James Tynion IV’s Exquisite Corpses comic has a murderous companion TCG

The hook of Beautiful Corpses — an enormous new collaboration from 10 heavy-hitting horror comics creators — is that the residents of Oak Valley, Maine, should band collectively when the richest households in America drop 12 of “the deadliest individuals on the planet” into their city for a one-night-only, last-man-standing free-for-all to the demise.

However whereas the comedian sequence follows these harmless residents, Beautiful Corpses: The Recreation, developed by artist Michael Walsh (The Silver Coin, two dozen Magic: The Gathering card illustrations), places gamers within the sneakers of their favourite killer from the sequence, in “a combination between aggressive buying and selling card video games like Magic: The Gathering and informal celebration video games like Final Werewolf,” in keeping with a information launch from Tiny Onion Studios.

Beautiful Corpses: The Recreation received’t launch till Beautiful Corpses has completed its first 13-issue season — that’s, no sooner than the again half of 2026. However, Polygon can solely reveal, readers and gamers can begin getting their palms on the sport’s playing cards this Could, when some variant copies of Beautiful Corpses #1 will include a random card.

The comedian itself is the brainchild of Walsh and author James Tynion IV (Batman, One thing Is Killing the Youngsters), who envisioned it as a strategy to convey the collaborative writers room of a Marvel or DC Comics crossover to bear on an unique horror idea. Walsh and Tynion developed the “bible” of the sequence, then invited fellow comics creators Valentine De Landro (Bitch Planet), Becca Carey (Absolute Marvel Girl), Adam Gorham (Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant), Gavin Fullerton (Bathroom Our bodies), Jordie Bellaire (Birds of Prey), Pornsak Pichetshote (The Good Asian), Tyler Boss (The Division of Fact), Che Grayson (Batman: City Legends), Claire Roe (Darkish Areas: The Hollywood Particular), and Marianna Ignazzi (Catwoman) to nail down the story and craft its 13 points.

Because the official abstract of Beautiful Corpses #1 places it:

Each 5 years on Halloween, the wealthiest households in America play a recreation. Twelve of the deadliest individuals on the planet are dropped right into a small city with only one aim: final killer standing wins. For the residents of Oak Valley, Maine — this 12 months’s unfortunate area — the aim is way less complicated. They have to survive the evening.

Beautiful Corpses: The Recreation started with Walsh drawing out the comedian’s assortment of serial killers and assassins onto dry-erase playing cards proper within the first growth conferences — work that changed into a card recreation the entire staff would play once they obtained collectively.

“Gameplay has been proper on the heart of the event of this mission from my first dialog with Walsh,” Tynion informed Polygon through e-mail. “On the coronary heart of the story idea is a brutal, bloody recreation that these rich households play, pitting these harmful killers in opposition to one another. We knew that we wished to offer our readers a strategy to play alongside, and fortunately Michael’s expertise and affinity for the tabletop recreation world meant that his mind was cooking from go on tips on how to construct this. We didn’t must exit and seek out a staff to assist us design this recreation — we constructed it collectively, proper alongside the comedian ebook.”

“Beautiful Corpses: The Recreation is an easy-to-learn social technique card recreation,” Walsh informed Polygon through e-mail. “You get to play as your favourite killer, make alliances… after which break them, as you rack up your kill rely utilizing the distinctive expertise of your chosen killer. I wished readers to expertise the story of Beautiful Corpses in a model new means, the place they resolve who lives, who dies, and who wins.” Walsh has been playtesting the sport with a devoted group since 2024, in keeping with Tiny Onion’s information launch, and desires the sport to be a straightforward factor to select up and play at a celebration, however “exhausting to place down.”

Beautiful Corpses the comedian kicks off on Could 14 with the primary 60-page challenge of its first season. Beautiful Corpses: The Recreation, nevertheless, is at present set to be launched “after the primary season of the comedian sequence finishes,” in keeping with Tiny Onion’s information launch. However there’s nonetheless a strategy to get its deliberate 12 killer playing cards: For $2 extra, followers can seize the polybagged Cowl C variant of the difficulty, which can embrace one random killer card.

“If readers are selecting up the Cowl C variants,” Tynion mentioned within the information launch, “they may have the ability to begin enjoying a streamlined model of the sport because the sequence releases.”

You possibly can try two of these killer playing cards — together with Michael Walsh’s Cowl C variant cowl artwork — beneath, of the Fox Masks Killer and Leopold Sturdy.