There is a lot of stuff going on with Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt’s comic series The Sixth Gun, including a Kickstarter for deluxe hardcover omnibus editions. This is the longest running creator-owned series released by Oni Press, and it mixes horror, fantasy and Westerns into a unique and popular story form. Both Bunn and Hurtt spoke to Cemetery Dance about their Kickstarter campaign, their upcoming Sixth Gun comics, and what it is they like about writing and drawing in the horror genre.Continue Reading
Eric Palicki Returns to Black’s Myth with The Key to His Heart
Black’s Myth: The Key to His Heart, a new punk rock horror comic from writer Eric Palicki and artist Wendell Cavalcanti, is debuting this month from AHOY Comics. It stars a werewolf PI and a djinn assistant working in Los Angeles’ supernatural underground, and Palicki spoke to Cemetery Dance about its connection with Black’s Myth, his influences, and where people can find out more about his various comics.
Review: Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey and Tommy Lee Edwards
Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey and Tommy Lee Edwards
Upshot (March 2021)
96 pages; $9.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Grendel, Kentucky by Jeff McComsey is an incredible graphic novel that takes the Beowulf saga and modernizes it. The story focuses on Marnie, who leads the all-women biker gang The Harlots. She’s called back to her hometown of Grendel for the funeral of her adoptive father, Clyde, who was supposedly killed by a bear. When she finds out the truth, which is much worse, she seeks vengeance for her father and learns about what it means to be a family and what it means to hold on to family secrets.Continue Reading
Review: Angels of Hell: Poetic Tales of the Apocalypse by Christopher ~cliff~ Reichard
Angels of Hell: Poetic Tales of the Apocalypse by Christopher ~cliff~ Reichard
Self-Published via Kickstarter
191 pages; $21.99 hardcover
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Chris ~cliff~ Reichard is the writer and creator of the Angels of Hell comic book and poetry series. Their dark writing style has been influenced by various horror, Gothic and religious media that has only been darkened further from the worldly experience of being a combat veteran and a social activist. They successfully ran a Kickstarter campaign to get the comic series started. Chris is a simply, complicated person that lives and breathes in his Midwest American roots, the Greater St. Louis area of Missouri. Their newest collection is Angels of Hell: Poetic Tales of the Apocalypse. Continue Reading
Review: Dead Dudes by Christopher Sebela and Ben Sears
Dead Dudes written by Christopher Sebela, illustrated by Ben Sears, colored by Ryan Hill and Warren Wucinich, lettered by Crank!
Oni Press (September 2020)
126 pages; $19.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Trev, Kent, and Brian, collectively known as Ghostbros, are three struggling television paranormal investigators. Their show is about to be cancelled due to low ratings. Their competitors, Parawarriors, are stealing their audience with their new gadgets and their ability to not just investigate ghosts, but actually fight them. To save their show, Trev forces Kent and Brian to go to the most haunted place he can imagine: Edgeway Penitentiary in rural Montana. The team gets there and, within hours, discover that not only are ghosts real, but they are willing to kill. That’s when the problems really being in the young adult graphic novel, Dead Dudes.Continue Reading
Review: Scream Vol. 1: Curse of Carnage by Clay McCleod Chapman and Chris Mooneyham
Scream Vol. 1: Curse of Carnage by Clay McCleod Chapman
Marvel (August 25, 2020)
120 pages; $15.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
For those unaware of the Marvel Universe, specifically Earth-616, the Klyntar are a race of conscious symbiotes. While Klyntar are fully sentient creatures, in their natural state they are predators who feed on the darkest emotions of their hosts, compelling their hosts to violence and corrupting them. Scream: Curse of Carnage, written by Clay McCleod Chapman and illustrated by Chris Mooneyham, focuses on one of these symbiotes, Scream, and its host, Andi Benton. For fans of the Marvel Universe, this is a really compelling tale, and for fans of horror, the allusions to classical myth and horror will be entertaining as well.Continue Reading
Review: Skull Cat and the Curious Castle by Norman Shurtliff
Skull Cat and the Curious Castle by Norman Shurtliff
IDW Publishing (February 21, 2023)
112 pages; $14.99 paperback
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Scully the Cat’s father was injured hunting gold on a mountain, so Scully has to get a job with a local garden crew. His first job is at Le Dark Chateau, a haunted mansion rumored to have a hidden treasure, but it’s protected by unknown evil. When Scully’s new crew goes missing and he catches the lady of the manor drinking red liquid from a mug, surely she has murdered everyone and is drinking their blood! Will he have the same courage as his father? Will he find the treasure of Le Dark Chateau, or will he find a different type of treasure, instead?Continue Reading
Review: A Gift for a Ghost by Borja Gonzalez
A Gift for a Ghost by Borja Gonzalez
Abrams Comic Arts (May 2020)
114 pages; $24.99 hardcover
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Borja Gonzalez is a self-taught illustrator and strip cartoonist from Badajoz, Spain. His first published title, La Reina Orquidea, was a precious and haunting short piece which placed the author at the center of national attention. A Gift for a Ghost is his first long form work, recently translated into English and published for readers in the U.S.Continue Reading
Review: The Music Box 1: Welcome to Pandorient by Carbone and Gijé
The Music Box 1: Welcome to Pandorient by Carbone and Gijé
Stone Arch Books (January 1, 2023)
64 pages; $7.99 paperback; $5.99 e-book
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Having always been drawn to the world of children, Bénédicte Carboneill, aka Carbone, made the logical choice when it came time to decide on a profession by becoming a teacher. After joining the teaching ranks in 1995, she went on to become a principal before writing entered her life and quickly took over. In 2015, she tried her hand as a comics author with Le Pass’Temps (published by Jungle), taking on the pen name Carbone. She soon followed with La boîte à musique (Dupuis; The Music Box, Europe Comics, Capstone), and already has multiple other series in store, which readers can look forward to discovering over the coming years. Continue Reading
The Black Museum: The Ghost and the Lady by Kazuhiro Fujita
The Black Museum: The Ghost and the Lady by Kazuhiro Fujita
Kodansha Comics (October 2016)
304 pages; $19.99 hardcover, $9.99 e-book
Reviewed by Danica Davidson
The Black Museum: The Ghost and the Lady is a peculiar story that mixes real history with very much made-up fantasy and horror. It opens with a woman in a long, black dress, holding candles and standing at the base of the stairwell, seemingly looking at the reader and asking if there’s interest in a tour of the black museum. After this atmosphere-setting image, the woman begins to give a tour, but things are thrown off when a ghost appears.Continue Reading
Interview: Richard Delgado on The Art of Dracula of Transylvania
Ricardo Delgado grew up obsessed with monsters and has turned his childhood love into a career. He’s worked as a conceptual artist in Hollywood, published The Age of Reptiles graphic novel series, and is coming out with books on Dracula. After the success of his illustrated novel Dracula of Transylvania, his The Art of Dracula of Transylvania was put on Kickstarter where it quickly earned its goal. The Kickstarter continues until November 9, and Delgado spoke to Cemetery Dance about his early interests, his career in conceptual art and graphic novels, and why Dracula has obsessed him for so long.Continue Reading
Review: Dreams Factory by Jérôme Hamon and Suheb Zako
Dreams Factory written by Jérôme Hamon, art by Suheb Zako
Magnetic Press (September 13, 2022)
136 pages; $24.99 hardcover
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Following his studies at an American university and at business school, French author Jérôme Hamon began his professional life in New York as a financial analyst. Convinced that the life he wanted was elsewhere, he left the field two years later to travel around the world. Back in France, Hamon strung together a number of jobs in the movies, video games, and television. In parallel, he began to write his first comic book and graphic novel scripts. In 2008, Hamon went to Angouleme to present his first completed scripts, and it was there that he met artist Marc Van Straceele. The two would go on to collaborate on Yokozuna, a graphic novel on sumo wrestling in Japan (Kana, 2013). Following that, Hamon worked with artist Antoine Carrion on Nils, a saga halfway between Nordic mythology and the works of Miyazaki (Soleil, 2016). His newest graphic novel, in collaboration with freelance artist Suheb Zako, is Dreams Factory, a dark steampunk tale about mines, kidnapped children, and mechanical beasts.Continue Reading
Review: He Who Fights with Monsters by Francesco Artibani and Werther Dell’Edera
He Who Fights with Monsters by Francesco Artibani and Werther Dell’Edera
Ablaze (August 30, 2022)
144 pages; $24.99 hardcover
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Francesco Artibani has long worked for the Walt Disney Company Italia, where he writes many tales for Topolino, PK, and W.I.T.C.H., of which he’s been a scriptwriter and story editor for three years, and has created the science fiction series Kylion. Werther Dell’Edera is an Italian comic book artist who provided interior art for the unreleased comic Aliens: Colonial Marines – Rising Threat for Dark Horse Comics, as well as Marvel Comics, and BOOM! Studios hit Something is Killing the Children. Their newest collaboration is the WWII graphic novel He Who Fights With Monsters. Continue Reading
Review: Deserter by Junji Ito
Deserter by Junji Ito
VIZ Media (December 2021)
392 pages; $18.99 hardcover, $11.99 ebook
Reviewed by Danica Davidson
Deserter is a short story collection by Junji Ito, one of Japan’s most famous and successful horror manga creators. While you can see how he’s improved over time, the essence of his horror work is still here, and this is still definitely a worthy read.Continue Reading
Review: Over My Dead Body by Sweeney Boo
Over My Dead Body by Sweeney Boo
HarperAlley (August 30, 2022)
240 pages; $24.99 hardcover
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Sweeney Boo is a comic artist and illustrator living in Montreal, Canada.
When she’s not busy drawing witchy girls and hairless cats, she works with various publishers including BOOM! Studios, Archie Comics, IDW, Marvel, Image Comics and DC Comics. She is also the author and illustrator of graphic novel Eat, & Love Yourself. Her newest graphic novel is Over My Dead Body.Continue Reading