You were't planning on sleeping this week, were you?
October 29, 2014 12:15 PM Subscribe
Lauren Davis rounds up webcomics to give you thrills and chills on io9, calling out 18 specifically, then listing additional titles in some of the descriptions.
- The Last Halloween by Abby Howard, with references to Paranatural, Eerie Cuties, College Roomies from Hell!!!, and Bite Me!
- Split Lip by Sam Costello and various artists
- Broodhollow by Kris Straub (previously, twice)
- The works of Emily Carroll (previously, twice, thrice, Valentine's Day edition, and once more for good measure)
- The Last Trick-or-Treaters by RK Milholland
- The Fox Sister by Christina Strain and Jayd Aït-Kaci
- Gunshow's Horror Comics by KC Green
- False Positive by Mike Walton (previously)
- Crossed: Wish You Were Here (NSFW) by Si Spurrier, Javier Barreno, and Fernando Melek (mentioned previously)
- The Zombie Hunters by Jenny Romanchuk
- Judecca (sometimes NSFW) by Jonathan Meecham and Noora Heikkilä
- Agnes Quill by Dave Roman and various artists (previously)
- The Abaddon by Koren Shadmi
- Lovecraft is Missing by Larry Latham (previously)
- Stand Still. Stay Silent by Minna Sundberg (previously)
- The Stiff by Jason Thompson
- The comics of Ryan Andrews
- The Bongcheon-Dong Ghost (Not Safe for Pants) by Studio Horang, and Ok-su Station Ghost, from the comments.
Well, that list got me thinking about The Enigma of Amigara Fault again.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 12:44 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 12:44 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
Note that when Crossed: Wish You Were Here is listed as NSFW it really _means_ NSFW. Unless your workplace does not frown upon depictions of lungfucking a dolphin, of course, in which case I'd like to work there.
posted by delfin at 12:45 PM on October 29, 2014
posted by delfin at 12:45 PM on October 29, 2014
I endorse everything on that list, in addition to the following...
"Widdershins" is a series of on-going tales set in an extremely haunted British towne in the 1830s (except one story with some time travel) with an interesting cast of wizards and ghostbusters including a strong female protagonist who'd rather be called Harry than Harriet.
"The Dreadful" (semi-NSFW, especially this week) is a kind-of-a Western Dark Fantasy with a 'devil-girl' protagonist and other supernatural characters, from magic-wielding bounty hunters to elf sheriffs to cowboys who really are cows (or more correctly, bulls).
Si Spurrier's newer NSFW!!! comic is "Disenchanted". To quote the intro: "Welcome to Vermintown: a vast and vile city of a million inch-tall malcontents. Sprawling through an abandoned subway station deep beneath London, here myth has given way to sleaze, drugs, gangland violence and interracial hatred. Vermintown is where magic went to die."
Even Chris Baldwin's latest space comic, "One Way" is a 'people trapped in spooky house' tale, except they're trapped in a spaceship heading for a first contact with an alien race that they discover is hopelessly hostile and then it gets complicated... and he's just starting on alternate days, with artist Don Ahe, one titled "Yontengu", where so far we've noticed that all the characters are kinda monsters.
And for the lighter side of ghoulishness, there's Mary Death, a little girl who befriends the Grim Reaper.
I can think of more, let me get back to you...
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:29 PM on October 29, 2014 [3 favorites]
"Widdershins" is a series of on-going tales set in an extremely haunted British towne in the 1830s (except one story with some time travel) with an interesting cast of wizards and ghostbusters including a strong female protagonist who'd rather be called Harry than Harriet.
"The Dreadful" (semi-NSFW, especially this week) is a kind-of-a Western Dark Fantasy with a 'devil-girl' protagonist and other supernatural characters, from magic-wielding bounty hunters to elf sheriffs to cowboys who really are cows (or more correctly, bulls).
Si Spurrier's newer NSFW!!! comic is "Disenchanted". To quote the intro: "Welcome to Vermintown: a vast and vile city of a million inch-tall malcontents. Sprawling through an abandoned subway station deep beneath London, here myth has given way to sleaze, drugs, gangland violence and interracial hatred. Vermintown is where magic went to die."
Even Chris Baldwin's latest space comic, "One Way" is a 'people trapped in spooky house' tale, except they're trapped in a spaceship heading for a first contact with an alien race that they discover is hopelessly hostile and then it gets complicated... and he's just starting on alternate days, with artist Don Ahe, one titled "Yontengu", where so far we've noticed that all the characters are kinda monsters.
And for the lighter side of ghoulishness, there's Mary Death, a little girl who befriends the Grim Reaper.
I can think of more, let me get back to you...
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:29 PM on October 29, 2014 [3 favorites]
Came here to post the Enigma of Amigara Fault, as well. Everyone should read it.
posted by basicchannel at 2:05 PM on October 29, 2014
posted by basicchannel at 2:05 PM on October 29, 2014
What?! No Em Carroll?This list should have some Em Carroll. His Face All Red
posted by DGStieber at 2:06 PM on October 29, 2014
posted by DGStieber at 2:06 PM on October 29, 2014
In fact, Junji Ito's entire oeuvre is perfect for this time of year.
posted by basicchannel at 2:06 PM on October 29, 2014
posted by basicchannel at 2:06 PM on October 29, 2014
Junji Ito's work is not perfect for this time of year. Junji Ito's work is not perfect for any time of year. Reminding me that Junji Ito's work exists is morally wrong and I am going to hide under my desk until the shaking stops.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:10 PM on October 29, 2014
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:10 PM on October 29, 2014
> What?! No Em Carroll?
She's #4, and His Face All Red is the last of the "previously" links.
> Well, that list got me thinking about The Enigma of Amigara Fault again.
Your link is borked. Here it is, from a previous post on that work by Junji Ito, and here's a bunch of Junji Ito's manga translated into English. You're welcome/I'm sorry.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:11 PM on October 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
She's #4, and His Face All Red is the last of the "previously" links.
> Well, that list got me thinking about The Enigma of Amigara Fault again.
Your link is borked. Here it is, from a previous post on that work by Junji Ito, and here's a bunch of Junji Ito's manga translated into English. You're welcome/I'm sorry.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:11 PM on October 29, 2014 [2 favorites]
Scary webcomics. Huh.
Yes, there are scary webcomics... most of the sci-fi, superhero and fantasy comics have some serious scariness in their story arcs unless they are totally satiric/comedic. The barely-back-from-a-long-haitus D&D-themed "Goblins" has had some horrorific moments, including the one it's in right now.
I recently FPP'd Jason Shiga's now award winning "Demon", which, since discussion closed on that thread, has pulled one of the most WTF?!? plot twists I've ever dropped my jaw over.
"Power Nap" is kind of the Dilbert of horror comics, with a corporate drone trying to escape his sleeping nightmares only to find more real-life nightmares at the job.
I enjoyed the long-finished-and-book-published-but-still-web-accessible "Serenity Rose (Heart Shaped Skull)", the tale of an introverted emo college-aged witch living in a town where magic and horror are the basis of a tourist industry.
"Wilde Life" is the still-very-new comic from Pascalle Lepas (who did the sci-fi "Zap") about a city dweller who relocates to a small town in rural Oklahoma and encounters ghosts, were-dogs and (coming soon) other "creatures from Native American mythology."
"Monster Pulse" is Magnolia Porter's YA (so not THAT scary) tale of 'body monsters' existing as detached-but-more-than-functional human organs, the results of some truly mad science, and four kids with monsters who are hiding from the mad scientists.
If you think there's a frequent theme of making the Monsters into the protagonists, wait until you see some more from the "turning scary into funny" department:
"Zombie Roomie" started with the premise of sharing an apartment with a brain-eater and grew to include many other iconic monsters. The non-zombie roomie has a werewolf girlfriend who's the center of the current scarier-than-usual story arc. Funny how the scariest characters are the monster HUNTERS.
The almost always NSFW Josh Lesnick's latest is "You Suck" centered around a cute Succubus (okay, not really scary unless you have serious fears of B&D).
And of course there is "Call of Cthulhu: The Musical".
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:04 PM on October 29, 2014 [4 favorites]
Yes, there are scary webcomics... most of the sci-fi, superhero and fantasy comics have some serious scariness in their story arcs unless they are totally satiric/comedic. The barely-back-from-a-long-haitus D&D-themed "Goblins" has had some horrorific moments, including the one it's in right now.
I recently FPP'd Jason Shiga's now award winning "Demon", which, since discussion closed on that thread, has pulled one of the most WTF?!? plot twists I've ever dropped my jaw over.
"Power Nap" is kind of the Dilbert of horror comics, with a corporate drone trying to escape his sleeping nightmares only to find more real-life nightmares at the job.
I enjoyed the long-finished-and-book-published-but-still-web-accessible "Serenity Rose (Heart Shaped Skull)", the tale of an introverted emo college-aged witch living in a town where magic and horror are the basis of a tourist industry.
"Wilde Life" is the still-very-new comic from Pascalle Lepas (who did the sci-fi "Zap") about a city dweller who relocates to a small town in rural Oklahoma and encounters ghosts, were-dogs and (coming soon) other "creatures from Native American mythology."
"Monster Pulse" is Magnolia Porter's YA (so not THAT scary) tale of 'body monsters' existing as detached-but-more-than-functional human organs, the results of some truly mad science, and four kids with monsters who are hiding from the mad scientists.
If you think there's a frequent theme of making the Monsters into the protagonists, wait until you see some more from the "turning scary into funny" department:
"Zombie Roomie" started with the premise of sharing an apartment with a brain-eater and grew to include many other iconic monsters. The non-zombie roomie has a werewolf girlfriend who's the center of the current scarier-than-usual story arc. Funny how the scariest characters are the monster HUNTERS.
The almost always NSFW Josh Lesnick's latest is "You Suck" centered around a cute Succubus (okay, not really scary unless you have serious fears of B&D).
And of course there is "Call of Cthulhu: The Musical".
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:04 PM on October 29, 2014 [4 favorites]
I previously FPPed it, but you really, really need to read A Ghost Story.
posted by ShawnStruck at 4:10 PM on October 29, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by ShawnStruck at 4:10 PM on October 29, 2014 [3 favorites]
Run Freak Run - medieval fantasy Spain (I think), featuring witches and monsters and inquisitors.
posted by automatic cabinet at 5:49 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by automatic cabinet at 5:49 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
Your link is borked.
Ha! Must've copied from the wrong tab . And not double-checked.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 7:43 PM on October 29, 2014
Ha! Must've copied from the wrong tab . And not double-checked.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 7:43 PM on October 29, 2014
I may check some of these out, but any version of Crossed is not recommended, unless you've been looking for that special fast-zombie comic with extra creepy snuff porn, and unfortunately I broke my own rule with Wish You Were Here, which I followed until the end because 1) it was free and 2) I wanted to see if it continued its tradition of characters being aggressively stupid and nasty for no good reason up until the end; in that, it did not fail. It's about everything I don't like about Avatar Press in one franchise, and it pains me to no end--I mean, I really hate having to write this sober--that Alan Moore must need the money really, really fucking badly.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:26 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:26 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
HJ, I do mostly agree, and to make a clarification on my link above to Avatar Press/Si Spurrier's "Disenchanted", it does bring 'the fairy world' down to the level of Crossed's 'naked zombies' (with usually less naked). But if you're talking horror... it's plenty horrible enough (and one of the three guiltiest pleasures in my webcomic reading, just to see how nasty it can get... and no, I won't tell you the other two).
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:50 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:50 PM on October 29, 2014 [1 favorite]
KC Green is knocking it out of the park at #7. His horror comics are surprisingly creepy, if not strictly scary as such. You might think you could only do so much with the concept of a dog with human hair but you would be wrong. Dead wrong.
Also his Pinocchio comic, based on the original Collodi story, is brilliant. All original text but he's getting the comic timing down in the panels perfectly (JUST LOOK AT IT!).
posted by ocular shenanigans at 3:58 AM on October 30, 2014
Also his Pinocchio comic, based on the original Collodi story, is brilliant. All original text but he's getting the comic timing down in the panels perfectly (JUST LOOK AT IT!).
posted by ocular shenanigans at 3:58 AM on October 30, 2014
I've now read the first part of Crossed, called Wish you were here, and I feel dirty. Doubt that I'll read any more of it.
And I'm also surprised that Alan Moore will get involved with it, Halloween Jack.
posted by Harald74 at 7:24 AM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
And I'm also surprised that Alan Moore will get involved with it, Halloween Jack.
posted by Harald74 at 7:24 AM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
Comics by Jordan Witt:
Scarred for Life
The Pretzel
Haint Hasslers
The Ghost Dog
posted by Legomancer at 8:57 AM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
Scarred for Life
The Pretzel
Haint Hasslers
The Ghost Dog
posted by Legomancer at 8:57 AM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]
I don't know whether this is scary or just tragic, but there was a note added today to the "Lovecraft Is Missing" comic that it's creator, Larry Latham, has died of cancer, two days after Halloween.
.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:25 PM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
.
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:25 PM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]
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