IDW shares exclusive artwork from writer Scott Snyder's new anthology series Dark Spaces

Writer Scott Snyder’s run on Batman with artist Greg Capullo was one of the unequivocal success stories of DC Comics’ otherwise hit-and-miss New 52 initiative (to say nothing of the recent multiverse-rebooting event Dark Knights: Death Metal, which was a blast), and it opened the door for him to take on a series of acclaimed—and frequently spooky—creator-owned comics like Wytches, The Wake, A.D., and Undiscovered Country. Now, thanks to publisher IDW, Snyder is getting his very own anthology series for frequently spooky stories called Dark Spaces.

Here’s the official pitch for the series from IDW:

Desperate people, desperate situations. In Dark Spaces, Snyder explores the decisions made—and irreversible actions taken—when the walls are closing in, when knuckles are white and teeth are bared. Each character-driven entry in the Dark Spaces series is a fully contained, standalone story featuring a different up-and-coming artist, handpicked by the acclaimed author himself. Further championing the new generation of comic creators, Snyder will curate future projects fitting the Dark Spaces theme from promising young writers.

The first Dark Spaces story will be a five-part heist thriller called Wildfire, focusing on a group of women let out of prison as part of an inmate firefighting program. When one of them realizes they’re close to an abandoned, loot-filled mansion, she pitches that they abandon their job and pull off a heist. Then, as a press release explains, “the team must decide if they’re ready to jeopardize their one sure path back to normalcy for a score that would truly change their lives… but is this a flicker of fortune or a deadly trap?” You can see exclusive art from Dark Spaces: Wildfire throughout this post.

In a statement, Snyder said he “wanted to do something different” with Dark Spaces. “This is a chance to tell dark, grounded, character-driven stories that are totally unique,” he said, adding, “I wanted this to be a book where I could collaborate with a terrific up-and-coming talent like Hayden [Sherman].”

Snyder went on to say, “It was also important to me to be able to hold the door open for even more new writers and artists. That’s why Dark Spaces: Wildfire is its own story, but will also mark the beginning of a line of new books featuring other writers and artists curated by me. Mark Doyle and IDW saw the vision and have been amazing partners in helping me build this space.”

Wildfire will be drawn by artist Hayden Sherman, who previously worked on The Few, Wasted Space, Thumbs, and Old Man Logan. In a statement, they said Wildfire is a “remarkable book” and that working with Snyder “continues to be a joy.”

Dark Spaces: Wildfire will be published from July through November, with various cover variants available from artists like Andrea Sorrentino, Liana Kangas, and Tula Lotay. Future Dark Spaces stories will start to come in 2023, and they’ll also be written by Snyder with other exciting new artists. As he noted in his statement, Snyder will also be curating this new line of books at IDW with hand-picked creative teams of up-and-coming writers and artists.