Ben Templesmith’s love affair with tentacles continues. Wormwood, the English-accented, beer-drinking, sentient corpse possessing a “maggot expat from the Hell dimension,” returns in Wormwood: Calamari Rising (TPB), a deluxe collection of the acclaimed four-issue miniseries from IDW Publishing. The volume, sporting an all-new cover from the Eisner-nominated Templesmith, will be in stores June 4.

“Some say Wormwood is rather autobiographical,” says Templesmith, “though for me, it’s more about the British sense of humor in the stuff I grew up with, like Doctor Who, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, and Blackadder as well as a healthy fetish with monsters, putting them in a blender and seeing what comes out.”

If Wormwood is not attempting to save Earth from demonic, parasitic fungal infections or undead strippers, then he’s usually off drinking with his homemade mechanical sidekick, Mr. Pendulum.

Just when Wormwood thought he could finally have that quiet drink without worrying about the world coming to an end, or a friend with a parasitic infection trying to kill him, The Brotherhood of the Calamari decide to crash the party. Since their last meeting, they’ve tracked him across the thousand million dimensional possibilities of existence—and this time the entire Squideeverse is with them. Wormwood is going to learn the hard way he can’t keep running from his problems as his oldest foe now threatens his favorite watering hole, Earth, with absorption into the Calamari group mind.

About Ben Templesmith
An Australian artist and writer most widely known for his work in the American comic book industry where he has received multiple nominations for the industry’s top prize, the Eisner Award. As a comic artist Ben’s most notable works have been 30 Days of Night (on which the major motion picture was based) and Fell. His other projects include the critically acclaimed serial Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse, Hatter M, and Singularity 7. He has also worked on the Star Wars, Army of Darkness, Silent Hill and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer properties and produces art and design for music bands, DVDs, toys, and film concept work