Image Comics will release Houses of the Unholy, a new original graphic novel by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, in August, the company announced.  The new OGN, by the team behind Criminal, Pulp and more, builds on the pair’s criminal noir oeuvre with a story about an FBI agent from the cult crime beat and a woman with a past linked to the Satanic Panic of the 80s who are drawn into a hunt for an insane killer.

“Houses of the Unholy is something I've been describing as Satanic Panic Noir,” Brubaker said in a statement accompanying the announcement.  “It's somewhere in-between a creepy horror story and a f*cked-up noir, and directly tied to the Satanic Panic craze of the 80s.  The fear that was everywhere back then has clearly resurfaced, and that made me want to dive back into those dark waters and try to find a Brubaker-Phillips take on noir and horror at the same time."

Street date is August 13 for the book channel and August 14 for comic stores.

Brubaker’s Criminal was optioned by Amazon for development last month (see “’Criminal’ Heads to Amazon”).