8/30/06 ~ Dark Horrors from Arcana

Now available in the Previews catalog on page 238 --

Dark Horrors Anthology Volume 1 GN
by Various
Mature Themes, 120 pages B&W, $9.95
published by Arcana Studio
(order code: SEP063063)

I contributed a short story. It's illustrated by ZeeS and lettered by Justin Stewart. Thank you Aaron Thomas Nelson for inviting us onto this project. I'm happy with how it all came together. I wanted to work with ZeeS on something (anything!), and this gave me the perfect opportunity.

A preview of page 2 (click to view the full size image)


The story itself is a personal one. In the sense that I consider my own greatest fear. Kennedy became "Kendra" and this tale about a father losing his daughter came out. It's still difficult to read these pages. I can't allow my own mind to wander too much. Understandably, Melissa had a hard time with it too.

I'd be interested in other people's feedback about this, but from another perspective, this six page narrative could be viewed as an allegory for the crisis in New Orleans. It's not too much of a stretch when you have a panel of a distraught black man waist-deep in water calling for help, with no one responding. Without spoiling the ending, there's another panel that's particularly symbolic, which could just as easily be an editorial cartoon on the government's response. So yeah, a possible social horror story about negligence -- with a possible supernatural element. Maybe?

I let Jim Lujan read it. He sent me this e-mail today: "That is deeply deeply disturbing... but SO SO Good,man! I'm going to have nightmares. PS...the art....FANTASTIC!!" Thanks Jim.