For all the times that people have told Seth MacFarlane to go to Hell, he’s finally making the journey. MacFarlane is adapting The Shrouded College comic book series for television after Fuzzy Door and UCP acquired the rights. Created by Charles Soule (Strange Attractors, She-Hulk, Curse Words) and Will Sliney (Fearless Defenders, Spider-Man 2099, The Superior Foes of Spider-Man), The Shrouded College series is an interconnected set of seven adventure-horror stories. Image Comics will publish the overarching story over several years. The first arc of the story, Hell to Pay, was published by Image Comics in November. The second arc, The Bloody Dozen, will be published in late 2023.
Here’s the official synopsis for Hell to Pay from ImageComics.com:
The Shrouded College will give you magic… but you’ll incur a debt. Until it’s paid, you belong to them. Married couple Maia and Sebastian Stone took that deal. They have worked for the College ever since, using their new abilities to track down 666 cursed coins: qurrakh… aka the Devil’s Dollar. Only a few remain. The Stones are almost free… but the devil’s in the details. Hellboy meets Indiana Jones in this supernatural adventure from Charles Soule (Eight Billion Genies Undiscovered Country) and Will Sliney (Spider-Man).
When told together, Deadline‘s exclusive report says, “The Shrouded College tells the stories of various characters enlisted to become secret agents fighting a supernatural cold war on the side of the Shrouded College, a down-and-out organization on the edge of destruction.”
In addition to being the creators of The Shrouded College, Soule and Sliney will executive produce the project alongside MacFarlane, Erica Huggins, and Rachel Hargreaves-Heald for Fuzzy Door.
Soule is an attorney, musician, and masterclass comic book writer. He’s written great runs for Daredevil and She-Hulk and unleashed several exciting indie properties, including Letter 44, Strange Attractors, Eight Billion Genies, and more. Soule is also a Jedi Master in the art of writing various Star Wars comics, including runs for Darth Vader, Doctor Aphra, and more.
Sliney is an old friend of mine and an accomplished artist. He’s drawn pages for several high-quality comics, such as Marvel’s Fearless Defenders (my favorite), The Superior Foes of Spider-Man (one of the best Spider-Man spin-off comics), several stories in the Star Wars Universe, and more.
With years of content and stories planned, The Shrouded College could give us Hell for years. I can’t wait to check this out and look forward to hearing more as the project comes together.