Proud dad of a zombie chimpanzee

Well actually I do have a great son, but as a scriptwriter I just saw in the artist's blog a sketch of a zombiechimpanzee. see:

Even better then I thought. Man am I lucky to have such talent to breathe life into these demented creations.

And you guys thought it is possible to survive a zombie apocalypse...yeah right

no fear of the Dark

Good guys are boring, villains aren't. That is why horror will always prevail. In real life we all want to meet nice people, people we can trust.

Safe.

Those are the ones we marry and hope to get as co-workers.

But still both sexes go for the bad boys or girls. To feel unsafe, alive, for a dare.

Horror comics don't lie to you the are about baser instincts and about truth veiled in social interaction and small talk. It has no reason for political correctness or respecting you, your friends or your enemies.

Death is unavoidable, pain is part of life and bad things happen.

But why would someone want to read about these things even more? If you ask that seriously, go somewhere else to grow up as a human.

Those of us enamored by horror know the allure. We are not adrenaline junkies as such but we like our fear.

We have understood that we are not the top of the foodchain nor pinnacle of creation. The world is not fair or safe. And it never, ever, will be. Horror tells us that but it shows both sides of the coin.
There is quote I vaguely remember saying how Stephen King "tells about most awful world where bad things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people"

And horror comics have one advantage: there is absolutely NO limit how over the top you can take it.
Want to blow up australia? sure. Have a team of flying were-hogs hunt your sadistic vampirekilling necromancer assassin? there you go. Zombie apocalypses of biblical proportions? Why thank you, dont mind if I do.

Yes, as a most writer I get the "easy" chores, that is thinking up twisted things as much as I can and hope that the artist is up for the challenge.
After all it is his/her talents that significantly make or break the entire thing.
I am a guy who follows the writers but even the best of them would be in trouble if their visions were finalized by autistic chimpanzees.

If someone would ask what current horror comics one should read I would tell them(heck, usually I just rant before they have time to run away) these:



















































The Walking Dead -by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard
The Crossed - by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows
Locke & Key - Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
Hellboy- by Mike Mignola et al
B.P.R.D - by Mike Mignola and Guy Davis
Hack/slash- by Tim Seeley et al

is that all? No.

There is loads of vibrant hungry beasts out there, from the great The Living Corpse to Jesus hates Zombies.

there are dark overlords after your hearts and minds and just you wait :I am applying to their ranks.

So, within few weeks on here I plan to have zombies, vampires, supernatural assassins, demons, slashers and other fun.
Pack your bags as I plan to go to war on the balkans, hunt for artefacts and lost places on europe and tear up american soil.

Some drawn by yours truly, hopefully most by people who actually know what they do.
And if any of you are fluent in drawing buxom final girls but is stuck on a storyline...in your service.

research and dementation

Post three: this blog needs pics.
seriously.
I mean a comicthemed blog with no pictures?
Bad idea.



much better.
See what I did there? I continued the previous themes of monkey mayhem and made this seem more readable.
And without picture of a naked female, despite the fact that this is internet.

But lets continue the bad ideas.
Unlike in real life where there are bad ideas abundance( invading Russia in wintertime, teasing predatory animals, dating, marriage, picking a fight with motor cycle clubs etc) in comics there is no such thing as a bad idea.
there is only poor execution.
No, not the capital punishment kind, but as being boring.

It's the same as with books and movies: you can have all the elements necessary to craft a grabbing interest of a reader/watcher but every now and then no matter how promising the subject matter it just fails.

Consider Zombie strippers, a hilarious movie starring Jenna Jameson and Robert Englund. Cheesy horror movie that revels in gratituous self-irony.
and think that Zombies!Zombies!Zombies! a.k.a. Strippers VS Zombies has exactly the same premise but is one of most brainnumbingly stupid and vapid bad movies.
So bad it is stinking bad.

it is as always how much heart one is willing to put in the thing.
And I am growing to like the comic piece discussed previously.
I love monsters and I like action and mixing those with gallows humor is most definately my thing.

But..I also have rampant imagination and hunger for stories. Both are fact that every now and then make me think that I have un-diagnosed case of ADD.
As today I thought once more about Vampires.
Yeah.
Those over-used monsters that have suffered at hands of Anne Rice and Twilight most effectively de-fanging them.

I am a werewolf kinda guy.
They represent duality, savagery, grace, primal insticts and sexuality in ways I feel the vampire as a monster just cannot reach.
But there is allure in the figure of the vampire.
And while there are loads of vampire comics out there only few are readable: 30 days of night, Impaler, some of Buffyverse, Life sucks, Boy vampire and Bonelli's Dampyr and stories in Dylan Dog.

these are a minority on stuff trying to cash in on the popularity the vampire is now revelling in.
And they do the mistake of target marketing this for women/girls.
Making comics geared to women is a great thing.
Underestimating their intelligence and what they want to read is terrible.

The vampire is a romantic figure but not in cheesy way.
Romance in vampirism is so much more than Megan Ryan romcom with sunlight allergy and dental props.

I am developing something along lines of doomed love but also in separately the spiritual and sociological aspects of vampirism.
One thing was reading about Survivalist movement.
Yes, the apocalypse awaiting armed up to the teeth people. they werent such then and arent mainly so now either.
At first they dropped out of society, built their bunkers but get this: they built excess bunkers & survival huts.
Why?
So they dont have to fight anyone: if you want shelter, food so on instead of having take it by force you can get it free and be indebted to ones offering the chance.

Now take the concept and add vampirism.
Shake well and put it to bake.
I think it has not been handled that way. At least not enough.

Bad ideas #2:

Yeah, Zombies.
the pic was on comicforum I attend at alarming rate and I talked with guys that a)draw penciled version inspired by Left 4 dead b) inked said piece and c) colored it.
And they were interested doing a zombie comic too.
The penciler and I have something at work too, but it is a long and wholely different process.

Zombies are the new (and old) black. I sing the high praise of The Walking dead by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore/Charlie Adlard/Rathburn to anyone willing to listen.
But I dont want to copy that.

Zombies are great source of horror tales; sociological, personal, gory, subtle the list just goes on and on.
Now with Zombies there is a problem: too many ideas.

Survivor tale is given but I want to do one with real folklore too. And one with main character as zombie. And scientific one. And hard-boiled detective story set in zombie underworld.
And a lovestory. and another one where BOTH are zombies.


but for those I need artists.
Unfortunately I plan to later on show my own sketches here.
You will understand then.

next week we will take a tuor in the world of spandexclad heroes and villains. BWAHAHAHA! or to quote the two great minds of our time:
"What shall we do today brain?"
"the same we do every night, try to take over the world..."