Punching nazis will never go out of style. Punching supernatural eldritch horror nazis? Totally in the zeitgeist and it’s going to be a long 2025. Comic creators Shannon Eric Denton and David Hartman give us a leg — or tentacle — up on that with Kraken, a new Monster Forge Productions graphic novel coming from Titan Comics in September 2025.
In this case Kraken isn’t a what, he’s a who. A supernatural adventurer in an alternate 1930s, he’s just returned from a three-year journey to stop an invasion of nazis from beyond. Mixing Lovecraftian horror with more straightforward pulp adventure, Kraken seems to hold mysteries and most of the things I love in comics. Knowing Denton, Kraken will feel like Doc Savage and The Shadow combined with tentacles, and I’m here for it.
A frequent collaborator with Rob Zombie and a horror director in his own right, Hartman brings a fun monster sensibility with an animator’s eye. (Both he and Denton have worked extensively in animation.) Both Denton and Hartman are key players in Monster Forge Productions, which we’ve covered many a time. It’s a label that hasn’t let me down yet. Plus… check out the page featuring a monkey with a gun. Are you not entertained?
Titan provided this synopsis:
After disappearing for three years, esteemed adventurer Kraken returns to reality in search of allies to stop an evil sorceress from unleashing a horde of eldritch monsters on the world. Armed with a pistol and supernatural tentacles, the Kraken is loose!
Set in a reimagined 1930s backdrop and filled with occult powers, hidden artefacts and sentient talking skulls, Kraken fills your appetite for the supernatural unlike any other.
Don’t just take Titan’s word or mine for it, because outside of this preview art Titan provided, I haven’t read the book. Listen to these experts:
“Shannon Eric Denton spins an insane ripping yarn that will leave you wanting more Kraken in your life! The pages explode with an overload of monsters, nazis and pirates in the true David Hartman style! Brockmolla!” Rob Zombie (Devil’s Rejects, Halloween)
“Like a mash-up of Lovecraft and Indiana Jones, Kraken is a two-fisted horror tale that will delight. Hartman and Denton have created an epic graphic novel which will be (hopefully) the first of many.” Don Coscarelli (Phantasm, Bubba Ho-tep, The Beastmaster)
“Dastardly and long-extinct Golden Age villains are turning in their four-color newsprint graves as Denton and Hartman slouch, slither and shoot their way into the ranks of neo-monster comics madness with the horror-heroic debut of KRAKEN!” Dan Brereton (Nocturnals, Giantkiller)
As if that weren’t enough, Kraken boasts a variant cover by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. This has visions of a Kraken/Lobster Johnson team-up dancing in my head.
It’s 112 pages of bloody good action for $17.99, landing in comic shops September 30, 2025.
