The Bone Orchard Mythos

Originally published as a one-shot story for Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) 2022, Shadow Eater was designed to be "an appetizer for the horror to come."[8][4] While the FCBD issue was mentioned as part of the original announcement, no details, not even a title, were revealed until Lemire teased his newsletter readers with the comic's cover a month ahead of the FCBD 2022 titles reveal announcement.[9][10][6]

The first major story in the series was The Passageway, an original graphic novel scheduled for release June 15, 2022.[11] Originally a different story was meant to be the first, but when Lemire could not get that story to work, he came up with the idea for The Passageway and wrote the script in a week. For Lemire, it was essential that the story be character-driven, rather than driven by its concept. Sorrentino felt The Passageway was the right story to establish The Bone Orchard Mythos since it was about the "passageway" to supernatural horrors of their universe, both for readers and the characters in the story.[3]

Ten Thousand Black Feathers is a 5-issue miniseries scheduled for a monthly release beginning September 2022.[12]

Tenement was the last of the three titles revealed in the original announcement. Though it was at first slated to be an original graphic novel,[1] it had become a six-issue miniseries by the time Starseed was announced,[36] and later it was further expanded to ten issues with a double-length first issue.[37] This was so readers could spend time with the seven leads and invest in their stories.[38] Tenement #1 is currently scheduled for a June 21, 2023 release.

When Lemire and Sorrentino were originally discussing possible stories to act as the reader's introduction to The Bone Orchard Mythos, Tenement was their first choice before later settling on The Passageway.[3] It was the first story that Lemire began working on and meant to be a centerpiece for all the stories to date, connecting threads from previous stories while expanding the larger mythology.[38]

For Halloween 2022, Lemire announced Starseed in his newsletter.[36] The story is scheduled for release in 2024.[63]

Critics generally praised the debut OGN, especially Andrea Sorrentino's layouts. Reviewers were more divided on the plot ambiguity, with some finding it intriguing,[64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71] others finding it a little slight,[72][73] and still others finding it unsatisfying, confusing, or under-developed.[74][75] In an informal poll, Multiversity Comics' readers voted it the best OGN of 2022,[76] 94% of League of Comic Geek readers liked the book with it averaging four stars,[77] and the book has a 4.3 reader rating on Amazon.com.[78]

Reviewers responding positively to Sorrentino's art, particularly praising the different art styles to separate past and present, reality and otherworldy, and dreamlike and nightmarish.[79][80][81] The first issue in particular was praised for its intriguing hooks and characters,[82][83] and later issues for their world building and character development, though with some criticism for leaning too heavily on well-worn coming-of-age tropes.[84][85]