I'm planning to eventually start a second comic (or....there's a SLIGHT chance of it being an flash series...probably not) that is pure horror. It will involve ghosts, possession, and all that crap. :-D

So this got me wondering, have any of you read a comic that made it hard for you to sleep that night? And is it even possible to jump at comic?

Basically just talk about horror comics...if there are even that many. :smt069

Tater hits a point that I had to face a lot in college doing comics. It's very very hard to make good horror, since nothing really jumps at you if you see it before getting to that part.

Horror comics can work, but rely heavily on the writting, and even more on the art. Work with lots of blacks, loosen up and spend more time showing the setting.

Uzumaki was a comic that really freaked me out. It didn't rely on shock value, but instead on the gradual relization that these people really were doomed. And it did it SO well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzumaki [en.wikipedia.org]

yeah, I'd say you gotta do it in the suspensful way, through the progression of the story. Make things unexpected. Or be able to draw some really really creepy things. That also helps. ^_^

Ballad, by "Dead Mouse," is a distinctly creepy comic. Again, the artist really takes his time to build up a large catalog of disturbing images in the reader's head.

I'd link to it, but I believe its subscription-based, these days.

Again, not much jumps out to grab the reader-- there are surprises, but not many "gotcha!" moments or other shocks.

I really enjoy Mike Mignola's (Hellboy) atmospheric art, but his horror stories aren't exactly scary. They are satisfying for other reasons, though. The same can be said for Eric Powell (The Goon), whose comedy-horrors are remarkably effective. These are both artist par excellence, though.

These pages from Gunnerkrigg Court are magnificent.

I also thought that the Sluggy Freelance "Kitten" story was good slasher horror, in its way.

Demon Eater is my attempt to make the scariest comic ever without swear words. It makes me so sick inside.

It's mostly a mixed of taboo consepts to try to make it origenal. It's probably just a lot of gross out horror though.

If your making an possession horror comic and looking for ideas see the origenal movie The Exorcist. Some people don't think it's scary at all, but it scared the hell outta me.

I for one read stacks and stacks of horror comics as a kid. Everything EC ever made is pure hilarity. You see, what makes horror comics good isn't the "scary" element. Thats like saying Dracula is scary. A vampire is not scary to me anyway. Its just supernatural, and is somewhat interesting.

I recently picked up the Army of Darkness books, the first two limited series and some of the new stuff where he fights the re-animator. Really good examples of what a horror comic should be. Mostly just campy fun, lots of gore and chainsaws, and hilarious stuff.

I've got this one set called "Leatherace vs Jason" where Friday the 13th and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre crossover thats pure comedy gold. Jason actually feels compassion in the books for Leatherface, but they end up fighting anyway. Quite a few hilarious moments. No one watches the Jason movies for the qaulity acting or storyline, they watch it for the death effects. Thats why those final destination movies are being churned out, they've got the slasher movie without even having to have a slasher. Although they seem to have forgotten about the key aspect of any good horror character: marketing.

I saw this gothy kid with a WW (jason mask) D shirt on, and laughed at him because I didn't see it was a jason mask. He then quickly called me a noob and told me I knew nothing of horror movies, but when I asked him his thoughts on certain classic horror movies, this stupid bastard actually prefers the remakes of them, then the actual movies.

Dawn of the Dead
The Hills Have Eyes (he said he never saw the original and didn't want to)
House of Wax
The Amityville Horror

True classics of the modern art scene being remade. I absolutely can't stand the idea of remakes.

I was supposed to talk about horror comics wasn't I? oh shit! Well, horror comics are generally crossovers (evil dead/re-animator or jason/leatherface as strong examples) campy contiutations (like the evil dead regular series) slasher/monster movie stuff (EC comics) or the supernatural thrillery stuff with lots of symbolism (silent hill or clive barker)

I bet no one on DD even knows who the fuck Clive Barker is.

Kbasset
I have to disagree with skull in his view that the art should exceed the writing. Never, never should the art exceed the writing. The writing is the begin all and end all to anything. Art will always be the icing on the cake. I am a huge horror fan, and not just mainstream and classic horror, and the scariest movie are not the ones that focus on special effects or flashy gore scenes. It's the ones that focus on ambiance and character developement. Anything can be done right if it is done well. Just because something makes you jump does not necessarily mean its scary. What many movie directors have been employing since the first Halloween is the use of sensory overload, fast images combined with loud, sharp sounds used to overload your senses making you jump, not from fear but from just reaction to the stimulates.

Forget the use of the "jump" factor and focus on what is truly frightening. The anticipation of the jump.

as Alfred Hitchcock once said

"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."

And god damned if he ain't right.

Oh noes, actually I agree, art should never outshine writting. My point was to actually consider the style used as part of the writing element. Is the story about running from unseen thing, loosen the art up, make us feel the panic the story brings about with the art as well.

Also, is female. :P

I know I can make really creepy comics but it's a shame I have no guts in drawing extremely creepy stuffs.

Well, the ability to produce good horror comics or books is unique, because not everyone is afraid of teh same things. While any yutz with a pencil could make a comedy or action piece, the genre of Horror is by itself an art form, one which many people have taken as their life's work.
Some attempt overwhelming suspense, or ghastly shock (such as Edgar Allen Poe's The Telltale heart), whereas others attempt to go into darker areas of the human psyche (Stephen King's many horror books).

A decent Horror piece relies alot on the imagination. It tries to lead a person in, to force them to guess what happened, and what may or may not. Usually there are many moments of suspense included in these books, but in my opinion, a good horror story will hint at people, suspicions, actions, or outcomes, and leave the rest to the twisted imagination of the reader.

It is alot like the older motto that a man's mind is the worst torture imaginable.
You could take out a knife and tell him exactly what you're going to cut and how, and yes, that would scare him.
Or you could lay down objects such as a corkscrew, a pile of broken glass, and some hot coals, and simply stand by and smile.

Surprise and shock are also major points in a horror piece. When a character turns around and does something completely unpredictable, or so ghastly that it leaves you thinking to yourself: "Oh, my god...", It tends to set the mood for most of the reading experience.

As for a horror COMIC, that is more difficult to do, due to the fact that you have to allow not only for artwork, but for plot, cutoff scenes, and (most importantly), comic layout.

Kbasset
well here's a trivia question...Does anyone here know who Vinchenzo Natali is?

After an exhaustive search involving clicking as many as three links on the Google search results page, I've found this:

Vincenzo Natali is a French-Canadian screenwriter and director. His magnum opus was the 1997 flick Cube. He also used to do storyboards for the Beetlejuice TV series.

As for my opinion on horror comics, I'd agree that you really do need to put a lot of focus on the characters, how they react to situations, and what's going on inside their heads. If you rely on showing a lot of ghouls and gore, you won't keep the reader captivated for very long-- they'll either react with disgust at your comic (as mean old Dr. Wagner did back in the Fifties, prompting him to write Seduction of the Innocents, which was arguably comics' greatest setback in achieving "high art" status) or become desensitized to it (The Saw franchise, anyone?).

The occult and comics are no strangers. It'll be interesting to see what interesting spin you put on the genre.

~IJ

PS: The other night Stanley Kubrick's rendition of The Shining was on A&E. Even with the cheesy little kid croaking out "red ruuum", even with Jack Nicholson's bizarre facial contortions, I still elect it to be the most finely-crafted horror movie ever made. Hands down. All it needed was Vincent Price, and it would have been perfect.

Ian brings up an interesting point about the characters. I think it's important for people to care about the characters involved. I mean, seeing a guy getting disembowelled doesn't mean much if you can't even remember his name. That's a different kind of horror, in a way. To show what kind of life these people could have if these terrible things weren't happening to them. The horror is that much more horrifiying if you get a glimpse of just what dreams are being shattered, especially if they're anything like your own.

I bet no one on DD even knows who the fuck Clive Barker is.

The Thief of Always may be my favorite kids' book. Okay, it falls behind Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, but what doesn't?

I'm reading Lovecraft right now, but if you want really good horror, I recommend his inspirations: E.F Benson and M.R. James. James in particular is a scary mo fo, able to capture the fear of the unknown without dissecting the unknown and showing us the autopsy photos.

Lovecraft had a mythos, James had mysteries.

victor_von
The Thief of Alwaysmay be my favorite kids' book. Okay, it falls behind Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, but what doesn't?

I concur. Norton and Jules set the bar for youth literature with Tollbooth.

~IJ

This new comic is kinda creepy

http://www.drunkduck.com/Sidhe/