2009 October
Halloween Reading | Joshua Smeaton’s Haunted
From "Haunted," by Joshua Smeaton
I was happy to see this post at The Webcomic Overlook, as it reminded me about Joshua Smeaton’s Xeric Award-winning webcomic Haunted, whose collected edition is solicited in November’s Previews catalog. However, if you’re looking for some entertaining reading for Halloween night (or afterward), the first five issues are available online.
- October 31, 2009 @ 02:57 PM by Kevin Melrose
Six by 6 by 6 | Six comics that scared the $#!@% out of us
Horror can be a tricky genre for comics. They can’t engage in the same sort of “Boo!” surprises that, say, movies like Halloween can, mainly because the pictures are all laid out for you as you’re reading. It’s too easy for your eye to jump ahead and see that the big, bad monster is going to pop out of the casket three panels from now.
But if comics can’t service that sort of immediate shock to the system (at least not very well) then where the medium does excel is in connoting dread, in prolonging tension, and in completely unnerving you. When done right, a good scary comic book can linger with you for a lot longer than your average Saw or Friday the 13th sequel.
With that in mind, JK Parkin and I came up with are six comics that at various points in our lives, had us checking under the bed or otherwise kept us awake all night. Be sure to add your own traumatic experiences in the comments section.
- October 31, 2009 @ 01:00 PM by Chris Mautner
Halloween Reading | Kate Beaton’s ‘Teen Hallowe’en’
Teen Hallowe'en
Because “nothin says Hallowe’en like teens being punks and throwing shit.”
- October 31, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
Straight for the (horror) art | Alex Sheikman’s Strangeways illustration
Part of an illustration by Alex Sheikman
For his one-a-day sketch series on his blog, Robotika creator Alex Sheikman drew a terrific illustration based on Strangeways, the Western-horror series by Matt Maxwell and Luis Guragna. The second graphic novel in the series, The Thirsty, is being serialized online right here at Robot 6.
To see the full illustration, visit Sheikman’s blog.
- October 31, 2009 @ 11:30 AM by Kevin Melrose
Halloween Reading | Church and Horn’s Gamer Doug
Gamer Doug
Kevin Church and Paul Horn explain why you’re better off playing those multiplayer games in the safety of your own home …
- October 31, 2009 @ 11:02 AM by JK Parkin
Halloween Reading | Bruna Brito’s Apokalypse4!
Brazilian artist Bruna Brito puts the “cute” back into the apocalypse with Apokalypse4!, the adventures of Grimy, Lance, Famyn and Waren.
- October 31, 2009 @ 10:33 AM by JK Parkin
Halloween Viewing | Gambit and Rogue go to the movies
This week’s episode of Marvel Super Heroes: What The–?! features not only a tribute to the greatest zombie-dancing video of all time, but also the voiceover work of Stan Lee. Enjoy!
- October 31, 2009 @ 10:01 AM by JK Parkin
Halloween Reading | Paul Maybury’s Aliens strip
Aliens by Paul Maybury
Artist Paul Maybury posted a short “fan” comic set in the Aliens universe, along with a bunch of other cool random art, over on his LiveJournal.
- October 31, 2009 @ 09:25 AM by JK Parkin
Halloween Reading | Dustin Nguyen’s Batman short story
From Dustin Nguyen's Halloween short story
Using lyrics from the Geto Boys’ “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” for inspiration, artist Dustin Nguyen delivers a one-page Batman comic for Halloween.
- October 31, 2009 @ 08:50 AM by Kevin Melrose
The Fifth Color – Marvel Zombies Field Guide
Marvel, with its finger oh so close to the pulse of popular culture, let an idea fester in the minds of their bullpen, slowly creating a deadly infection through the titles of the Marvel Universe. We can trace it from an original source, the strain of the disease that would later spread, to one man: Mark Millar.
As much as I would love to chase him down with a bunch of dudes in HazMat suits, Mark Millar is our Patient Zero in the visual juggernaut that is ‘Marvel Zombies’. Who know where he got it from, the end of a bottle of alcohol, the late night viewing of one too many George Romero movies, some internet clicks and a savvy mind for a play on the not-so affectionate terms for the True Believers, but it is here and it’s here to stay. What Millar wrought, Kirkman forged and Arthur Suydam perfected, three men taking us on a wild ride since 2005 and it shows no sign of stopping. As long as zombies entertain the pop culture brain, someone’s going to want to eat those brains.
So, in no particular order, here are some simple signs and helpful tips to the wide multi-universal world of The House of Undead Ideas.
Continue Reading »
- October 30, 2009 @ 04:06 PM by Carla Hoffman
Six by 6 by 6 | Six funny horror comics
Most of the nurses, hospice workers, police officers, and firefighters I know have a funny outlook on death. Funny because it’s strange and different than the usual nervousness and fear, but also funny because… well, because they giggle about it. Potentially faced with death every single day, they have to find a way to keep it from driving them insane with despair. And that way is usually laughter.
We all do it. One of the things that makes Horror such a powerful genre is that it forces us to face mortality and other things that usually make us uncomfortable. We squirm our way through the experience and emerge – we feel – stronger and better prepared for having endured it. It’s a coping mechanism. But we also laugh. There’s a reason that another word for “blood” is “humor.”
I recently wrote a comic about a vampire cow (you’ll be hearing more about that some other time), so I’ve been thinking about funny horror comics a bit. What are some of the ways that we try to merge the things that frighten us with the things that make us laugh? Here are six examples; my favorites of the Humorous Horror sub-genre.
Charles Addams
- October 30, 2009 @ 03:22 PM by Michael May
Black Panther leaps into Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
Earlier today I mentioned that the first batch of downloadable content, or DLC, for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 was due in the PS3 and Xbox 360 stores next week, and that two playable characters who would be available had yet to be revealed.
Today Marvel.com posted a video of one of those two characters — the Black Panther:
The leader of Wakanda joins Carnage, Psylocke and Cable as a part of the DLC due Nov. 5.
- October 30, 2009 @ 01:30 PM by JK Parkin
Straight for the art | Steve Seeley’s “The Creature”
Now here’s a different kind of comic book art: In this case, the comic books are the canvas. Behold artist Steve Seeley’s “The Creature,” a series of paintings created atop multiple copies of UFO Flying Saucers #5, a Gold Key/Whitman comic from February 1975. (You can see the originals here and here.) Each painting reinterprets the original image, swapping its robot-alien creature for everything from monkey-octopus hybrids to the Easter Bunny. We’ve included a few of our faves above to give you an idea of what Seeley’s up to, but there are 29 paintings in all dating back to 2004, so be sure to visit the full gallery at Seeley’s site.
(Via Ryan “Agent M” Penagos.)
- October 30, 2009 @ 01:01 PM by Sean T. Collins
Robot 666 | Talking to Zito and Trov about La Morte Sisters
LaMorte Sisters
This month Johnny Zito and Tony Trov, creators of the Black Cherry Bombshells, added a second Zuda strip to their writing duties — LaMorte Sisters, drawn by Christine Larsen. The story follows Maddie, a new student at the LaMorte Home for Lost Girls. The orphanage is run by a strict order of Catholic nuns who offer sanctuary and salvation to young women afflicted with vampirism.
Zito and Trov stopped by earlier this week and shared a list of vampires they’d like to have drinks with, and with today being the second anniversary of when Zuda officially launched, plus it being the day before Halloween, it kind of made sense to see what they had to say about their new vampire tale.
JK: One of the things that really struck me about the first pages of your new strip is how different it looks than Black Cherry Bombshells. How did you guys meet Christine Larsen?
Johnny: Christine is a fellow Philadelphian. She lives on the other end of the city in Fishtown.
Tony: We have many, many mutual friends in the art and film community. Johnny and I were both fans of her work on Teddy Scares.
- October 30, 2009 @ 12:00 PM by JK Parkin
New Yorker holds yet another cartoon contest
One of the cartoon entries
In addition to that neat Chris Ware strip in this week’s New Yorker magazine (I should note he did the cover too), the venerable magazine is holding a do-it-yourself cartoon contest. Using the cartoon kit provided on the Web site (using art by Alex Gregory), simply create as many gags as you like and send them in by Nov. 22. The top five winners will be featured in a slide show. Yeah, I know, that’s not much of a prize, but still, it beats a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as my father used to say. Oh, if you register the kit (which you have to do anyway to use it) you’ll enter a sweepstakes to win a trip to New York City. Now that’s more like it.
- October 30, 2009 @ 11:28 AM by Chris Mautner