J.M. DeMatteis: ‘The Excavator’—a woman is caught between supernatural forces

“We subvert a lot of expectations…”

With outstanding illustrations by Vassilis Gogtzilas, J.M. DeMatteis’s remarkable supernatural novella is a mind-warping voyage into terror and redemption.

Sandra Rosen awakens to find a mysterious boy standing at the foot of her bed. It is, she soon discovers, her son Henry—but she has no memory of his existence. A mind-hacker has excavated her psyche with surgical precision and now demands a ransom to replace the priceless memories he’s stolen.

This traumatic event is just the beginning of a journey that finds Sandra caught between two supernatural forces: the invader who defiled her mind and the FBI psychic who claims he can save her. But in the end, it’s Sandra herself who holds the key not just to her own salvation, but the Excavator’s as well.

“We subvert a lot of expectations about what the story is,” DeMatteis explained in an interview with podcast LRM. “About who our heroes are, and who our bad guys are. I’m a big Twilight Zone fan—I feel there’s a Twilight Zone element to this. I wouldn’t call it ‘horror,’ I like the phrase ‘supernatural thriller’ more. It’s more Sixth Sense than a horror movie.”

The Excavator
by J.M. DeMatteis (Author), Vassilis Gogtzilas (Illustrator)
NeoText
Category: Occult Horror

Buy The Excavator from Amazon

Monster Complex uses Amazon affiliate links.

About the author of The Excavator

Eisner Award winner J.M. DeMatteis was a professional musician and rock music, before launching a long career writing comic books, novels, television, and film. DeMatteis has written almost all of the major DC and Marvel icons—including memorable runs on Spider-Man and Justice League, as well as original graphic novels like Seekers Into The Mystery, Blood: A Tale, The Last One, and Mercy.

About the illustrator of The Excavator

Vassilis Gogtzilas is a comic book artist, painter and illustrator, who is best known for The Bigger Bang, which he illustrated and co-created with scriptwriter D.J. Kirkbride, and The Adventures of Augusta Wind, written by J.M. DeMatteis.

Sample art from The Excavator by illustrator Vassilis Gogtzilas


NOTE: DeMatteis is also launching four new comic book series on Kickstarter. Find out more here: Surprise! Four Secret Comics by JM DeMatteis (DeMultiverse)


Chris Well

Chris Well been a writer pretty much his entire life. (Well, since his childhood.) Over the years, he has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio, and books. He now is the chief of the website Monster Complex, celebrating monster stories in lit and pop culture. He also writes horror comedy fiction that embraces Universal Monsters, 1960s sitcoms, 1980s action movies, and the X-Files.

https://chriswell.substack.com/
Previous
Previous

Dark Corners Q&A: Universal’s Invisible Man—Horror’s Anti-Hero

Next
Next

Doctor Fate: His History Before Black Adam