Happy Horrorween!
Spooky season reaches it's apex, with a look at all the spooky stuff I'm working on.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Some big news got announced last week, just in time for the holiday - RAZORBLADES is being collected into a print volume that will be published by Image Comics early next year!
For anyone who is unfamiliar, Razorblades is the brainchild of James Tynion IV, and Steve Foxe - it’s a horror anthology magazine featuring some of the most talented voices working in horror comics today - people like Ram V, Vita Ayala, Alex Paknadel, Michael Walsh, and many many more. Including yours truly! I was thrilled to be able to contribute a story to Razorblades #4, with Alex Cormack, my frequent collaborator on all my horror books. Even better was having Chris Sotomayor and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou on colors and letters, respectively - two creators who consistently elevate every story they touch. Our wicked little tale is called “Perhaps She’ll Die”, and its one of the most fun and nasty stories I’ve ever had the pleasure creating.
Alex and I started from a very simple premise - the well known and beloved nursery rhyme that starts “There was an old lady who swallowed a fly, swallowed a fly, swallowed a fly. I don’t know why she swallowed a fly… perhaps she’ll die.”
I was just struck with an image - a filthy, scary looking man trundling along with a package, humming that rhyme under his breath, occasionally breaking out in to the lyrics. He was in a dark, shadowy building climbing a staircase - where was he going? What was in the package? Answering those questions led to the genesis of the story, and Alex rendered it perfectly, from the darkened building to the scraggly teeth filling our guy’s mouth.
I want to take a second to thank James and Steve for having us contribute - having our story printed under the Image comics banner is a personal milestone for me, that I hope to follow up someday with more.
NIGHTMARE THEATER 2: THE REVENGE OF THE HORROR COMIC ANTHOLOGY
Speaking of horror anthologies, I’m currently contributing to another one! Last year’s NIGHTMARE THEATER was a fun collection of movie-inspired horror stories put together by Clay Adams and David Schrader, and they’re back for more with a second volume that’s currently live on Kickstarter here!
For this anthology, I’m working with the talented J. Paul Schiek on a story called “Nothing to See Here”, about the horrors that Augmented Reality and VR might bring us in the very near future. It’s inspired by movies like They Live, and Minority Report, with a horror twist.
Schiek’s hard at work on the pages, and here’s a look at the first one!
Last but not least, just a quick reminder that SEA OF SORROWS will be out in Trade Paperback on November 16th! Collecting our second tale of historical horror at IDW, it’s gonna look great on your bookshelf next to ROAD OF BONES.
And, I’m proud to say SoS has been making the rounds of some pretty cool Halloween reading lists, including leading horror community Bloody Disgusting!
Bloody Disgusting’s 2021 Fall Reading Guide: 10 Horror Books Perfect for the Halloween Season
Read This Book: Five Books Perfect For Spooky Season on Biff Bam Pop
9 Spooky Graphic Novels That Are Perfect for Halloween on BookTrib
Hope you enjoyed this look into the spooky side of my comics work, and hope you all have a great Halloween night!
- Rich