Check Out Land of Never: A Nightmarish Modern Take on Peter Pan from Mad Cave
Wendy and the Lost Boys take on a whole new meaning.
When Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie lost his 14-year-old brother in a tragic skating accident, he reportedly took it upon himself to impersonate him to console his ever-mourning mother—the only thing, it seemed, that brought her any comfort. Barrie, in some rehearsed sense, became the boy who never grew up… attempting to immortalize his sibling by living as him for years.
That impulse would return through the adventures of Peter Pan, with Barrie spending the rest of his life in that world. A tale of Lost Boys and orphans and children who never allowed to grow up; some would call it fantasy, though in my psychodynamic experience, I call it allegory. An attempt meant to preserve something: the lost children… who were died prematurely..
Peter Pan himself,therin echoes an even older myth taken in the name: of Pan, the Greek god of wilderness and music. I’m a firm believer that almost every story is tied to an even older story, and not unlike the Pied Piper in folklore, this Pan leads others—often children—astray and never quite brings them back... Essentially a horror story beneath the surface.
Take then, for example, the name Neverland, which insists upon its own logic: a place of “never.” A location defined by impossibility, built on flights of fantasy and the idea of escape—meant to depict a manner as to never land at all. It is a place shaped by its roots in the word: never. A mythos built upon rejection, and a loss surrounding something that could never be. Themes circled around the loss of the innocence of childhood.
A lifetime ago, I studied J.M. Barrie extensively in college as part of my psychology degree rooted in psychoanalytic theory. What stood out to me, at least for the purpose of this conversation, was how Peter Pan, despite its fairytale qualities of young kids at play against swashbuckling pirates, carried something darker.
That is at the core of Land of Never, the latest from Mad Cave Studios. It’s a dig into what happens when you strip the fantasy away and focus in on the one angle of the story nobody really wants to sit with: a parent left behind to pick up the pieces when their child disappears.
From writer Steve Orlando (Gatchaman: Galactor, Scarlet Witch, Hello Darkness) and artist Miguel Mora, along with colors by Fares Maese, lettering by Micah Myers, and a Cover B by Sebastián Píriz… this tale is one about a missing persons mystery told from the perspective of Jim Hoke, a retired pathologist and parent whose credibility is already fractured.
“Land of Never grew out of my love of working with Mad Cave and my love of a challenge—how far could we push a classic tale, its perspective and characters, to create something fresh and new?” said writer Steve Orlando. “I’ve always been a fan of Peter Pan, both thanks to Disney and from having a family with theatre roots reaching back to Vaudeville. I love the movie version, love the stage version—and loved the book, which I read while living abroad. Now, with Land of Never, we throw an intense lens on childhood, innocence, shepherdship, and parenting. But with that lens comes dark horror and intense crime, with a big infusion of Lord of the Flies. We’re cooking with gas on this one, and it’s going to be a delicious meal like none you’d have ever expected—and one you’ll never forget.”
“Working on Land of Never has meant engaging with a story that refuses comfort and resists easy interpretation,” added Miguel Mora. “There’s a tension beneath the surface that demands a closer look. The world that emerges is defined as much by shadow as by revelation. I hope readers approach it with curiosity—and the willingness to be unsettled along the way.”
Check out the preview pages and the synopsis of the series below.
Six months ago, Jim Hoke’s daughter Wendy disappeared from her room. All Jim caught was a glimpse of a hulking figure at the window—the kind of late-night vision that’s easily written off as a hallucination. No one believes Jim’s story—and six months later, the retired pathologist is just looking for anyone who’ll still listen. And even if he finds someone, should they believe him? Jim had already retired early to plant evidence against an alleged killer. His word doesn’t mean much—and it means even less with him as a suspect in Wendy’s disappearance. He can’t leave town, he can’t forget what he saw, and he doesn’t get any sleep thanks to the nightmares.
With Wendy’s disappearance declared the coldest of cases, Jim believes he’s the only one who cares about finding his daughter. And he’s got a withered Father’s Day card in his pocket to remind him—all he can do is his best. So he’d better step it up. Jim goes into business for himself, tracking leads and harassing anyone polite enough to listen to his story. He dives into rabbit hole after rabbit hole, until he meets someone else like him. Then another, then another, a whole community of people who’ve lost someone to a cryptid they call the Floating Man—just like the huge creature Jim saw take Wendy. Suddenly, Wendy’s abductor has a name—the Floating Man. And Jim’s obsession has direction—he’s got to track down the Floating Man, uncover his crimes, and free not just his daughter Wendy, but everyone who’s been lost.
Preview Pages, Courtesy of Mad Cave
A mix of crime noir and cryptid folklore horror, this one will be on sale June 17, 2026, with Final Order Cut-off on May 25.