You're the pulisher: Pick the Artistic Team & re-launch Horror!

[Forbush-Man]

Okay, I know this is a cross between Bronze & Modern age, but I'd rather post it here rather than in the Modern section:

 

You're the publisher. You've been reading (lurking, actually) the Bronze Age Forum and taking notes. You see a LOT of interest in the Bronze Age Horror threads. "These kids really seem to like this stuff, a lot!" you think, puffing on your cigar.

 

Suddenly you have an idea: "It's time to get back into the genre! Why didn't I think of this sooner ? It's gonna take the right writers and artists,...but WHO?

 

Pick one ,or more, writer and/or artist from as far back as 1980 to today to launch your Modern Age Horror books.

 

My choice for artist: Sam Kieth.

[shiverbones]

hmmm.

 

Garth Ennis

Neil Gaimen

 

 

Kelley Jones

Dean Ormstrom (sp?)

Sam Keith

ryan sook

[Forbush-Man]

I would love to see what Sam Kieth would come up with! I think he'd be a natural for horror. Loved his Frazetta style. Beautiful backgrounds, sexy females. Dark, looming creatures!

[Rip]

Moore, Wrightson....doing Swamp Thing

[Darthdiesel]

Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith

[rob_react]

Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith

 

[Forbush-Man]

Maybe I should add: Give a brief description explaining what attributes your choice would add to the books.

[blutobc]

DC

Alan Moore and Stephen Bissette re-team to do a Horror anthology in the vein of HOS and HOM With the anthology format they can let themselves go even further than before. Remember their Swampy stuff met the CCA code, imagine what can be done today without the code.

 

Marvel

Bruce Jones and Sam Keith do a revamp of Tomb of Dracula under the Marvel Knights banner. Keep the book in the Marvel Universe but stay in the shadows.

 

Oh, wait..marvel already has a new Horror title it's called X-Force by Leifield.

[chrisco37]

Love the Moore & (name an artist) combo.

 

Niles & Templesmith are the current "dynamic duo" when it comes to horror.

 

The guys on the new Swamp Thing are doing a great job. The art is very reminescent of BA horror books.

 

Sam Keiths stuff on the early Sandman was really nice. His newere stuff might look allright on a horror title. It's a little cartoony, but still grotesque, so it probably would work.

 

Ennis would be another good choice as long as he doesn't try and make it like Preacher (his biggest drawback these days is most of his stuff just copies his Preacher formula). Would have to be more along the lines of his Hellblazer stuff which was more subtle than Preacher. Works better for horror.

 

Good Topic!

[Jayman]

I would love to see what Sam Kieth would come up with! I think he'd be a natural for horror. Loved his Frazetta style. Beautiful backgrounds, sexy females. Dark, looming creatures!

 

He's doing the D.C. mini series "Scratch" right now, on issue # 3 currently.

Story's about a werewolf, mutant children and the Batman is also thrown into the mix!

[precodekeith]

Gotta get Bruce Jones to write if it's going to be an anthology title! (hey, he's pretty good at long story arcs, too)

 

Art: Wrightson (no brainer), Kaluta (is he still around? haven't seen anything of his in awhile), Ploog, Bissette.

 

Yeah! Get these guys to show Niles & Templesmith how it's done!

[Darthdiesel]

I've read Bronze Horror, ooohed and ahhhed at the Wrightson, Adams, Kaluta covers and other DC/Marvel horrors being touted about here (Weird Wonder Tales, Frankensteins, Werewolf by nights, House of Mystery...etc) but I was not as enthusuastic about those as I was when I first opened up 30 days of night 1. Keep in mind that I found most "horror" entertainment cheesy and laughable (growing up with Friday the 13th/Nightmare/Faces of Death sequels)...

 

I'm thinking the newer truer "poop-yourself" horror is more appealing. I remember playing Resident Evil and Silent Hill on my Playstation for the first time in the dark. Watching the Ring...These are the memories and feelings of "horror/terror" that I experience reading and looking at a Niles/Templesmith collaboration. Templesmith's art reminds me of Sienkiewicz or Maleev, but darker tones and that haziness helps convey a sense of dread and confusinon in the characters a bit more, IMO

[chrisco37]

These are the memories and feelings of "horror/terror" that I experience reading and looking at a Niles/Templesmith collaboration. Templesmith's art reminds me of Sienkiewicz or Maleev, but darker tones and that haziness helps convey a sense of dread and confusinon in the characters a bit more, IMO

 

I agree, Darth. The first "30 Days" was pretty eerie/creepy ( ). Much more so than the BA stuff.

 

The BA stuff has great covers. Some of my alltime favorites, but the stories aren't near as 'scary' as Niles stuff. And Moore's Swamp Thing (I know how much you love him) remains the scariest stuff I've read. Damn that Haunted House issue!!!!

[helionaut]

I like Sam Keith, but I don't think he's really captured the bleakness that you need in a good horror comic. His stuff like Maxx and later is kind of "cartoony" and his Sandman stuff never really grabbed me, but maybe that was Dringenberg's inking. For my money, I'd like to see what Michael Gaydos and Alex Maleev can do. Gaydos did Alias (the Bendis comic) and I think he's great at setting moods. Maleev does the Bendis Daredevil, and he does "grim-n-gritty" excellently. For the writer, I'm sure Alan Moore has a million more little droplets of creepy, mystical story he can sweat out so if he's not completely retired, he'd be a good start. But the one I'd like to see come out with a straight-up horror is Warren Ellis. I've been re-reading the Planetary series and he's got a lot of stuff going on with some great sci-fi-freakazoid stuff.

[precodekeith]

First, even though I already responded to this thread, I have to say that horror doesn't have to be "re-launched." It has been a viable and popular genre among indy pubs for at least 2 years now.

 

That being said, if one means that horror can only be considered "re-launched" if it was done in the anthology style of the "BA" by a publisher like DC or Marvel (gag... supernatural superheros SUCK!), then I whole-heartedly stand behind my choices for writer and artists.

 

Steve Niles has not even come close to proving himself in the anthology format. He can't even hold Bruce Jones' wadded up discarded manuscripts in that department. In fact, as far as extended story arcs go, he has only done ONE thing OUTSTANDING; that being the first "30 Days." Since then, everything else is just as hackneyed as the worst George Kashdan or Jack Oleck. Fun? Yes. Memorable? Not so much. He has a LONG way to go, but there MIGHT be a future for him.

 

Templesmith better than Wrightson/Kaluta/Ploog/Bissette? Well, they say that art is subjective, so I won't argue here. IMO, Templesmith's style is very cool for a couple issues, then I get a headache and start to feel like the dude isn't even trying to finish his pieces. Maybe he would be GREAT at anthology tales?!

 

As far as "newer truer" goes: I don't get it. You are talking about supernatural subjects like vampires and ghosts.. how the hell can they be "truer?!"

 

Last but not least.... you can't compare comics to video games and movies. Not the same. I grew up watching Carpenter's Halloween when I was 8, and reading titles like Unexpected. They both scared me then, but only the movie still gives me the willies now. I'm pretty damned jaded. Comics... as much as a horror & comic fan as I am, just aren't going to frighten an adult like they did when the reader was younger. Not even close. Now, if Templesmith art brings back memories of a video game experience that scared you, that is a totally different subject entirely. Ask yourself: what is it that really frightened you, the art or the game that the art reminds you of?

[PovertyRow]

First, even though I already responded to this thread, I have to say that horror doesn't have to be "re-launched." It has been a viable and popular genre among indy pubs for at least 2 years now.

 

Keith! I've ben WAITING for you to come out swinging with this!!!! Well said!

[Norrin_Radd]

Here's a idea....

 

A horror comic with art by Bruce Timm...... and story by Brian Michael Bendis!

 

I like what they've done with crime comics (Goldfish/Jinx/Torso for Bendis and Hardboiled for Timm).

 

I (for one) would like to see what this pair could do with horror title.

[chrisco37]

I thought that Geoff Darrow was the artist on Hardboiled (the Frank Miller book, right?)

 

Bendis would be a good choice as well. Despite the "Bendis-hating" that goes on here, he usually delivers an entertaining story and is one of the only bright spots in Marvel's writing department.

[Norrin_Radd]

I thought that Geoff Darrow was the artist on Hardboiled (the Frank Miller book, right?)

 

Bendis would be a good choice as well. Despite the "Bendis-hating" that goes on here, he usually delivers an entertaining story and is one of the only bright spots in Marvel's writing department.

 

Timm did the covers. He always drew the notable horror story Red Romance in Flinch #11 (seriously disturbed stuff).