Description

Stranger Things: The Other Side                                             Variant Trade Paperback
The Target Exclusive Variant Cover Edition with Bonus “Stranger Things” Sketchbook Section.  Awesome!!
Featuring a story based on Will’s unseen journey during season 1 of hit Netflix show Stranger Things.
Writer: Jody Houser
Artists: Stefano Martino & Aleksi Briclot
Inker: Keith Champagne
Colorist: Lauren Affe
Letterer: Nate Piekos of Blambot
Editors: Kevin Burkhalter, Konner Knudsen & Spencer Cushing
Variant Cover by: Greg Ruth

Stranger Things is an American science fiction horror drama television series created by the Duffer Brothers and streaming on Netflix. The series premiered on Netflix on July 15, 2016. Set in the 1980s in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, the first season focuses on the investigation into the disappearance of a young boy (Will Byers) amid supernatural events occurring around the town, including the appearance of a girl with psychokinetic abilities (Eleven). The second season focuses on Will’s side effects from being in the Upside Down with its entities crawling into the real world. The third season focuses Eleven and Mike’s relationship as the kids continue their battle against the Upside Down entities. The series stars an ensemble cast including Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Cara Buono and Dacre Montgomery.

In 1980s Indiana, a group of young friends witness supernatural forces and secret government exploits. As they search for answers, the children unravel a series of extraordinary mysteries.

Now, Dark Horse Comics presents, “Stranger Things: The Other Side“, When Will Byers finds himself in the Upside Down, an impossible dark parody of his own world, he’s understandably frightened! But that’s nothing compared with the fear that takes hold when he realizes what’s in that world with him! No one escapes a Demogorgon unscathed…

Story/Spoilers
In part #1, The story opens with Will being chased by a fearsome monster on his way back home following a Dungeons & Dragons campaign with his friends Mike, Dustin and Lucas. As the Monster continues to chase him, he runs to take shelter in his backyard shed. There he finds a hunting rifle and attempts to load it to fend off against whatever is coming for him. However, the light overhead begins to glow brightly, ultimately powering down. Will starts panicking as the Monster looms before him. The Monster reminds him of the D&D campaign he played with his friends some time before. Drawing a parallel to his attempt of casting “fireball” in the game, he chooses to attack the Monster and shoots it. However, in an instant, the Monster disappears. Will is confused whether he actually hurt it or not. He smells a rotten odor and goes to check back at his house. He finds the power gone and can’t find his mother or brother. He takes rest hoping that they will find him. Will recalls Dustin and Lucas blaming him during the D&D campaign when his character “Will the Wise” couldn’t cast a spell. Mike reminded them it wasn’t Will’s fault because the two were still on level one and warned them the only way they could survive, and level up was together. Will wakes up only to find that everything around him is strange with a foul smell everywhere. He later realizes it wasn’t his home and he wasn’t actually in the real world. An event back at the campaign reminds him that splitting the party can have tragic consequences. Will wanders out in Mirkwood looking for a way out. Everything around him is dark and his flashlight doesn’t work. Suddenly, he sees flashes of light glowing among the trees and starts hearing voices. Following the light, he is surprised to see the apparition of a young girl. While he realizes his situation is not a game, after recalling how their campaigns would often include characters to guide the party, he decides to reach out to her. Before he can, however, she vanishes. After starting to hear the voices again, Will returns back home and attempts contacting his friends via his supercom. He hears his mother’s voice, but before he can say anything else, the Monster finds him.

Next in part #2, Will tries to hide behind his bed upon seeing the Demogorgon entering his room but he keeps hearing his mother’s voice through the Supercom. Believing that safety could be within his range, he decides to attack the Monster and bravely shoots with his rifle. However, the Demogorgon disappears in an instant and he is left without any ammunition. Will, determined to warn his friends and family about the Monster, attempts to contact his mother using his Supercom but his efforts are futile. He then checks on his home phone only to hear his mother’s voices again. But a sharp noise of electric surge that follows after makes the phone dysfunctional. He runs back to his room, unaware that balls of light were glowing behind him as he ran. Will reuses his Supercom but to his surprise, the mixtape in his room began to play a Clash singe. However, the Monster hears the sound and returns, causing Will to conceal himself beneath the bed. When the Demogorgon leaves, Will comes out and begins wandering the streets to find a way to contact again. While wandering around, he hears someone screaming. Memories of the D&D campaign reminded him that it was upon the party to help the people who were in trouble. Despite knowing that danger was lying ahead, Will resolves to follow the sound and comes across the location of it’s source. He discovers a pair of spectacles lying on the swimming pool and predicts that to be the unknown victim’s. He hopelessly returns back home knowing that he failed to save the victim. As he was sitting at the corner of his living room, he eventually hears his mother talking to him again. This time, he replies back. His responses somehow influence the Christmas lights, causing them to glow, through which they communicate. After failing to answer where he was, Joyce paints alphabets on the wall which surprisingly helps Will, and he reveals that he is “right here”. He becomes emotionally distraught however when he fails to explain what it meant. Upon hearing the Demogorgon’s noise yet again, he warns her to “run” and flees in terror. He catches a glimpse of a portal that the Monster was opening up. But he realizes that the Monster was actually going after his mom and tries to divert the Monster into catching him.

Next in part #3, Flashbacks show Will reattempting to contact with his mother using his supercom. He enters his friend’s house to come within range, but he becomes lamented to hear people in the real world conversing that his dead body was discovered by the state police. Will runs back to his house and uses the ouija board to signal that he is “not dead”. He also awaits response from his supercom. But finding no reply, he begins to weep. After falling asleep, Will dreams of an event back at the D&D campaign. He wakes up upon hearing his favorite mixtape playing. He assumes that the sound is coming from the real world and decides to check it. But he instead discovers the remnants of a portal that connected the Upside Down to the real world. When the mixtape stops, Will witnesses his terrified mother desperately trying to reach him. Conversely, the Demogorgon also appears before him. Will warns his mother that it is coming for him. Joyce assures him that she will bring him back but urges him to run away from the monster. As the Demogorgon almost charged on Will, he escapes the house. In the present, Will hides himself from the Demogorgon deep down in a cemetery. Regaining confidence, he returns back to his home in an endeavor to enter the portal. Surprisingly, the portal appears to be blocked. He hears his father on the other side. His father, unbeknownst that Will is trying to talk to him from the alternate dimension, seals the broken wall of the house which also seemingly blocks the portal. Frustrated at this, Will experiences an emotional breakdown. However, he is suddenly transported to Mirkwood where he finds a fatally wounded man crying out for help. Will unable to help the man, offers him solace that he will help get his friend Dale back home. The man then passes away which horrifies Will. Correspondingly, Will hears someone shouting for his brother’s help. Upon following the voice, he realizes the person to be Nancy who is also stranded here. The Demogorgon corners her, which leaves the portal open for Will. But Will knows Nancy won’t make it out without his help and in order to make sure she gets out first, he distracts the monster by throwing a rock. This helps Nancy to flee back to the real world through the portal. But the portal reseals again, leaving Will stuck in the Upside Down. As he sits there in silence, the Demogorgon approaches him.

Finally in part #4, Alone in the Upside Down of Mirkwood, Will Byers senses his strength waning as time goes by. In a hallucinating state, he attempts to find a safe shelter. He arrives to the Castle Byers as Will the Wise like in one of his D&D campaigns but collapses shortly after due to weariness. As Will lie down resting, he hears a voice calling his name. He witnesses it to be the mysterious figure that he previously encountered in Mirkwood. She requests Will to hold on a little longer as his mother is coming for him. While Will urges to hurry, the girl vanished before she could say any more and he was left alone again. Feeling almost drained out of life, he clings onto hope by singing his favorite song, Should I Stay or Should I Go. However, the Demogorgon hears the noise and discovers Will in the fort. Will imagines that the Demogorgon from the D&D campaigns has confronted his character. Will loses consciousness and dreams of a memory where he sat with Mike in the Public Library reading fantasy books. Mike wanted to draw inspiration from one of the story books for their next campaign, but he found the books useless. When Will advised him to ask the librarian Marissa, Mike refused saying it would get him into trouble. As the two share a friendly chat, Will wakes up to find himself stranded in the Upside Down of the Public Library with vines attached to his throat. He observes the carcasses and corpses of the Demogorgon’s victims also strung up there. Will then experiences a vision of an enormous creature and hears mysterious voices that taunt him by saying they know who he is and reminds him that they will always be there. Right after, two individuals wearing hazmat suits appear before Will. As they help him out, he recognizes one to be his mom. Will wakes up hospitalized in the real world as Joyce, his mother and Jonathan, his brother sits beside him. His friends Mike, Dustin and Lucas all comes to see and greet him. Mike tells Will they made a new friend and says that she stopped the monster and saved them, though she has gone too. Will is then left to wonder if it is really possible to defeat and overcome the Demogorgon unscathed.

Trade Paperback reprints/collects: Stranger Things (2018 – 2019) Issues #1-4.  Dark Horse Comics

Variant Trade Paperback is bagged & boarded and will be carefully / securely packaged then shipped via USPS Priority Mail to ensure that it arrives to you perfectly and quickly.

First Edition
Publisher: Dark Horse Books
Publication Date: May 2019
Format: FC, 96 pages, TPB, 10.25″ x 6.75″
ISBN-10: 1506713467
ISBN-13: 9781506713465

Collectible Entertainment note: Trade Paperback is in Very Fine condition.  Beautiful!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious Stranger Things and/or Horror collector / enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Highly Recommended.

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