“[The creature is called] Moder in the novel. … It’s female. … I wanted to preserve my own experience of reading the book, wherein the creature’s design is somewhat shifting. Or at least you have competing ideas about what it might be. We dug into Norse mythology and discovered a Jötnar clan of giants that were known as shape-shifters and would sometimes present with combined human and animal qualities. It felt close enough to what Adam had imagined but gave us a little room to experiment. … I reached out to Keith Thompson, who I was a huge fan of, and was very fortunate to have him come on board. He experimented with those ideas and provided many different possibilities, as well as concepts for the decrepit parishioners, the effigy in the attic, and the hanging elk. It all tied together and told a visual story. The beast design we finally settled on was simply the one I couldn’t take my eyes off of. I think anyone who’s familiar with his work can tell through and through that this is one of his uncanny creations.” - David Bruckner