Jump Tribe by Clive Barker
Friday, August 8, 2025 at 12:00PM 
Published by Subterranean Press on July 31, 2025
The Jump Tribe consists of 240 creatures painted by Clive Barker and exhibited at a comic book convention in 2005. Barker’s plan was to turn the creatures into plushies that would be packaged with stories that Barker would write about them. A few plushies were manufactured. They are apparently something of a collector’s item.
In “Yaboo’s Tale,” Yaboo finds a hole. Twoth believes it is dangerous and wants to take it to the police. As Yaboo and Billum fight over the hole, they fling it into the air. It comes down on top of Yaboo, who disappears, only to reappear with wings that he grew after learning magic from the Jump Tribe. Yaboo explains the purpose of the holes, avoids a visit from Kungo Nah, and begins an adventure with his two friends.
The next story, “Tale of Kungo Nah,” explains the origin of a villain who puts greed ahead of family and loses himself as he jumps through holes. Twoth becomes an accidental hero in “Twoth’s Tale.” In “Billum’s Tale,” Billum meets a 7-year-old human (“They lived on a round world called Urt, and they were always fighting.”). The stories are rounded out by forgettable poetry from the Jump Tribe.
Subterranean packages the stories in a collector’s edition and a less pricey trade edition. Both are printed in full color. The signed limited edition has illustrated end sheets and comes in a slipcase. A digital edition provides access to the stories for curious readers who don’t want to spend money on the limited or trade editions.
No plushies come with the book. As I understand it, the plushies never made it into stores because the company that made them went out of business.
Without the plushies, neither print edition seems likely to entertain kids for very long. Barker likely envisioned a long and lucrative series of stories tied to more plushies but abandoned the enterprise when the plushie manufacturer failed.
The stories are imaginative but too short to be substantial. If there were more stories, kids might get hooked on them, but the series ends with (spoiler alert) Billum rescuing the human kid as members of the Jump Tribe, who seem to be experiencing a food shortage (apart from the grossly overweight Lady Zoxi), make a plan to open more holes so they can raid Urt and eat everything they find. Fantasy world addicts might find value here, but casual readers won’t miss much by giving the book a pass. There is simply too little content to make the volume anything other than a curiosity.
RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS