The Mystery Play is the title of a graphic novel written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Jon J. Muth, released as a hardcover by DC Comics Vertigo imprint in 1994. Synopsis Townley, a fictional Yorkshire town, is trying to revive its lost fortunes by hosting a series of mystery plays - allegorical medieval plays recreating stories from the New Testament - but the plan hits a snag when the actor who plays God is found dead. Detective Sergeant Frank Carpenter is brought into the sleepy town to solve the murder, while local reporter Annie Woolf performs an investigation of her own. As the suspects mount up, Carpenter finds his grip on reality slipping, until things come to a shocking climax during a recreation of the crucifixion of Jesus. Plot summary In a bid to raise the town's profile and attract investment, the mayor of the struggling Yorkshire town of Townley has commissioned a performance of a series of Medieval mystery plays that will re-enact scenes from the Bible - however, frustrated local reporter Annie Woolf believes it's a ploy to improve his tattered reputation ahead of local elections. On the opening night of the Old Testament cycle, during a play about the fall of Adam and Eve, Doctor Bell - the man who was to play God - is found dead backstage. Detective Sergeant Frank Carpenter arrives from Manchester CID to investigate. While leaving the autopsy room he has a mysterious encounter with a man who is slicing up raincoats, who says he must "protect the children". Woolf finds Carpenter in his hotel's bar, where he is filling in a crossword puzzle. She tries to press him for information, but he evades her questions. When he leaves, she sees that he has filled in the crossword with gibberish. Carpenter retires to his room, but is awoken late at night by the local police, who say the doctor's body has gone missing from the morgue. The only possible clue is a hacked-up raincoat like the one he had seen the mysterious man with earlier. The following day Carpenter meets Mayor Purves and the local vicar, Reverend Tilley, but is unable to dissuade them from seeking out a replacement actor to play God. He then interviews their chief suspect, a man named Severs who portrayed Satan in the mystery play. But the interview goes badly wrong when Severs seemingly transforms into