DC Vertigo’s Hide Nor Hair Brings Living Monster Masks to Old Hollywood

Imagine spending your life creating the monsters that make Hollywood famous, only to watch somebody else take all the credit. Now imagine those monster masks are actually ALIVE. Yeah, Papi, DC Vertigo has my attention!

Hide Nor Hair is a new six-issue limited series from writer Adam Smith and artist Bob Quinn, launching January 6, 2027. The story takes us back to the creature-feature era of 1950s Hollywood, where special-effects artist Mallory Headley works behind the scenes at Galaxy Pictures, creating the unforgettable faces of the Thing from the Muck, Baba Yaga and Koschei the vampire.

Moviegoers know the monsters. Studio bosses collect the glory. Mallory? She’s barely acknowledged. And here’s the wild part: the masks she made aren’t just props. They’re living beings, and when someone steals them, Mallory goes looking for her strange little family. What follows is a revenge story mixing noir, mystery, Hollywood history and some seriously gruesome horror.

There’s something deliciously fitting about a story that puts an overlooked effects artist front and center. Horror movies have always depended on the imagination and labor of people behind the camera. This comic takes that idea, gives the creations a pulse and asks what happens when the person responsible finally refuses to be invisible.

Quinn’s artwork is a huge part of the appeal, with the preview teasing unsettling creature designs and the atmosphere of a Hollywood that looks glamorous until you peek behind the curtain. Lucas Gattoni handles lettering, while issue one’s variant covers come from Reiko Murakami, Jasmine Darnell and Niko Henrichon. That’s a strong lineup to kick off this creepy little production.

Hide Nor Hair #1 is a 40-page debut priced at $3.99, with card-stock variants at $4.99. The series is planned to run monthly through June 2027, with a collection scheduled for October. Much love to Smith, Quinn, Gattoni and the DC Vertigo crew for giving the monsters their close-up. WEPA!

Official DC first look