) |  | November 16, 2023

### *Le mythe de l’ossuaire* (French)

*Le mythe de l’ossuaire* (*The Myth of the Ossuary*) is published by Urban Comics with translations by Benjamin Rivière. *Le mythe de l’ossuaire* is printed at bande dessinée size (approximately 21 x 32 cm / 8⅜ x 12⅝ inches), significantly larger than the English editions.

* *The Passageway*
 *Des milliers de plumes noires*(*Thousands of Black Feathers*) |  | April 21, 2023

### *Il Mito del Fruttete di Ossa* (Italian)

*Il Mito del Fruttete di Ossa* (*The Myth of the Bone Orchard*) is published by Bao Publishing with translations by Leonardo Favia.

### *Bone Orchard Mythos* (German)

*Bone Orchard Mythos* is published by Splitter Verlag with translations by Bernd Kronsbein.

 *Zehntausend schwarze Federn*(*Ten Thousand Black Feathers*) |  | September 20, 2023

## References

1. ↑ Jeff Lemire's Twitter "10.31.2021"
2. ↑ Andrea Sorrentino's Twitter "10.31.2021"
3. ↑ *The Bone Orchard Mythos* announcement
4. ↑ *The Bone Orchard Mythos* with Andrea Sorrentino
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Tales from the Farm: Everything You Need to Know About *The Bone Orchard Mythos*!
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Book Couples Counseling Podcast: Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino on *The Bone Orchard Mythos*
7. ↑ Felicitations!: Interview with Jeff Lemire
8. ↑ Word Balloon: Jeff Lemire Talks Black Hammer and New Creator Owned Projects
9. ↑ Afterword in *The Bone Orchard Mythos: Prelude*
10. ↑ BONE ORCHARD: THE PASSAGEWAY OGN HC
11. ↑ *El pasadizo*
12. ↑ *Diez mil plumas negras*
13. ↑ *Le passage*
14. ↑ *Des milliers de plumes noires*
15. ↑ *Il Passaggio*
16. ↑ *Die Passage*
17. ↑ *Zehntausend schwarze Federn*