Comic Book Resources

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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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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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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Six by 6 by 6 | Six unholy couplings

I'm not sure what inspired a set of six matches made in Hell, but I can tell you that it was fun picking from the scads we Robot Sixers suggested. They're not all slow-motion trainwrecks, and neither are they all necessarily tragic. One doesn't even last that long.  All of them have been fun to watch over the years -- but all of them kinda make you think "oh, this could be bad."

Therefore, in no particular order, JK Parkin and I present six pairs who might have done better as spares....

Arella and Trigon. After Angela Roth fled her abusive Gotham City home, she thought she'd found solace in the arms of religion. Unfortunately, her new church turned out to be a cult bent on bringing the Devil to Earth. This didn't quite work out for the cultists (who should've waited fifteen years for Neron and Underworld Unleashed), but they did introduce Angela to Trigon, a stud with curly red hair and gold-flecked bedroom eyes. Following a sequence more soft-focus '70s-turtleneck horror than Rosemary's Baby, it wasn't long before Angela was in Trigon's dimension, pregnant with his child. That, in turn, was his cue to show her his true self: antlers, red skin, and four eyes (and not the nerdy kind, either). Trigon then sent Angela back to Earth, where she was saved from suicide by an emissary from the pacifist land of Azarath.

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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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Six by 6 by 6 | Six vampires we'd like to share a drink with

The Count

Editor's Note: As mentioned earlier today, we're celebrating Halloween all this week here at Robot 666. Here's the first of six Six by 6 columns with that theme, by guest contributors Tony Trov and Johnny Zito. They are the creators of Black Cherry Bombshells, the girl-on-zombie web comic from Zuda Comics. This October saw the debut of their newest title, LaMorte Sisters, about a vampire orphanage run by strict nuns.

By Tony Trov & Johnny Zito

(In no particular order)

1. The Count

Tony Trov: The Count is a mysterious force on Sesame Street. He has these neurotic ticks that makes him really intense. The Count counts things, even when there's just one. His math OCD makes him great at figuring out the tip.

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Six by 6 | Six things I noticed at this year's SPX

SPX 2009

My official report on this year's Small Press Expo is up on the main CBR site, but I thought I'd take a few extra minutes and share some additional, hopefully more in-depth impressions of this year's show.

1. Man it was crowded. Maybe it was because it was in a different ballroom this year (although only just one room over). Maybe there were more artists and tables than in previous years. Whatever the reason, SPX 2009 was packed, easily the most crowded I've seen it in a while, at least on Saturday, when I attended. I found myself frequently having to apologize as I attempted to make my way through the aisles, my increasingly heavy burlap bags slugging innocent folk left and right.

Many of the attendees and exhibitors I talked to agreed that it seemed like a busier Saturday as usual and most said that they were doing well sales-wise. I take that as a good sign, not only for the show, but for the indie comics scene in general. Obviously the show still provides a good opportunity for fans of inide comics to get out and revel in them.

2. People really love Kate Beaton. If you needed any further signs that the comics world is moving from print to digital (and perhaps back again) then you should have tried to make your way past the Webcomics side of the room, where Kate Beaton took on her appointed role as Queen of All She Surveyed, with a long line of the faithful anxiously waiting to purchase a sketch or book from her. She wasn't the only Webcomics artist that seemed to be pulling in customers -- Girls With Slingshots creator Danielle Corsetto seemed to have a steady throng of admirers -- but Beaton was by far the most popular person in the room. I have no idea what larger significance that holds other than Beaton makes cool, funny comics that people like.

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Six by 6 | Six impressions I left Anaheim with after the D23 Expo

I meant to get this up sooner, but travel, jury duty (ugh) and life in general delayed me a few days. In any event, the D23 Expo came and went last weekend, as the Disney “fan fair”/big marketing experience in Anaheim showcased everything from company's movie and television slate to upcoming changes to its theme parks.

1. Overall, this was an extremely well-run event. Not surprisingly, Disney knows something about hosting thousands of people in a fairly confined area, and doing it in a way that those people leave worn out but with smiles on their faces. That doesn’t mean there weren’t issues – I’m still waiting for someone to give me back the hour or so I spent waiting for the Princess and the Frog presentation to start – but looking at the entire weekend, Disney handled the crowds really well. This was a combination of pre-planning (most of the employees who were handling the crowds seemed to have come over from Disneyland, where I’m sure they’re used to moving large masses of people around) and on-the-spot learning (getting out of Sunday's big arena presentation on the animation slate was much easier than leaving Friday's live-action film presentation, and I'm pretty sure Sunday's crowd was bigger).

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Six by 6 | Six great comics published by Comico

Grendel

The birth of the direct market brought a slew of new independent publishers in the 1980s, including First Comics, Eclipse and Comico. It was the latter that really made an impact on both myself and Strangeways creator Matt Maxwell at the time.

In an email discussion earlier this week about 1980s comics, the subject turned to Comico, and Matt and I started listing some of our favorite series by the publisher. So when I decided to make them the focus of this edition of Six by 6, I reached out to Matt to see if he'd be interested in helping me out this week. "I started expanding my horizons right about the time they started publishing comics," he told me, a sentiment I can echo. Elementals, in fact, may have been the first non-Marvel/DC comic I ever bought.

So without further ado, here are six great titles (actually seven, if you'll note how Matt slipped in an extra title in his last entry -- sneaky!) that Comico published back in the day.

1. Grendel, written by Matt Wagner, art by Matt Wagner and a host of others: I missed out on the Comico Primer and the very early Grendel material, but I came on board for Devil by the Deed, which was a graphic novel retelling of those stories that came out about the time that the Devil's Legacy (written by Matt Wagner with art by the Pander Brothers) started up. In short, I was blown away by the range of the themes at play in Wagner's storytelling (and by the hyper-stylized renderings of the Panders.) The first convention sketch I paid for was a Christine Spar Grendel (right before I got Stephen Bisette to draw Cthulhu). Grendel really was a comic for grownups when such a thing was a comparative rarity. I can't do it justice in the time I have here, but really, every fan of sequential storytelling owes it to themselves to catch up on this book, which I believe is being reprinted in its entirety by Dark Horse. Romance, treachery, betrayal, crime, noir, science fiction, dark fantasy, even straight superheroics can be found in the pages of Grendel, not to mention an incredible range of formal techniques and experimentation, and work by artists who are both superstars now and all but forgotten, sadly. (Matt Maxwell)

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Six by 6 | Six strips we'd love to see in a second Wednesday Comics

I was chatting with some friends the other day about DC's Wednesday Comics series, which led to the inevitable "So which strips are your favorites?" conversation. It was also interesting to see such a wide variety in the ones people named as their favorites -- for instance, one of my favorites is probably "Metamorpho," which was on another person's list as being one of the weakest. And I noticed that in this week's Splash Page feature on the CBR home page, Chad, Tim and special guest Matthew J. Brady all listed "Kamandi" in their top five (with two of them putting it in the top spot), but I don't think any of the folks I was talking to listed it as one of their favorites. So maybe there's something in it for everyone.

In San Diego, there was some discussion at the Wednesday Comics panel about a second edition of the weekly series, and a few creators even talked about other people they'd like to see work in the format and what characters they might want to tackle next time. So I asked the Robot 6 crew what they'd like to see in the not-yet-announced-but-hopefully-inevitable Wednesday Comics II. Here's what we came up with ...

1. 'Mazing Man by Bob Rozakis, Stephen DeStefano, and Karl Kesel: 'Mazing Man's characters and subject matter are fairly well-suited for the "newspaper" format. It wouldn't even have to be a continued storyline, just 12 standalone pages. Maybe Maze interacts with Denton one week, Guido the next, and Brenda and Eddie the week after that. (Tom Bondurant)

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Six by 6 | Six comics that made us laugh out loud

A couple of weeks ago Chris Mautner and I listed the six comics that made us cry. You guys responded with more than 160 comments filled with memories of comics that brought you to tears as well. It was very cool and kind of overwhelming to see that many people open up like that, so from both of us, thank you.

One commenter, cinorjer, suggested we name "six comics that made us laugh out loud." Which we thought was a great idea -- thanks, cinorjer! -- so wipe away your tears and get ready to exercise your funnybone.

Joining Chris and I this week is Tom Bondurant, who was quick to come back with an example when I asked for suggestions. So let's make with the ha ha's and get down to it ... and please share your own favorites in the comments section.

1. "What am I s'posed to do with a whole dollar!?"

I laughed aloud at much of Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang's "Architecture & Mortality" storyline from the recent Tales of the Unexpected miniseries. There were the Primate Patrol's obvious (but well-executed) Planet of the Apes references; Traci 13's "paper covers rock" spell; and the part where Infectious Lass says she'll never know the touch of a man, about which I ... Vampire! observes "perhaps if you changed your name...."

However, I particularly liked Dr. 13's first real meeting with Genius Jones, the smartest little boy in the world. He'll answer any question for a dime, but he won't deal with Dr. 13 -- because the Doc only has a dollar bill. "What am I s'posed to do with a whole dollar!?" Genius wonders.

"Tell you what -- I have ten questions," Dr. 13 responds.

"Do you have ten dimes?"

Eyes practically bulging out of his glasses, and beads of sweat leaping off his forehead, Dr. 13 spits, "I have a DOLLAR!"

It goes on like that for another few panels, until the head of the Primate Patrol bursts in: "How 'bout I geev you a nickel saun'wich?" And ... scene!

--Tom Bondurant

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Six by 6 | Six questions with Sam Little on The Hammer

The Hammer

There's nothing in the world that's scarier than a pink bunny. Especially when he stands six feet tall, he's from Detroit and he carries a hammer.

An international team of comics creators came together to create The Hammer, which won Zuda's February competition. As their reward, Sam Little, Gabe Ostley, Rob Berry and Steve Steiner have launched the ongoing comic at the site this month. I caught up with Sam about the comic, which is being updated daily right now on Zuda.

JK Parkin: You guys won the February 2009 contest. So what happened between then and now, in between winning the Zuda contest and getting the strip up on the site as a regular feature?

Sam Little: Well, we've been steadily working on grinding out Hammer pages since before the contest even started. We decided when we first got together to do this thing that we would make a commitment to each other and complete the story regardless of whether or not we actually won the contest. It would've driven me crazy to just do eight pages and then let the rest of the story remain untold. Since we won, we've just kept at it, chipping away steadily and laying plans for the future. Besides that, all four of us have got our own solo projects and collaborations (not to mention day jobs) that have kept us mightily busy.

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Six by 6 | Six comic book action figures that need to be made right now

Action figures!

As a kid, I was a big fan of both comics and action figures; I probably spent my allowance equally on Uncanny X-Men comics and Star Wars action figures. The day I got my Emperor action figure in the mail was almost as good as the day I found a really cheap copy of Uncanny X-Men #129 at a used book store. Unfortunately, those two passions rarely met. It was a post Mego, pre-action figure boom world that I grew up in, so with the exception of the short-lived Secret Wars and Super Powers figures, there weren't a lot of superheroes to be found on the toy aisle.

Nowadays, though, you can find action figures of just about any comic character on the shelves, from secondary X-Men like Forge and Banshee to independent characters like Madman. But there are still a few out there that the world needs, which is why Chris suggested we list a few characters who we felt needed to be captured in three-dimensional plastic with a kung fu grip.

Joining Chris and I this week is a special guest -- High Moon writer and action figure aficionado David Gallaher. You can take a look at David's collection of Marvel action figures right here.

So here we go ...

1. Firestar (David Gallaher)

In looking over my collection, I thought about a character whose history dates back almost 30 years. Playing the lead role in one of the best Marvel cartoons, she starred in her own limited series, was in a couple of coloring books, was a member of the Avengers, an enemy of the X-Men, a founding member of the New Warriors, and is currently starring in Marvel Divas. Even better still – she was featured in her own Hardees kids meal!

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Six by 6 | Six comics that made us cry

Tom Strong #36

This week Chris Mautner suggested we share our softer sides and each talk about three comics that broke down our tough-guy exteriors and made us openly weep as we turned the pages. It's a risky venture, to be sure; to some members of our audience, this will destroy the "manly man" image we've worked so hard to build up on the blog, but for others, it will show there's more to who we are than just bad jokes and Shelf Porn.

So here they are -- six comics that made us cry. After reading our selections, be sure to grab a tissue and tell us what comics made you cry as well.

1. "We're brothers, Tom"

I always thought Tom Strong was the weakest of Alan Moore's ABC line (in fact I said so rather openly in issue #231 of The Comics Journal). Oh sure, there were lots of colorful dialogue and zany plots, but I felt the series was sorely lacking in gravitas. The characters seemed too thinly sketched to me and I couldn't find myself forming enough of an emotional commitment to them to care about what happened to them. It kept hinting that there was a lot more going on under the surface, but that's all it would do, hint.

That was until the final issue, no. 36, where, during the "end of the world as we know it" created by Promethea, Tom is confronted by the ghost of his arch-enemy Paul Saveen, who reveals that he is, in fact, Tom's half-brother. What follows is one of the most tender scenes I've ever read in a superhero book ("Jesus Paul" Tom says, breaking down "We tried to kill each other.") When, two pages later, Tom introduces Saveen to a passerby with a simple "This is my brother. This is my brother Paul" well, I just lose it. --Chris Mautner

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Six by 6 | Only the end of the world again

Uncanny X-Men #141

Earlier this month ABC News ran a special report called Earth 2100, which imagined a possible "worst case scenario" if the "perfect storm" of population growth, resource depletion and climate change converge, causing catastrophic effects to the planet. The report featured graphic novel-style sequences by Josh Neufeld, Sari Wilson, Joe Infurnari, George O’Connor, Tim Hamilton and Leland Purvis.

It wasn't the first time that comic book creators have taken a look at a possible future where everything has gone to hell, both scaring and depressing you with its bleak look at what might be in store for us. So in honor of the show, here are six of my favorite apocalyptic doomsday scenarios, as presented by comics past and present ...

1. Death by robots -- Geekanerd recently did a post on possible robot apocalypse scenarios and how to avoid them, using Battlestar Galactica, Terminator and The Matrix as examples. Another story that falls into that category is the classic Uncanny X-Men story "Days of Future Past." First introduced in issues #141 and 142, the storyline focused on a possible future where mutants have been hunted almost to extinction by the Sentinels, with the survivors being kept in internment camps. Giant robots = bad, bad things.

I remember reading these issues as a kid and being genuinely freaked out about the fate of the X-Men. It was bad enough finding out that Cyclops, Nightcrawler and many of the others were already dead, but to see Storm, Colossus and Wolverine meet their fates ... I took it as canon, actually, that one day the X-Men comic would end with a similar scene, once it caught up to the future those issues portrayed. Of course, I thought Jean Grey was really dead, too, so ...

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