The horror genre has risen in popularity with general audiences recently. Outside of cheap jumpscares and gory imagery, horror borrows from the scary realities of the world and challenges audiences to reckon with how those issues play out in their lives.
Co-creators Jim Ousley and Tyler B. Ruff sought inspiration from St. Louis for their horror graphic novel series, “The Atonement Bell.” The story weaves real-life horrors like violence, grief, religious zealots weaponizing their faith and racial injustice — and combines it with fictional horrors such as ghost hauntings, possession and evil witches. “The Atonement Bell,” published by Red 5 Comics, has released its first volume and has been nominated for an Eisner Award for Best New Series.
Ousley started to write “The Atonement Bell” in 2021, but the characters and the plot have been on his mind for much longer. The inspiration for the themes around race and faith come from Ousley’s childhood friends and growing up in Calverton Park in north St. Louis County. “There was actually a fence at the end of our neighborhood that went into Hazelwood, which was predominantly Black, but there was a fence dividing the two,” he said. “And there would be some fights every once in a while. Growing up, I could never understand it whatsoever.”
“The Atonement Bell” focuses around Jake, a teen who is grieving the death of his father. He travels to St. Louis with his mom, Kayla, to celebrate Christmas with their estranged — and religious — family.
Then, all hell breaks loose.
When Ruff first looked at Ousley’s writing, he knew exactly what locations to draw, down to specific intersections and highway exits. “I went and scouted and took reference photos and wanted to be in the places — [making] sure I rendered them faithfully and authentically,” he said. “I didn't want someone reading the book to be like, ‘Well, that street doesn't connect to that street. I live there. I know.’ I wanted people who lived here to be able to know that that's their city.”
St. Louisans will recognize several popular locations, including Turtle Park, the Metrolink stop at Laclede’s Landing and the distinguishable interior of the Central Library branch, which Ruff noted as one of his favorites.
To hear more about “The Atonement Bell,” the intention behind the characters being Black St. Louisans, and the Easter eggs that only real St. Louisans would recognize, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast or Stitcher or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production intern. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
