Any pitch that opens with the line “A haunted toilet” is going to be good. “Spooky Sleepover” is a full-colour 72-page all-ages comic collection being Kickstarted by Dave Scheidt and Jess Smiley. It features three original stories written by Dave and illustrated by Jess: “The Terror of the Toilet”, “The Horribly Haunted Bike” and (yes, you guessed it) “Dinner and a Werewolf”. I’m a huge fan of Dave’s writing, and Jess’s art combines infectious energy with timeless, storybook colours. They’re collaborating on Spooky Sleepover because, as Dave puts it, “we like monsters, we like funny comics, we like writing stupid jokes.” (more…)
Category: Books & Comics
Werewolves set in type and inked in panels.
Ernest Mathijs analyzes feminism, identity & lycanthropy in “John Fawcett’s Ginger Snaps”
Friend of the site Tim McGregor (who astute readers may remember as the author who volunteered his book Bad Wolf for a Worst Werewolf Books post in 2011) recently shared with me the existence of John Fawcett’s Ginger Snaps, an ebook by UBC Film Studies Professor Ernest Mathijs. (more…)
DC wolfs out Batman and Superman for October
DC Comics is running a monster-themed variant cover for many of its titles this October, and the cover of BATMAN/SUPERMAN #15 features the two superheroes fully wolfed out. Jon Bogdanove and Alex Sinclair got me interested in two characters I haven’t thought about since the Baman Piderman Kickstarter in May. Supes, control those fur gauntlets, man! (more…)
“Cycle of the Werewolf” Illustrator Wrightson Hospitalized
As reported by Bleeding Cool, legendary comic artist and illustrator Bernie Wrightson was hospitalized today after suffering “a series of small strokes”. According to his wife, his cognition and his spirits are good, although he’ll likely remain in the hospital for tests and possible surgery. (more…)
Win a “Wolf-Girls” prize package from Hic Dragones
Want to win some free books? Of course you do! Enter this giveaway from publisher Hic Dragones and you could win paperback copies of The Tattooed Wolf by K. Bannerman, Blood and Water by Beth Daley, and werewolf short story anthology Wolf-Girls, plus a Wolf-Girls tote bag in which to store your winnings. The competition closes on June 30th, and international entries are welcome, so unless you are scared of books or winning, you have no excuse to not enter. (more…)
“Deadman’s Land” achieves the Nazi Werewolf Singularity
Werewolves and Nazis (or Nazi werewolves) are only one or two rungs up from “lycanthropy as a metaphor for puberty” on the well-worn ladder of werewolf tropes. If, like me, you usually cringe at the notion, I want you to stand up straight. Smile and be happy, because Barry Duffield has succeeded where many others have tried and failed (or gave up): he wrote Deadman’s Land, a truly frightening horror story about Nazi werewolves that’s so good that everyone else can stop trying.
Originally conceived as a screenplay and adapted into a graphic novel by Steve Stern, Deadman’s Land works for me regardless of its format because it sidesteps the occult gimmicks and pulpy worship of Nazi iconography I’ve come to expect from this particular sub-genre of werewolf fiction. It’s a lean, mean war story about a group of soldiers who get into some bad “wrong place, wrong time” shit and have to dig their way out with cunning, bravery, and a flamethrower named Bertha.
The characters are a satisfying mixture of genre archetypes, from the hard-bitten sarge to the Hollywood actor who got drafted, but none of them are caricatures, and while the body count is high, the deaths are neither cheap nor gratuitous. The artwork by Tyler Sowles and colours by Alice Baltes-Quist combine for a simple, clean look that reminds me of (period appropriate) 1940’s comic books or a high-budget Saturday morning cartoon, which makes it even more startling when the art depicts someone getting literally torn apart by werewolves, or shot in the head with a .5o cal round.
Right now Deadman’s Land is available exclusively for Amazon Kindle, but it’s worth installing the app for, and based on the reviews it’s getting, I expect it’ll appear in other mediums pretty soon. Nice work, Barry – you’ve achieved the Nazi Werewolf Singularity, and now we can all rest!
Issue 3 confirms “Who Needs The Moon?” is a masterpiece
The third and latest issue of Todd A McCullough’s ongoing graphic novel Who Needs The Moon? elevates the series to the status of “best werewolf comic I’ve ever read”, and earns the series a place on my list of top five comics of all time. (more…)
Kickstart the “Tales of the Wolfman” multi-artist anthology
Tales of the Wolfman creators David Gruba and Rene Castellano have just launched a Kickstarter campaign for a 48-page, multi-artist Tales of the Wolfman anthology. (more…)
A “Curse” worth having
The dangers of a long journey home from a distant land can cast a haze on the memories of the adventure as a whole, unless the traveller returns with some bauble or token to commemorate the experience. That is why I drove home from Emerald City Comic Con – the gruelling two hours between Seattle and Vancouver just straight up riven with gentle rain and outlet stores – with three issues of Curse clutched to my chest. It was important… that I remember. (more…)
Nicholas Pekearo’s “The Wolfman” novel gets a film deal
Deadline reports that a film version of Nicholas Pekearo’s “werewolf cop uses curse to kill criminals” novel The Wolfman is in the works. The novel was up by Macmillan Entertainment and Everest Entertainment Group, who are working with Pekearo’s mother to develop the novel into a screenplay. Pekearo was a NYPD Auxiliary police officer who was killed in the line of duty in 2007. “The Wolfman” was his first novel, and was published in 2009. (more…)