The Foxe Gospel 10/27/2022: Where's my cake? I want it! It's mine!
Yelps & Barks
Happy Halloween! Or near enough, anyway. Every October, I have grand goals of fully devoting myself to horror for the month (which, admittedly, isn’t a huge change from my regular media consumption), and every October, something comes up mid-month that derails my relatively modest goals of terror consumption. This year, it was a few cool work opportunities that required diving into non-horror research, as well as a very exciting chance for my partner to show off his creative skills on a new stage. (If you like cosplay and streamers, be sure to follow him on Instagram and Twitch!)
Despite the diversions, I managed some good horror groundwork this month, namely preparing for a 2023 series that may be the most prominent thing I’ve written yet, as well as finishing most of the work on a creator-owned horror series that’ll likely get announced at the end of the year. And that’s not even getting into some of the frightening projects I’m editing, one of which you’ll get your first taste of very soon…
If you are looking for something scary to read at the last moment, James Tynion and I worked with our buddies at the phenomenal Third Eye Comics to get the digital issues of Razorblades: The Horror Magazine back online via the Tiny Onion Shop. You can pay what you'd like for nearly 400 pages of original horror comics, illustration, prose, and interviews from some of the best in the business. And if you dig what you read on your electronic devices, we have a very handsome hardcover collecting the whole shebang, in stores now via Image Comics.
I still have hopes of hitting my minimum of 13 horror films for the month, but it’s going to be a close one this time. And we never did get around to decorating pumpkins! Aww shucks. At least I got to contribute to…
OUT THIS WEEK
Creepshow #2
Art by Erica Henderson
Letters by Pat Brosseau
Also featuring David Lapham, Maria Lapham, and Trish Mulvihill
Main cover by Chris Burnham
Variant Covers by Sebastián Fiumara and Vance Kelly
Edited by Jon Moisan & Alex Antone
Published by Skybound Entertainment
The Creep scares up two all-new standalone stories in this star-studded anthology based on the hit Shudder TV series. DAVID & MARIA LAPHAM (STRAY BULLETS) terrify with the tale of a tree whose roots grew so deep they reached Hell...and the girl who sat beneath it. STEVE FOXE (RAZORBLADES) and ERICA HENDERSON (DRACULA, MOTHERF**KER) share the shocking story of legendary comic creator Sal Medina-and the dedicated fan who went too far.
Like a lot of kids who grew up in the nineties, browsing video stores had a massive impact on my perception of pop culture and media. And despite being surrounded by horror as an adult, I was a latecomer to the genre as a youth. I always loved monsters and creatures and spooky stuff, but the idea of actually seeing a horror movie newer than Creature From the Black Lagoon terrified me into my early teens, when I made a complete flip on the stuff.
Seeing the iconic VHS covers for Creepshow and Creepshow 2 are a foundational memory for me—the way both actively beckon you into the viewing experience with welcoming, skeletal hands. In fact, one of the first horror creators whose work I devoured was George Romero, which led me to Creepshow way back when I thought I was too cool for Stephen King (I was very wrong).
So it is, of course, a massive honor to contribute to this series, which pays tribute to the tone and approach of Creepshow with brand-new tales of terror. I can’t thank enough both Jon Moisan, who offered me a spot, and Alex Antone, who took the reins when Jon landed at a new job. But more than anyone, thanks to Erica Henderson, who elevated a story I was already pretty proud of into one of my favorite things I’ve ever worked on. I’ve loved Erica’s work since Squirrel Girl, and seeing how uniquely she interprets horror and mature subject matter blows me away every time. No one else could have made “Creator’s Rites” what she made of it. Which is great, because sharing an issue with the Laphams is intimidating as all get-out. Pick up Creepshow #2 now, and be sure to keep an eye out for the rest of the series, featuring some utterly spine-tingling horror talent!
ON THE HORIZON:
I’m taking November off! Or my publishing schedule is, anyway. With Archer & Armstrong Forever’s early bow this summer, my November blanked out, so the next thing coming down the pipeline for me is the X-Men Annual in December. I just finished my lettering pass last week, and I can say with absolute confidence that X-fans are going to lose their mind at Andrea DiVito’s work here. He’s been a reliable name among the Marvel stable for years, but I’ve got a good feeling his profile is about to rise in a big way.
INPUT, OUTPUT:
As I mentioned above, my goal each October is to watch 13 horror films before Halloween—a more modest, attainable attempt than the popular 31-film dash. Here’s what I’ve managed so far, ranked from most-enjoyed to least:
Tetsuo: The Iron Man
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Kwaidan
Pearl
Near Dark
Deadstream
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
The Faculty
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum
Halloween Ends
Hellraiser ’22
(I’m not counting Hocus Pocus 2, but will retroactively if I can’t manage two more horror movies by Monday.)
I’d consider The Faculty and Gonjiam enjoyable if not particularly good, and Tales from the Darkside on up to be genuinely good, recommendable movies. Hellraiser ’22 and Halloween Ends are both awful, though Jamie Clayton does a solid job in the former and Ends had a kernel of a great idea, applied at the wrong time and in the wrong manner. Hellraiser ’22 bummed me out more than Ends because it just seems to fully miss the point of Hellraiser, which is the push-pull between desire and disgust, pain and pleasure, want and revulsion. The Cenobites are reduced to zombie slashers (and the designs are too slick, too busy, and too same-y), the protagonist has a slight edge at the start that’s totally abandoned a third of the way in, and the human antagonist has one of the most accidentally hilarious prosthetics I’ve ever seen, rivaling even the CD Cenobite from Hellraiser III. It’s not a wholly incompetent movie, which almost makes it worse: it’s just so damn generic for a much-hyped Hellraiser revival. I would consider some of the direct-to-DVD retrofitted sequels better attuned to Clive Barker’s original ideas.
It's actually very interesting to me that horror-franchise revivals stank up streaming services three times in 2022: Netflix's atrocious Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Huluraiser, and Peacock's Halloween Ends (which was a simultaneous release, to be fair). Meanwhile, original horror had a fairly fantastic year in mainstream theaters, with X, Pearl, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Barbarian, and Smile (the only one I haven't seen yet, though I've heard good things) all pleasantly surprising viewers and seeming to pop for both horror-heads and the genre-hesitant. Not a bad way for things to land, I'd say.
In better news, though, I have two upcoming comics to mention here. First up is one I actually read a while ago but forgot to mention in earlier newsletters, which is Wiper from John Harris Dunning and Ricardo Cabral, out November 16th from Dark Horse Comics. Visually, this original graphic noir will certainly appeal to fans of Blade Runner and Euro sci-fi comics, and the twisty narrative impressively juggles nested identities; questions of community, class, and belonging; and a surprisingly large cast you grow to care for quite deeply over the course of the book. I suspect we’re going to see more and more of John in the coming years, as his confident blend of genre elements and thoughtful, layered scripting spreads around the industry, and I’ll be keeping an eye on Cabral after this, too. Ask your shop to reserve a copy now so you can say you knew them both back when.
The other book I had the joy of checking out was All Against All #1, out December 7th (my birthday!) from Image Comics. This book’s a no-brainer for me, as it’s lettered by my good friend Hass Otsmane-Elhaou, written by my pal Alex Paknadel (who did a serial in Razorblades!), and drawn by Caspar Wijngaard, whose work I’ve long enjoyed, from Limbo to Home Sick Pilots. On a primal level, this is “what if you were kind of rooting for the Xenomorphs against Tarzan?” but Alex has made a career out of elevated, complicated takes on simple-sounding genre premises. The first issue is a rip-roaring blast, especially because literally no one in comics looks like Caspar—he’s in a lane all his own. I believe this one’s a ways off from final order deadlines, so preorder it at your local comic store to help it launch in a big, big way.
Finally, my pal Tate Brombal just jumped on the newsletter train, so consider this a cross-plug and endorsement.
That’s it for now, as I’ve got a cake to frost, completely unrelated to any vengeful, creepy corpses.
xoxo
Steve