This is your unholiness, the 13th Dali Trauma speaking to you from his
crooked tower of skulls, somewhere between the Plateau of Leng and the
Lake of Hali.
I have been spending a lot of time rebuilding my empire of darkness
with lots of cold beer, pagan bonfires in the woods, and the sweet
scent of death in my nostrils…actually that would be slow roasted
barbecued pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon with caramelized onions
with a side of peanut butter and grape jelly sammiches. You smush the
sammich down with your bare hands until it’s nice and flat, see? Then
you put a slice of juicy tender barbecued pork on top and wrap the
whole mother up like it’s a goddamn magical meat taco. It is a magical
meat taco, but different. Make them for your friends and tell them
it’s unicorn meat. Tell them your uncle has a unicorn ranch and he let
you work on the killing floor last summer.
But anyway, I digress.
A recent trip to the Small Press Expo became a personal journey of
discovery for myself and for Mademoiselle Trauma.
The Small Press Expo is a convention and celebration of Indie comics
that has been going on in the DC area for 20 years. It’s a very cool
event and this was my first time visiting.
Anyway, we hauled off a lot of awesome comix, however, but I have two
things that I want to set you all hip to.
TEENAGED TRASH PARTY by Barbara Guttman
(marteani.tumblr.com)
is 20 pages of black and white atmospheric horror goodness. Barbara
Guttman’s clean detailed style reminds me of why I love comics. Oh,
and yeah, it’s super creepy and downright disturbing. Check out her
tumblr page to see if you can get your hands on your own copy.
20 pages of black and white punky horror is good, but what about 360 pages?
The Sleep of Reason: An Anthology of Horror is just that. A hefty tome
of terror featuring short stories from a cavalcade of comic creators.
The great Jason Thompson (who did an amazing adaptation of Lovecraft’s
“Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath” a while back) is in there, Gabby
Shulz, KC Green, Meg Gandy, and many more.
You won’t find any dull-ass zombies or sullen, emo vampires. Every
story is original and creepy…although a few miss the mark, they do
make up points in creativity.
You know that $30 you were going to spend on making your own Unicorn
Tacos? Well, spend it on your own copy of The Sleep of Reason instead.
Go check it out here http://www.ironcircus.com/
and also check out their Smut Peddler anthology which is a huge book
of super cool sexy time comics.
It does my heart good knowing that there are people out there who are
making amazing comics, making their own weird and macabre tales, and
not just obsessing over the same dumb superhero bullshit.
Well dear readers, I hate to leave you now, but I have to get down to
the supermarket. See, now that it is October, it’s the only time of
year that I can readily purchase normal shit for my house. Oreos with
orange filling? Ornamental skulls? Rubber bats? Frankenberry cereal? I
have to stock up while I can!
ia! Shub Niggurath!
~The Dali Trauma~