My Brother's Blood Machine (comic)

## *My Brother's Blood Machine*

The cover of the 1st Volume of the comic.

***My Brother's Blood Machine*** is a comic created by Claudio Sanchez, written by Steve Niles, and illustrated by Andrew Ritchie. It was published by Evil Ink in 2022. It is technically connected to *The Amory Wars*.

## Plot Summary

Spoiler Alert!The following page/section contains many spoilers.We recommend checking the corresponding album page to read a spoiler-free version of the plot summary. Please continue at your own risk.
Margretville is preparing for its annual Jubilee. The citizens bustle about their small town in anticipation of the big event, even as they cast nervous glances towards the shadows. An unsolved missing persons case has been troubling the normally quite town. The secrets of Margretville run deep, and as police begin an investigation into their only witness-turned-suspect to stifle the small-town gossip, they stumble into something far more disturbing looming beneath the surface...

Our story starts on March 15th, 1968 in the town of Margretville, the day before their annual jubilee. Cecilia McCloud goes to McCloud Motors to deliver lunch to her stepfather, Arthur McCloud, who owns the place. She stops briefly to talk to Moses Early, a mechanic who works for him, before he is called into see Arthur. He leaves work after speaking with him and Cecilia goes in to drop the lunch off. Arthur lingers a little too long on Cecilia's hand and she runs off quickly. Meanwhile, an unknown figure wanders through the Anderback Woods as another figure with its head bashed in is thrown into a bloody pit with other bodies in varying states of decay.

After school, Cecilia's boyfriend, Glen, calls out to her and the two walk home together discussing the jubilee and Cecilia expresses the desire to run away, but Glen seems reluctant. They then discuss the rumors of some mutated hillbillies that supposedly live in the Anderback Woods and will eat children that wander in. Glen gives Cecilia an old locket he bought at a pawnshop and they part ways. Elsewhere, beekeeper Wayne Andrews is sliced nearly in half. Back in the McCloud home, Arthur asks Cecilia to pass the meat, but she ignores him. Her mother Martha, asks for help with the jubilee, but Cecilia deflects. When asked what people will think if she doesn't help, she replies that she doesn't give a damn, prompting Arthur to furiously demand she go to her room.

In some caves, the body of Wayne is dragged by Long-Arm Bleam as his brother, Butchie rides his left shoulder through. They come upon an elaborate contraption they call "the machine" and "almost feel *his* gratitude" as they shove the body into a coffin portion in the front. Long-Arm then pulls a chain and the machine whirrs into action.

Back home, Cecilia takes a shower and cuts herself on accident while shaving her legs. When she leaves the bathroom, she catches Arthur staring at her and quickly makes her way to her room to shut and lock her door. Later, reading in the dark late at night fully clothed, she hears a rattling of her door and decides to slip out her window with a prepacked bag.

The cops are still investigating the disappearance of Victor Fontana and reveal more info on how Fontana gave Gunner Recall his jacket and walked into the woods. Recall heard a shot later on and went to check on him, but claimed he saw a hulking, two-headed figure taking Fontana's body away. The cops all laugh at the account, but the head detective says they should make sure and organizes a search through the woods for the same day as the Jubilee.

Martha catches Arthur trying to break into Cecilia's room and tells him to come to bed. Cecilia makes her way to Glen's house where she tells him she's running away without saying exactly why. Glen quickly packs a bag and the two head into the Anderback Woods. The two share a joint as they trek through the woods, which Cecilia later remarks may have been a bad idea. Glen is yanked off his feet by Long-Arm and Cecilia is shocked, tripping over a branch and being knocked out and dragged away.

The next day, Cecilia is found out though Arthur tells Martha she must have left for school early, says he'll deal with it later that evening. Meanwhile, Cecilia comes to in the Bleam's cave where she hears Glen crying out, but before she can get up and look, Butchie covers her face with a cloth (presumably chloroform) and she falls unconscious again.

Back at the McCloud home, Martha sees Sally, Glen's mom who tells her he wasn't in school and wanted to talk to Cecilia about it, but Martha says she hadn't see her either. The cops pick up Gunner to have him help search the woods. Later, the Jubilee is in full swing as the sun sets and the cops comb the forest... Meanwhile, Cecilia regains consciousness and finds that Glen has been beheaded and Butchie is playing around with his head while Long-Arm sharpens his elaborate multifaced weapon. Butchie tosses Glen's head and tells Cecilia about digging under the church and finding the congregation giving money to God as a way to appease him. So they decide to give God the lives of those same people in the hopes that he will give them reprieve from their "curse"—their mutation which causes them much pain.

Cecilia pleads for her life, but it seems like Butchie won't hear of it. He opens the Blood Machine and the remains of Wayne Andrews spills out. Butchie goes to dump the body and Long-Arm is moved by her tears, reminding him of their "mother" or a woman who calls herself "mommy." He frees Cecilia just as Butchie comes running in warning him that the cops may have found them. We then see that the cops have indeed found some kind of hatch in the ground. Hearing the cops breaking down the hatch several levels up, the brothers decide this must be a sign from God that they are to reveal themselves to the people of Margretville and bust out of the hole under the hatch, destroying the bodies of the cops; Long-Arm uses his constructed weapon and Butchie uses a flail.

Meanwhile, Cecilia made it to the Jubilee just as Arthur is set to speak about his relationship with the town. She interrupts him, takes the stage and completely outs how he sexually abused her for years. Before the crowd can really react, the Bleams show up and continue slaughtering people, including Arthur. Cecilia manages to escape as pandemonium takes over the crowd. More police show up but they are helpless to stop the brothers and they continue to pursue Cecilia. Cecilia runs to Moses Early's house where she tells him everything she's gone through and Early confesses that he knows all about the brothers, that the Bleam Family inhabited the Stevenson Farm after the owner passed away. He says that Amanda Bleam was mentally unstable prior to having the boys, and was really into occult. When they were born, they were already deformed and Amanda's husband left her. Early wasn't sure how true it all was, but he did happen upon the boys and fed them. One day he entered their home and saw the mother altering them by affixing braces and such on them. He reported her to the police, but by the time they got there, the place was a mess and the family was gone. Just as Early finishes the story and reassuring Cecilia that she's safe, the brothers burst through the door.

Though the Bleams recognize Early, Early picks up a fireplace poker and tells them to leave, but Long Arm is able to catch him by the head and he tells Cecilia to run, which she does. She gets in Early's pickup truck and finds the keys in the sun visor. As she drives out, she sees Gunner Recall who wants to help. Hysterical at all that she's witnessed, she begins rattling off ideas about what they should do, but is peeved by Recall's nonchalance. He tells her he only wants to destroy the brothers since they killed Fontane, the only person who was ever nice to him. The pair arrive to the Bleam's hideout and douse it in gas but as they're leaving, Recall is caught by Long-Arm and shoved into the machine. Barely making it to relative safety, Cecilia sparks a lighter and throws it down the hatch to blow the hideout up. She's brought home where her mother apologizes to her, but she only wants to know that her brothers are safe. Martha tells her that they're upstairs with the babysitter, but when they go up to check on them, the babysitter is killed by the window, the boys are gone, and a giant bloody handprint is on the wall. Cecilia collapses and has a crazed, almost off-kilter happy look on her face.

## Publication History

Teased as far back as 2020, an ashcan was published in 2022 and sold at SDCC. The first issue was released on December 14, 2022, with subsequent issues released monthly thereafter. It was distributed through Diamond Comics. A volume collecting all 6 issues, a clean cover gallery, and more is being released October 25, 2023.

The Evil Ink website offered a limited Variant Cover subscription service in which readers prepaid for all 6 issues ahead of time and the shipping, but would receive not only an exclusive variant cover but specialized tarot card drawn by the comic artist Andrew Ricthie. The first card in the first issue was also signed by Sanchez. This service was limited to 1000. There was also special editions released by Revolver and Jetpack Comics (see variants below).

The collected volume was released as a paperback volume on October 2023. If ordered September 6, a signed print would be included in the order.

### Creative Team

Steve Niles is a comic writer best known for *30 Days of Night*, and *Batman: Gotham County Line* and is prominent in the horror comic sphere.

Andrew Ritchie is a comic artist and freelance illustrator. He has drawn for not only comics, but also books, rock bands, and "monster models" (presumably, concept art for monsters). He has worked with Niles on *Pieces for Mom: A Tale of the Undead*, helped with panels and covers for *Cthulhu Tales*, worked on *Necronomicon*, *Fall of Cthulhu* (which received high-acclaim), and has done much artwork for White Wolf Publishing (the original makers of *Vampire: The Masquerade*, and *Wraith: The Oblivion*, among others). Ritchie was recommended to Sanchez by illustrator Jared Cody Wolf whom he played D&D with over the pandemic.

Adam Metcalfe has colored for the *Sons of Anarchy* comic series, and most notably did the coloring for Evil Ink's own Translucid.

## Album Comparison

> Main article: My Brother's Blood Machine (album)

*To be added...*

## Trivia

* The title of this arc is also a lyric in "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3".

## Gallery

Ashcan CoverNYCC Ashcan CoverFirst Issue#1 Evil Ink Variant by Nat Jones#1 Revolver Variant by Christian DiBari#1 Jetpack Variant by Vero StewartSecond Issue#2 Evil Ink Variant by Conor Nolan#2 Revolver Variant by Gavin Fullerton#2 Jetpack Variant by Vero StewartThird Issue#3 Evil Ink Variant by Kelly Williams#3 Revolver Variant by Nat Jones#3 Jetpack Variant by Vero StewartFourth Issue#4 Evil Ink Variant by Johnny Wise#4 Revolver Variant by Damien Worm#4 Jetpack Variant by Vero StewartFifth Issue#5 Evil Ink Variant by Sam Wolfe Connelly#5 Revolver Variant by MJ Hiblen#5 Jetpack Variant by Vero Stewart#5 Van's CCG Variant by Jason TurnerSixth Issue#6 Evil Ink Variant by Gyula Nemeth#6 Revolver Variant by Aluisio Cervelle Santos#6 Jetpack Variant by Vero StewartThe Collected VolumeThe Collected Volume Variant by Vero Stewart
## References

1. ↑ Sanchez, Claudio and Steve Niles. *My Brother's Blood Machine*. Issue 1. Evil Ink, 2022.
2. ↑ Sanchez, Claudio and Steve Niles. *My Brother's Blood Machine*. Issue 2. Evil Ink, 2022.
3. ↑ Sanchez, Claudio and Steve Niles. *My Brother's Blood Machine*. Issue 3. Evil Ink, 2023.
4. ↑ Sanchez, Claudio and Steve Niles. *My Brother's Blood Machine*. Issue 4. Evil Ink, 2023.
5. ↑ Sanchez, Claudio and Steve Niles. *My Brother's Blood Machine*. Issue 5. Evil Ink, 2023.
6. ↑ Sanchez, Claudio and Steve Niles. *My Brother's Blood Machine*. Issue 6. Evil Ink, 2023.
7. ↑ https://twitter.com/EvilInkComics/status/1572616867700965376
8. ↑ https://bloody-disgusting.com/comics/3732767/my-brothers-blood-machine-coheed-and-cambrias-claudio-sanchez-releasing-new-horror-comic/
9. ↑ https://twitter.com/EvilInkComics/status/1682840082636480514
10. ↑ https://twitter.com/EvilInkComics/status/1597605024191881217
11. ↑ https://evilink.merchnow.com/products/v2/345780/blood-machine-variant-only-subscription
12. ↑ https://twitter.com/EvilInkComics/status/1682840082636480514
13. ↑ https://twitter.com/EvilInkComics/status/1696962366036918459
14. ↑ https://www.comicsxf.com/2022/09/21/claudio-sanchez-is-assembling-an-abomination-in-my-brothers-blood-machine/
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 https://web.archive.org/web/20221031161955/https://evilink.merchnow.com/products/v2/345780/blood-machine-variant-only-subscription
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 https://twitter.com/MsTrainwreck/status/1658985086178537472?s=20
17. ↑ https://shop.revolvermag.com/products/my-brother-s-blood-machine-issue-1-of-6-revolver-exclusive-variant-cover
18. ↑ https://jetpackcomics.com/product/my-brothers-blood-machine-1-vero-stewart-jetpack-exclusive-cover/
19. ↑ https://shop.revolvermag.com/products/my-brother-s-blood-machine-by-claudio-sanchez-comic-book-issue-2-of-6-exclusive-cover?variant=39863989764190
20. ↑ https://jetpackcomics.com/product/my-brothers-blood-machine-2-vero-stewart-jetpack-exclusive-cover/
21. ↑ https://shop.revolvermag.com/products/my-brother-s-blood-machine-by-claudio-sanchez-comic-book-issue-3-of-6-exclusive-cover?\_pos=3&\_sid=865bf9b9e&\_ss=r
22. ↑ https://jetpackcomics.com/product/my-brothers-blood-machine-3-vero-stewart-jetpack-exclusive-cover/
23. ↑ https://shop.revolvermag.com/collections/my-brothers-bloodmachine/products/my-brother-s-blood-machine-by-claudio-sanchez-comic-book-issue-4-of-6-exclusive-cover
24. ↑ https://jetpackcomics.com/product/my-brothers-blood-machine-4-vero-stewart-jetpack-comics-exclusive-ships-3-14/
25. ↑ https://shop.revolvermag.com/products/my-brother-s-blood-machine-by-claudio-sanchez-comic-book-issue-5-of-6-exclusive-cover
26. ↑ https://jetpackcomics.com/product/my-brothers-blood-machine-5vero-stewart-jetpack-comics-exclusive-ships-4-12/
27. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CrMEXcyuaPV/
28. ↑ https://twitter.com/EvilInkComics/status/1680375253468364801
29. ↑ https://shop.revolvermag.com/collections/my-brothers-bloodmachine/products/my-brother-s-blood-machine-by-claudio-sanchez-comic-book-issue-6-of-6-exclusive-cover
30. ↑ https://jetpackcomics.com/product/my-brothers-blood-machine-6-vero-stewart-jetpack-comics-exclusive-ships-week-of-5-29/
31. ↑ https://jetpackcomics.com/product/my-brothers-blood-machine-vero-stewart-ltd-excl-trade-ships-11-1-23/