Comic Book Resources

Strangeways: The Thirsty - Page 100

One zero zero!

Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.

And look! There's even something going on on this page! Not just yakkity-yakkin' and stuff.

Thanks for sticking around so far, folks. Still got a pretty substantial chunk of story to go. And things look to be heating up in Drytown, so buckle in.

Strangeways: The Thirsty - Page 099

And on, this the 99th page of THE THIRSTY, I give you:

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell.

I just realized that Collins' riding coat got ripped in the first chapter and it got patched sometime along the way.  You can see it real clear in panel 3.

I'd try to work up something exciting for the 100th page, but everytime I've tried to, real life has reached up and smacked me in the face.  That doesn't mean you shouldn't keep your eyes peeled, though.

Back on Wednesday.

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.

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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.

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

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Straight for the art | Seth's New York Times ghost story illustrations

A black cat crosses Seth's path

Lately, acclaimed cartoonist Seth has mostly been busy delighting us with his designs for Drawn & Quarterly's John Stanley Library. But with Halloween only a day away, the artist behind George Sprott and Wimbledon Green has decided to spook us instead. Seth has provided illustrations for a series of New York City ghost stories, reported by writer Lizzy Ratner in The New York Times. Created in ghostly blue and white, they're like the artiest, most tastefully drawn episode of Ghost Hunters ever.

(Via Peggy Burns at the D&Q blog.)

Six by 6 by 6 | Six deeply creepy "alt-horror" cartoonists

Tom Neely's The Blot

What do you think of when you think of horror comics? Vintage EC shockers, black-clad Vertigo occult titles, weird and wild manga, modern-day success stories like 30 Days of Night and Hack/Slash, or the mother of all zombie comics The Walking Dead? For my money, the most reliably disturbing and disquieting work in the genre over recent years has come from artists who produce what you'd consider to be "alternative comics." These alt-horror cartoonists may not even think of themselves as horror-comics creators at all, eschewing as most of them do the rhythms and staples of conventional horror fiction. But by deploying altcomix' usual emphasis on tone and emotional effect in service of dark and macabre imagery, their comics haunt me all the more.

So for my contribution to Robot 666's daily horror-centric lists this week, I'm singing the praises of six talented alt-horror cartoonists. I could have listed quite a few more, mind you--some real giants of the field, including Gilbert Hernandez, Jaime Hernandez, Charles Burns, Jim Woodring, and Alan Moore & Eddie Campbell have done tremendous work in this area. But for me right now, these were the six who demanded the spotlight.

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Strangeways: The Thirsty - Page 098

Holy cow! That inital 0 digit in the titles is about to become outmoded!

Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.

Wonder how long the residents of Drytown are going to let this makeover continue, anyways?

Six by 6 by 6 | Six great paranormal investigators

There's a long tradition of occult detectives in popular fiction dating back to Sheridan Le Fanu's Martin Hesselius, Bram Stoker's Abraham Van Helsing and William Hope Hodgson's Thomas Carnacki.

Comics, too, have an established history of the examiners of the unknown, from Doctor Occult to John Constantine to the denizens of the Hellboy universe (the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, Lobster Johnson, Sir Edward Grey, et al).

For this list highlighting some of the medium's greats, I wanted to avoid the more popular, or more obvious, choices, such as Doctor Strange, Doctor Thirteen, Batman or the aforementioned Hellboy and Constantine. Most of them get plenty of ink as it is.

With that out of the way, here are six great paranormal investigators from comics (in no particular order, of course):

Dylan Dog

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Unbound: Webcomics that send chills up your brain

When it comes to horror, I’m not really a fan of zombies, vampires, or exploding eyeballs. I prefer the more subtle type of horror, the kind that walks a line between everyday life and something much darker. The kind where everything seems normal until… suddenly it isn't. Like this moment in Pete Stathis's Evenfall: Phoebe, the heroine, keeps slipping from everyday life into an alternate reality, and this is a signal that it’s happening again: She steps into the elevator and all the buttons have changed to down arrows.

Now that's creepy.

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Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Tales of the TMNT #55

Publishing | Following the purchase last week of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property by Viacom/Nickelodeon, Mirage Studios announced it will publish Tales of the TMNT at least through May 2010.

On the official website, cartoonist Dan Berger writes that co-creator Peter Laird retained an option to publish up to 18 TMNT comics a year. Elsewhere, writer Tristan Jones notes that the agreement only covers single issues "based on the current Mirage Universe stuff (eg: a continuation/conclusion to Volume 4)."

However, judging by comments made yesterday afternoon by Laird, it seems unlikely he will invoke that option in the near future: "One thing that is becoming clear to me is that, right now, I need to really step back from Turtle stuff. I am feeling strongly that I need to distance myself from the TMNT to truly grasp what has happened, and become accustomed to it. With that in mind, I have to say that it is likely that any new TMNT comics coming from me/Mirage (under the 'reserved rights' clause negotiated in the sale) are probably not going to be seen anytime soon. Although I do have the right to publish up to eighteen issues of TMNT comics per year, it is highly unlikely that I will do that right away. In all honesty, the idea of doing ANY new Turtle stuff right now leaves me cold." [NinjaTurtles.com]

Legal | A court has ordered South Korean cartoonist Choi to pay $17,000 to settle a dispute with Wonju City over a cartoon that included offensive words about President Lee Myung-bak. The city recalled about 20,000 copies of the promotional paper after readers discovered the hidden message. [The Korea Times]

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Strangeways: The Thirsty - Page 097

Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.

Remember kids, in real life, TNT is not to be enjoyed like a fine cigar.

Strangeways: The Thirsty - Page 096

We've substituted the post day for everyone's favorite ongoing horror/western serial. Let's see if they notice...

Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.

That's just this week, folks.  Should be back on schedule for Halloween week.  Geez, Halloween already.

Strangeways: The Thirsty - Page 095

Back from APE, will be collecting thoughts shortly.

Written by Matt Maxwell. Art by Gervasio and Jok.

Huh. Wonder what that's all about, then?

Back on Wednesday, APE posting may be up before then, but other work may supersede it.

Strangeways: The Thirsty - Page 094

1. Today's page:

Art by Gervasio and Jok. Written by Matt Maxwell

2. I'll still be appearing at APE this weekend. And the Highway 62 compound will feature a special guest in the form of Alex Sheikman, author and illustrator of ROBOTIKA, put out by Archaia Studios Press. His book will be prettier than mine. And hardcover. And in color. Tough to compete with competition like that. But I'll be doing Five Minute Stories and he'll just be doing garden variety sketches. Take that, Alex! Anyways, hope to see some of you there. I know that JK Parkin (Robot6 High Overlord, or Co-High Overlord, depending on who you ask) will be at the show as well. Bet he'll sign your laptop if you leave the browser window open to R6.

3. I turn really old tomorrow. No, older than that. Like so old that this issue of FANTASTIC FOUR came out the month I was born.

4. Turns out that having children ages you prematurely. Who knew?