It's Halloween month. Let's talk about horror comics.Starting off with Al Columbia's Pim and Francie work. I like to read these along with the haunting melodies from the time of this style of cartooning comes from (Fleischer cartoons circa the 1930s), namely The Shining's soundtrack as well music by The Caretaker (who was inspired by The Shining).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qQGTAwLhbYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL998ajnjN4It really inspires a kind of hopelessness, doesn't it? Also, there's a skeleton inside you.
Well, shit.
Got a link to the comic?
>>150922215Columbia is a weird guy, The Biologic Show got reprinted but he threw an autistic shitfit about the book design and started going after the publisher and basically severed whatever future partnership he had with them.
>>150924225Yeah, he's a strange guy.
>>150922215Ooooo scary
Saving this bread before it dies.I recently started and finished Dwellings. It's a pretty short and sweet comic, and the "classic kid's comic" art style (not really sure what to call it) ended up working pretty well for the grisly stories it had to offer.
>>150924225This is the endpaper design that caused Columbia's shitfit. In the original Biologic Show issue 1, it was just the one face filling the page. Not sure if there were other planned alterations of the material or if this was the only one
>>150924225>>150924774last I heard (about 3 years to be fair) he was on the run from attempted murder (wouldn't be surprised if he tried killing michele nitri for the whole biologic show thing) and was living with a traveling circus. He's almost certainly an unmedicated schizophrenic and is in dire need of help.
>>150922215>>150924225He's one of those guys who looks like he'd appear in his own stories.
>>150926938He looks a bit odd, but that's not him. At least, not entirely.
>>150926938Nah, thats jus photo lighting, but he really does look like the sort of guy who'd write and draw the way he does.
https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/nightmare-tales-build-your-own-graphic-novels-bundleI purchased this bundle from Fanatical and I've been reading through them (all TPBs or similar length), here are my thoughts so far:>Children of the Black SunPretty cool, good atmosphere and art, intriguing story, except IT ENDS ON A CLIFFHANGER RIGHT AS THE CLIMAX STARTS AND THEN NEVER CONTINHES>KidzComfy story about kids surviving in an empty world as the zombie apocalypse winds down due to zombies starving out now that it's been a few months. Apparently continues after the TPB, but the end here feels like a satisfying and conclusive place to stop so it doesn't matter.>The BoogymanWhen a maniac breaks into his home and kills his parents, a little boy begs the monster he thinks lives under his bed for help, deciding it's no longer the scariest thing in the house. He didn't realize it would actually answer.Nice art (though action scenes feel like they could be a little more readable sometimes, maybe it's just my cramped screen), it feels like they're a bit too short on time to fully inteoduce/explore everything they wanted to with the boogeyman stuff but they still did a good enough job with what they had. Pretty cool story overall.>King of the MothsWhat is the origin of this phrase? It's gotta be from something because I know an album named after it too but google gives me nothing and I'm not much of a mythology buff.Anyways, the comfy atmosphere here and decent art is all this comic has going for it, because it's kind of nonsense. Starts by following a couple but then some monster made of moths that probably represents relationships ending eats the girl's emotions and then she breaks up with the guy who is never an important character again. He just kind of mopes around aimlessly in the b-plot. Then she teams up with a cop to shoot the moth guy or something. She doesn't even seem to really get back together with her boyfriend at the end, very unsatisfying.
>>150927271Her and the cop figure out what's going on too fast, and everyone else remains too ignorant and out of the way to have any real bearing on the plot despite it supposedly being about relationships, so I didn't like it much.>Graveyard WarsThe premise is something about people who can channel a dead person and gain all their skills (like martial arts or expert knowledge or stunt driving) while doing so. Interesting concept. But it kind of just cold opens without giving us context, and once your past the "introduction" it doesn't bring you up to speed afterwards like a well-paced story would. The art is competent, but without actual coloring (pages or panels are monochrome in whatever color they feel suits the mood) and so feels rather plain. It's written in a way where it feels like it was a much larger setting inside the author's imagination and he had to settle on only releasing a smaller part of it, if that makes sense; characters aren't well-established and it feels like he already expects you to think they're cool and care about them. I haven't gotten too far into it but I only even know what's going on because the blurb on the back tells you the whole spirit powers premise—the story itself has not communicated this at all, and anyone who just dives right in will probably be left scratching their head on why everyone has glowing characters appear behind them doing nothing sometimes or why those characters change between pages. There's also some weird "good guy channelers vs bad guy channelers" conflict that hasn't been properly set up at all. What are their goals or motivations? Who even are any of these characters?I get that I'm not even halfway in, but even when not everything is explained right away you still have to make it immediately engaging. I'm not likely to keep reading to see if it might eventually start making sense or being good.Some of these have been good, but I might just go back to reading Hellboy for my spooky month fix.
>>150927271>>150927295Interesting.
>>150922215Not that make scary comics out there, unfortunately.
Someone shared Spa by Erik Svetoft here a while ago and I liked it. Things get weirder and more grotesque at this fancy rich spa but the people there either can't believe it or do their best to ignore the signs until it's too late.
>>150928970I wish the art was better.
>>150927017odd yes, but I have to say nobody on earth manages to capture the same vibe that he does (or did, who knows at this point)
>>150930185
>>150930195
>>150930215
>>150930263
>haha what if a old timey cartoon was complete filthriveting
>>150930281
>>150930286It doesn't come as much of a surprise that he ended up trying to kill someone irl
>>150926880>>150930185He did release a book just last year (the second volume of Amnesia.) He also released some sort of ashcan preview called Night of 1000 Staircases, but I can't find much info on that
>>150930286Shut up, pussy.
>>150931137I'm very much afraid. Of the pains of hell, primarily.
>>150931176
>>150922215I like the horror portions of Love and Rockets.
Just started reading The Biologic Show, great rec anon. Some parts remind me of Jim Woodring's art a bit.
>>150927176I wish he finished Big Numbers.
>>150933079chopping up big numbers with a guillotine was the greatest service he ever did to the comics world
>>150933585*disservice
>>150922215Let's not.
>>150934378
>>150933823die mad about it
>>150934626But you're the one who's angry...
>>150934444Checked
>>150922215Al Columbia is awesome, glad to see a thread on him here. He has incredible draftsmanship and his art just radiates evil, can't get enough of it.
>>150922215Is there more Pim and Francie or is the Fantagraphics collection all there is to it?
You know I have to post Uno Moralez in a thread like this.https://unomoralez.com/
>>150935566Classic.
Boo!
Bump
>>150935540There's all of those covers that I believe he did for hi-fructose, and a bunch of miscellaneous work, but it's so hard to find a good archive of his art.
>>150935566Sadly, there is next to nothing there for me.
Anyone else checked out Hobtown Mystery Stories? I think they're a pretty entertaining mix of Scooby Doo/Hardy Boys-style "A group of teenagers try to foil an evil plot" and Twin Peaks type weird shit happening in a small town.
>>150930317What? I thought the only thing he killed were was Alan Moore's Big Numbers...
>>150927176How do you go from this...
>>150938753...To thisWell, we all know how: we are going there
Hell yes this is the sort of thread I love to see around this time of the year. Lots of good recommendations, never even heard of Al Columbia before but he's definitely on my read list now.
American Mythology Has several Licensed movie adaptation minis and one-shots:Night Of The Living DeadReturn Of The Living DeadSilent Night, Deadly NightFright NightGhouliesHatchetWillie's WonderlandPlus a lot of other original horror comics, mostly one-shots.
>>150938788Already there.
>>150938788Years of unmedicated schizophrenia.
>>150922215Everyone always talks about Tales from thr Crypt (and for good reason) but I've always been partial to Creepy myself, espeically under the pen of the illustrious Bernie Wrightson.
>>150937907Click the little words on the side under the artists name.
>>150922516Is that David Lynch?
>>150941537It shows how he went out in the end.
>>150937970He killed his own books many times.
That's it?
>>150944793Yes
>>150922215
>>150946622That reminds me, I wanted more of Columbia's Sienkiewicz horror style.
The one horror comic I actively followed (as long as you don't count Chew that is which is borderline in a way)was the Black Monday Murders. An occult detective story that was heavily based on economics.It was really cool, but hasn't been updated in years and probably will never be finished despite ending on a cliffhanger. And that reminds me, I loved the webcomic Broodhollow which was done by the Local 58 guy but was also abandoned. You still have three 'arcs' of some pretty interesting horror though so I really recommend checking it out.
>>150948151Broodhollow had potential, but after book one it just plunged downhill.
>>150948151>heavily based on economicsseems interesting
>>150948352>but after book one it just plunged downhillI don't know I quite liked the one where he thinks he's being manipulated in his sleep to be a murderer. The ending wasn't as good as the first one because it just sort of ends so damn abruptly. I forgot there are only 2 books now. He started chapter 3Then restarted itThen just removed it. Now it just ends with these two. Fuck me, man.
Shit there was a webcomic I remember called June that had this really scrawly style to it. I found a fucking TV tropes page talking about itthat directed to a tumblr backup because Smackjeeves died years agoAnd it's fucking dead. All I have on the waybackmachine is the final page showing the dates of 2010-2013 (the run of the comic) and a small blurb from the artist linking to their socials. That are also all dead. Does anyone remember this? The main kid was walking around trapped in his house wearing a plastic bag over his head. There were some TV news reports about the the other 'Summer Towns' being flooded.I think at the ending the art style lost all cohesion as there is a literal schizophrenic meltdown and I think a lot of captured animals are lit on fire and released in a public area. This scratching any memories?
>>150949264HOly shit I found it. Someone backed up (almost) all of Smackjeeves. It's amazingI'll be looking forward to rereading this in the coming days. https://archive.org/details/smackjeeves-90624/90624/comic/avatars/04bd7a43f0e5daf8067da6c06509bdf8.png
>>150922215>Horror >Comics Oxymoron. How can you be afraid of DRAWINGS?
>>150950365Exactly this!
>>150949325I think it starts here:https://archive.org/details/smackjeeves-90624/90624/comic/pages/chapter_001-1.jpgTell if the continiuty on archive is how you remember it
>>150950365That's pretty scary.
>>150949325Cool.
Needs more Emily Carrollhttps://emcarroll.com/comics/prince/andthesea.html
>>150953868Oh wow that's a blast from the past. Thanks a lot for the reminder. I always loved her stuff
>>150950365Images can provoke lust or loathing. Sometimes the same image can provoke both for different people. Why not fear?
DC:--House Of MysteryHouse Of SecretsThe UnexpectedWeird Mystery TalesGhostsThe Witching HourSecrets Of Sinister HouseSecrets Of Haunted HouseForbidden Tales Of Dark Mansiontales of ghost castleDoorway To Nightmarewasteland(note House of Mystery started out as horror late golden age then switched to scifi stuff with giant monster and such before switching back to horror late silver along with House Of Secrets and The Unexpected)Charlton:--Ghost ManorGhostly Hauntsghostly talesThe Many Ghosts of Doctor GravesHauntedScary Tales (mostly reprints)Monster HuntersCreepy Thingsthis magazine is haunted(not counting some golden age stuff and a few others closer to weird fantasy in content)Midnight Tales*strange suspense stories*Gold Key:--Boris Karloff Tales Of MysteryGrimm's Ghost StoriesThe Twilight ZoneRipley's Believe It Or Not(also the horror-themed The Occult Files Of Dr Spektor and Dark Shadows)other:monsters attack!Marvel's in sort of a weird position where they've a few golden age ones then go into mixed monster/weird tales/superhero anthologies, then a few reprint titles of just the monsters and golden age stuff.
>>150922215Trick r' Treat
>>150935566Jesus fuck, this is scary...
Would Blast count? Not strictly a horror comic but there were certainly moments in it that left me disturbed.
>>150957975Some kind of horror, yeah.
>>150957822How?
>>150957975You ok Gru? You ain't looking so fresh.
>>150957975>Gru: Those edibles ain't shi->*Taco Bell DONG*
Can someone help me find a horror western comic?It was an anthology of short scary stories loosely connected. One specific story I remember was a hotel that had an impossible haunted room (it exists somewhere that doesn't have the space). Another story had them going down a well and there were monsters attacking them from the brick walls I think? Also some kind of haunted tree beside a houseDoes anyone know what it is?
>>150960819i dont
>>150960819bump for interest
>>150922215How scary are the comics material?
This thread is making me want to go look up some Richard Sala comics
>>150963953Did he do horror?
>>150963587eh
My favorites.
>>150922215What did you guys think is happening in this story?The old inventor, in a single panel, mentioned something about time travel. And I think it worked, but not like how he expected. He caused an endless time loop. People were trapped in hell and death wouldn't be a release, that's why you see the same people even after they're murdered. After being trapped long enough everyone is going insane because of it, that's why everyone is turning into killers or warped into literal monsters. Even the child characters turn into sickos that like to torture people to death. The girl somehow found a way to escape the time loop in the end, that's why she vanished.
>>150964813I don't know how to read.
>>150964418Yeah. Feel same too.....
>>150959661T'was merely a jape, the image is unusually saccharine for uno moralez
>>150960819We talking newer or older?
>>150964758>From HellGod I do love that. Really is Alan Moores best work. I was really hoping to pick up the Eternaut omnibus on the Fantagraph liquidation sale but they were all out at the time. Also I absolutely detest the huge netflix logot hat's stamped onto all the new copies and even if it's petty that sort of shit stops me from buying books when the cover is just a huge plug for some movie adaptation.
>>150964813There is no linear story, it's intentionally kept vague and surreal. It's meant to evoke pieces of something bigger that you'll never be able to get the full picture of, like finding remains of an old comic in the wreck of a house fire or something.I remember talking with the guy a few years ago and asking some similar questions, and a lot of the "story lines" are either based on dreams or childhood experiences he had. P&F are also loosely based on himself and his ex-wife Francine.
>>150967789I wish we could have discussion of From Hell the way we do with Watchmen, but it seems a lot of people are turned off by the ahistorical aspects.
>>150957975One of my favorite comics of all time
>>150968182Do you have any more insights into his artwork and process?
>>150968981Based.
>>15092397923 Skidoo (1994) (Al Columbia) (BeefBoy).cbrhttps://mega.nz/file/j8BzGDoC#LKzn1q-oEgqjnyma1kpqgvIvBy_DvSNdf4TA-NrVSW0Al Columbia - The Biologic Show 00 (1994) (Fantagraphic) (Cello-DCP).cbzhttps://mega.nz/file/S4wzWJAY#nnDukTXnGG2BfxDmJYF3f3cmO_UecntF0VKgzcDLJrwAl Columbia - The Biologic Show 01 (1995) (Fantagraphic) (Cello-DCP).cbzhttps://mega.nz/file/j94UyCYb#L_pd8xwE0FIdVw12LEj34W7i8f-fv5Np53WjSifblO0Amnesia - The Lost Films of Francis D. Longfellow (2018).cbzhttps://mega.nz/file/K9wg0LhL#TKNlvjaap1SNPfGRzrE6xZR-8uuSijPLdl6sS7GZ_eIDoghead (1992) (Al Columbia).cbrhttps://mega.nz/file/Ks4iBRLJ#Q67TLOFOP0rowZanfAM9DoWrJ5uU_j7295eFJOU7CYQPim & Francie - The Golden Bear Days (2009) (digital) (Minutemen-dask).cbrhttps://mega.nz/file/WkACXTrB#vjf-yGyogQ6mpycFqdPk3H-xJjRY7nUjR-FtTWvwS5wThe Pogostick 01 (Fantagraphics - 2003) (geometrico).cbrhttps://mega.nz/file/39oBXbDL#ArkGxL4eLGU3hQOo6lMryUvNFR-XfuPBPgGtunO9T4YThe Pogostick 02 (Fantagraphics - 2003) (geometrico).cbrhttps://mega.nz/file/e8Q3EDjR#yk2x19vm0J2WffeepsKNG6N_SzGnnTEyCdUJEHZ2PRQ
>>150967789That's a sticker that is removable.
>>150968809I think the biggest problem is that it's also sort of restrictive. It's a telling of the Jack the Ripper story there interesting but short of the periods of Gull seeing into the future there's not a lot available for dissection or application to talking about. There's no RORSCHACH GOOD MAN banging against authors intention, there was one shitty adaptation that isn't worth the time to talk about. It's the curse of something that's just pretty damn good. Most people can just sort of agree how good it is and that's kind of it if you've read it.
>>150969783I disagree. I think there's plenty to explore, but it's not for casual discussion. It's the type of talk that requires research, and nobody's really willing to do that on /co/. I've seen /a/ do it in their storytimes, and I'd love to have that here, but we're too different.
>>150968990He's a very secretive person (the air of mystique surrounding himself is something he very purposefully cultivates and enjoys) and there's a lot of stuff that he divulged to me over a period of time that he made me sort of "swear secrecy" to, and I intend to respect that even still, however there are a few things in which I don't think he'd care if I shared them -1. Contrary to what his art may suggest, he isn't a satanist. He's a pretty devout christian.2. Like I said, a big reason for the way his comics are structured is because he likes things to feel dreamlike and obscure. However, there's also the fact that he finds it pretty hard to stay dedicated to a project for more than a few months. He hates working on long, structured storylines and tends to get bored of them too quick to see them through to completion, so it works well for him to just draw a bunch of small snippets and make compilations of them.2. The "Bloody Bloody Killer" character is based off goofy. Might seem pretty obvious in retrospect but he got a good laugh out of me when he told me that, just because its such a grotesque and horrible character.3. Big Numbers was dead in the water long before he destroyed the work for it. It was never going to get finished. Some guys in a band he knew thought it would be a cool idea for an album cover to make a collage from a bunch of chopped up pages from big numbers, and he just obliged their idea. As everyone in the studio knew at that point that they were working on a dead project, he thought it was no big deal at the time to "repurpose" some of the work. I guess it was just convenient to let the 19 year old assistant take the fall for what was really the fault of poorly managed finances and Alan Moore's titanic ego.
>>150969718Thanks!
>>150922215Currently reading the Judge Death Mega Special. lots of fun and good dark humour.
>>150968809To be fair From Hell is a hard read, the book is DENSE, the art is an acquired taste and the true subject is kinda arcane. If there ever was a book that truly earned the title of "graphic novel" it's that one
>>150930286Yes
>>150956545>Marvel's in sort of a weird position where they've a few golden age ones then go into mixed monster/weird tales/superhero anthologies, then a few reprint titles of just the monsters and golden age stuff.It's kind of because Marvel kept trend-chasing for a while during the 40s and 50s. Then Tower of Shadows in 1969 was done to compete against DC's revived horror-version of House of Mystery and House of Secrets but it didn't sell well enough so they made it a partial reprint title then changed it to Creatures on the Loose. I forget the story about the other 70s horror titles
>>150972401The only one I really know is Chamber Of Chills, which I gather had a few original stories but was also mostly golden age reprints.
>>150922215I miss Richard Corben so much
>>150967327Very recent2020+Art is more realistic than stylized
>>150970102>let the 19 year old assistant take the fallDoes anyone really do that? It was clearly Moore and Sienkiewicz' fault.
>>150969718blessed
>>150974342They do. People still give him shit to this day for "killing big numbers".
>>150969718Holy fucking based.
>>150974637That's nuts.
>>150963953This reminds me of a recurring feature from the original Liquid Television, is Invisible Hands by the same guy?
>>150969718>23 Skidoo>Amnesia - The Lost Films of Francis D. Longfellow>Doghead>The Pogostick 01 & 02I didn't have these ones, thanks!
>>150976268looks like it
>>150976268Yeah that's Richard Sala, he's great.
>>150930458>>150930300>>150930195>>150930185This is like the epic mickey concept art on steroids
