Saturday, March 08, 2008

Only In Whispers

When you want someone to hear you, you shouldn’t shout, you should whisper.

That’s right, Whisper. At least that’s what I’ve heard. It is what my good buddy Steve Kanaras does, and he ought to know, especially as he is the publisher and chief writer of Free Lunch Comics’ newest title, Only in Whispers. This is a supernatural anthology in the vein of the old Tales from the Crypt, with an other-worldly narrator named Mr. Quiet who acts as “host” and introduces each story.

There are four illustrated stories (three written by Steve) with a fourth prose piece also by Steve. One the stories is a continued story, while the others are all wrapped up in this issue. In addition to the fiction, there is a section of “True Tales of the supernatural. Unlike the rest of the comic, this section is dedicated to friends, associates, and readers relating “otherworldly” events that happened to themselves. This section makes for an interesting counterbalance to the rest of the comic. At this point I want to mention that the lead story is done by one of my personal favorite artists, Matt Ryan. (Matt illustrated my own Wúlf Girlz stories which appear in Psychosis! (Guild Works Productions).

The comic itself is more of the suspense and “boo” type of supernatural than the blood and gore of the slash & hack kind. which also makes it something of a novelty in this market. The stories are all throwbacks to the kinds of stuff I remember reading in those nameless horror comics from the ’60 and TV shows from the ’70s like Night Gallery and the like. (not that any of that is bad, it is just the feeling that it evokes in me).

Overall, I enjoyed the comic, and am looking to see where it goes next.

1 comment:

Tommy said...

I remember actually seeing a hardbound collection of horror comics in my Jr. High Library.


My elementary school had one of the books Jon reviewed somewhat recently, the Children's Press Spider-Man book.

The link to it would extend out, but you can find it at spiderfan by going to Comics --> (Non Continuity) Books --> Spider-Man Books (Misc.), and it'll be the third book from the top.

I was probably somewhere between 5th - 6th grade when I read it.

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