John Carpenter's debut graphic novel Cathedral arrived on Tuesday, August 4, with its soundtrack album following on Friday, August 7 — the filmmaker's first new visual project since his 2010 film The Ward.

The story follows three police investigators who descend into a demonic underworld beneath Los Angeles, searching for answers after a fellow officer is found murdered in an abandoned church. Carpenter told Billboard the whole project grew out of an elaborate nightmare he had a few years ago, one he said borrowed heavily from Greek mythology. He described the dream as "so cinematic and vivid" in a post on his official Facebook page.

After waking from the dream, Carpenter told his godson Daniel Davies and his son Cody Carpenter about it. The three decided to make an album first. Davies said the graphic novel element came later, and that the songwriting was based on Carpenter's outline of the story. The idea for a graphic novel arose because Carpenter's wife, Sandy King, is the editor and publisher of Storm King Comics; writing began roughly a year ago, after the album was completed, according to Billboard's interview.

The Cathedral soundtrack was released on Sacred Bones Records and pairs Carpenter's signature synthwave sound with heavy metal riffs — a direction flagged by both Flood magazine and BrooklynVegan in earlier coverage. Carpenter recorded the album with Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, a trio whose previous collaborations include four installments of the Lost Themes series and soundtracks for four films by other directors.

The graphic novel was created in collaboration with King and writer Sean Sobczak, with illustrations by Federico De Luca and Luis Guaragna, colouring by Sian Mandrake, and lettering by Marshall Dillon. Storm King Comics is the publisher. Carpenter also announced the project on his official Instagram account.

For fans, Cathedral lands as an unusual two-format release: a comic you can read and an album you can play, both built from the same nightmare. The Carpenter–Carpenter–Davies trio have spent years proving they can score dread on their own terms; this time the story comes with the music, not the other way around.