Acclaimed Dead By Daylight Is Coming Back With Another Horrifying Story

4 weeks ago 29

John Dodge is an MTV Writer for CBR who specializes in movies, television, comics, and pop culture. He has a deep knowledge of franchises like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Marvel, and DC Comics, along with a passion for indie and horror titles. An expert on obscure productions from the ’80s and ’90s, John is known for his encyclopedic recall of cult classics like Beetleborgs.

Dead by Daylight fans are about to get a glimpse into the origins of one of the game's original Killers, and it might be his most brutal outing yet.

Per a press release from Titan Comics, the publisher is set to release yet another comic book set in the world of the bloodiest asymmetric horror game of all time. Written by Batman: Arkham City scribe Derek Fridolfs with illustrations by Black Hammer artist Dean Kotz and colors by Corvus' Allison Hu, Dead by Daylight: The Hillbilly #1 will give readers a deeper look into the early life of its eponymous slasher than fans have ever seen before.

Dead by Daylight: The Hillbilly #1

Written by DEREK FRIDOLFS
Art by DEAN KOTZ
Colors by ALLISON HU
Main cover art by ALEX HORLEY

Titan Comics editor Phoebe Hedges opened up about the series, noting, "It's been so exciting to work on The Hillbilly. Dead by Daylight is a rich tapestry of stories and this is something we've worked hard to reflect in the comic series. I'm so proud of what the team have created, and can safely say you'll never know what to predict with a new Dead by Daylight comic."

Developed by Behaviour Interactive, Dead by Daylight was released back in 2016 and introduced gamers to a new kind of horror experience. The game drops players into the role of either a Killer or one of several Survivors, the latter of whom must band together to make it out alive before they are cut down in gruesome fashion or left hanging on a meathook to rot.

At its outset, Dead by Daylight offered players three different Killers to choose from, including the Hillbilly, the Trapper, and the Wraith. Since then, the game has added dozens of other Killers and Survivors to its roster of playable characters, ranging from original creations like Deathslinger and the Blight to pop culture mainstays like Five Nights at Freddy's' Springtrap, Resident Evil's Nemesis, and even Nicolas Cage himself.

Back in 2023, the first issue of Titan Comics' Dead by Daylight: The Legion was released to the delight of fans everywhere. The four-issue miniseries charted the rise of the group of Killers known as Legion, from their early days as wayward teens looking to cause some trouble to their current existence as some of the most cold-blooded slashers to ever grace the Entity's gore-soaked purgatory.

While it might surprise some fans to see Dead by Daylight stepping back into the world of comics, the connections between the two continue to grow with each new update to the game. In early 2025, manga legend and horror luminary Junji Ito opened up about seeing his iconic creations such as fan-favorite Tomie make their way into the game.

"The characters I created become killers and do some very horrible things in the game," Ito said at the time. "It was very moving to see that they had become even more terrifying characters after leaving my hands." Ito went on to state that Tomie turned out "quite pretty" in the game, while his character Fuchi was "perfect" in her translation to a video game setting.