The premiere issue of Viscere has arrived, and its theme is: Body Horror! Edited by Katie Skelly, who has penned an introduction in the course of which it is revealed that this anthology was born out of the isolation and fear brought on by the Pandemic, and the idea animating the works assembled here is that of confrontation with one's own – and others' – inescapable physicality. In the 120, magazine-size (8 1/2" x 11") pages of this first issue of Viscere , the group of talented women cartoonists who have herein banded together to provide readers with eight short comics works – in black & white, duo-tone and full color – and one essay (appropriately, on the Y2K comics of Junko Mizuno).
This a wide-ranging anthology, as stories and approaches span the spectrum from subtley psychological to over the top psychotic, each one presenting its own take on body horror, with no-holds-barred. And there is plenty of variety in art styles as well, as they range from anime-inflected cartoony to detailed old school illustration, each artist embodying a style that is distinctly their own.
Cover by Kate Lacour.
Uncivilized Books invades the mainstream comics market with this super creepy series that employs horror tropes (that blend in hints of Alan Moore and Jacen Burrow 's Providence and Charles Burns's Black Hole) to examine America back when it was "Great".
Here's the lowdown, courtesy UB marketing:
A teenager in 1945 is suffocated by post- WWII nationalism. A tireless doctor in 1955 desperately tries to find the origin of a new illness. Though these two people are living seemingly disparate lives, decades apart, they will come to understand that their fates are irrevocably intertwined by a rare, horrifying sickness and an enigmatic figure who follows wherever they go. He is known only as The Man.
Confined within their eras, they each race against time to escape The Man and find a cure before The Sickness collapses their worlds.
This rich and disturbing comic spans four decades of American history to serve as a reminder that the terrors of yesterday are the terrors of today. A sprawling, ambitious, and genre-bending work exploring the socio-political strife that shaped the nation. It’s the crossbreed of I Love Lucy-era pop culture and bizarre body horror in a historical horror epic.
A collection of The Sickness issues 1-5 presented in an oversized format to truly showcase Jenna Cha's intricate tonal artwork. 2-Colors. Fluorescent Cover. 160 pages. ALSO: includes a bonus cover gallery fetauring all the standard and alrternative covers in full color, on glossy cover stock.
And here's some of the praise that this series has been garnering, far and wide:
"I can confidently say The Sickness Vol. 1 is among the best comics I've read this year. A truly cerebral and surprising horror comic that also serves as a strong example of the heights stories can hit in this medium."—The Beat
"The finely etched artwork, recalling Eddie Campbell’s From Hell, lends to the sense of claustrophobia […] It’s a surefire prescription for disturbing one’s sleep."—Publishers Weekly
"Jenna Cha’s black-and-white art drives the anxiety; the shading and tones of the characters and horror scenes make it a horror comic you won’t forget anytime soon."—Fangoria
"The Sickness is an unsettling work of horrific beauty created by clearly disturbed minds. A captivating slow-burn chronicle of violent psychosis in small town America. Don’t read it… let it live with you."—Patrick McHale, Over The Garden Wall, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinnoccio
"Jenna Cha and Lonnie Nadler maybe aren’t carriers of [ The Sickness ], but they are practitioners of it, using this comic to turn it into a viral system that’s just starting to worm its way into our consciousnesses." —From Cover to Cover
"There is no comic like The Sickness being released by the industry right now. If you want a glimpse of the sharpest, most unsettling edge of the medium, Nadler and Cha have a book you simply must read."—James Tynion, Something Is Killing The Children, Department of Truth
"The Sickness is one of the best comics I have ever read. It’s everything I want: patient, meticulous, unnerving, and absolutely terrifying."—Daniel Kraus, The Shape Of Water, Whalefall
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Jenna Cha is a comic book artist from California. In 2019 she made her debut publication as the co-creator/artist for the Bram Stoker Award longlisted series Black Stars Above, published by Vault Comics. Her other publishing credits include Z2 Comics, Oni Press, Image Comics, Tiny Onion Studios, and the horror anthology Razorblades Magazine. She somehow ended up in Canada and will indubitably stay there.
Lonnie Nadler is a multidisciplinary writer from Canada. He is best known for his work at Marvel Comics writing for titles like Cable, X-Men, and Guardians of the Galaxy. He released his critically acclaimed debut graphic novel, The Dregs, in 2017 from Black Mask Studios, named one of the best 100 horror comics of all time by Paste Magazine. In 2019 he co-created and wrote the historical fiction, cosmic horror concoction, Black Stars Above, which was longlisted for a Bram Stoker Award. Nadler has also written for Ubisoft, Oni Press, Image Comics, Aftershock Comics, Z2 Comics, Razorblades Magazine, and numerous other publications. He can frequently be found crushed in between imposter syndrome and delusions of grandeur.
