Lab Press

Creative Team

• A/CAAndrea Mutti
• WBrandon Auman

Description

Presenting the award-winning, critically acclaimed original graphic novel from The Lab Press — now in The Lab Portable™ Edition! Adapted from the previously published premium hardcover slipcase edition, The Lab Portable™ Edition offers this complete, unabridged graphic novel in a smaller, paperback format—the same acclaimed story and artwork, now more accessible than ever. Praised by Kirkus Reviews as "richly imagined and illustrated, a splendidly dark ode to RPGs and classic horror tales," and by Feathered Quill for delivering "action, suspense, and vivid graphics that make the story come alive," Creatures & Corridors also earned the coveted Notable Book designation by BlueInk Reviews. When the line between player and character disappears, a group of friends must face the consequences of the game they started. In the summer of 1992, a forbidden role-playing game, Creatures & Corridors, takes a dark turn for five high schoolers, warping reality into a nightmarish fantasy. With orcs, tentacled horrors, and deadly traps, their living room, yard, and basement become a battleground. Now, they must navigate the game's perilous challenges, playing for their lives under the sinister scrutiny of a devilish Gamemaster. Blending fantasy, horror, and tabletop RPG storytelling, Creatures & Corridors explores what happens when survival becomes part of the story.

Creative Team

• AVarious
• WLuke Arnold Chris Doc Wyatt
• CAJason Howard

Description

Presenting the very first original graphic novel from The Lab Press, now in The Lab Portable™ Edition! Adapted from the previously published premium hardcover slipcase edition, The Lab Portable™ Edition offers this complete, unabridged graphic novel in a smaller, paperback format—the same acclaimed story and artwork, now more accessible than ever. The Lab Press's debut publication, Essentials Vol. 1 won the IBPA's Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book, along with several other indie publishing honors. Printed Word Reviews called it "a mission statement for what high-tier independent comics can achieve," while Kirkus Reviews praised it as "a lively and richly entertaining adventure into alternate realities." In a world shaped by human minds, the greatest threat is what we refuse to face. Earth has collided with an alien dimension. Reality is no longer stable—it fractures, reshapes, and bends to the minds of the few survivors left behind. Essentials Vol. 1 follows scientist Harris Pax as he navigates a world where human thought creates entire realities, and survival depends on confronting the illusions people build to avoid the truth. With the help of two alien "guides"—Buttons, inhabiting a dead woman's body, and Cog, trapped in a toy robot—Harris races to find survivors before the same forces that shaped their worlds destroy them. Blending large-scale science fiction with psychological and philosophical stakes, Essentials explores what remains of identity, truth, and meaning when reality itself can no longer be trusted. Glenn Fabry, Jason Howard, Vince Locke, DaNi, Andrea Mutti, and M.K. Perker