LOVE MONSTER
Christopher Howard Wolf and David Cabrera
RETURN OF THE MASTER #1 OF 5 Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Tyler Crook
B.P.R.D. HELL ON EARTH – THE
NIGHT STALKER #1 Orlando Harding and David Miller
HOMECOMING #1
David Wohl, Scott Lobdell and Emilio Laiso
LOBSTER JOHNSON: CAPUT MORTUUM
Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Tonci Zonjic
JUDGE DREDD: CRY OF THE WEREWOLF Various
ster, a new digital comic by Christopher Howard Wolf and David Cabrera. That said, there are plenty of other monsters, human and inhuman, to be found in this bizarre relationship tale. The hero of the book, Bob, finds himself in the
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unenviable yet all-too-familiar position of being madly in love with his best friend, Pearl. Unfortu- nately, Pearl has something of a fetish for bad boys... really bad boys. Serial killers, convicted murderers, zombies, aliens – if it’s mean, Pearl’s into it. Now she’s convinced she’s found the (im)perfect man thanks to dating site
seekafreak.com: Bag Head, a crazy, masked killer out for revenge on those who walled him up in a construction building. Will Pearl and Bag Head hit it off, or will it finally be Bob’s turn to shine? Writer Wolf is no stranger to horror comics, hav-
ing penned a Nosferatu graphic novel for Viper Comics back in 2010. It was while having a dis- cussion with that book’s artist, Justin Wayne, that the idea for Love Monster popped into his brain. “I was discussing
fictional monsters with Justin,” says Wolf. “During the con- versation, the subject of ‘loving’ a certain supernatural creature came up. Something about the phrase struck me. Could someone well and truly ‘love’ a murder- ous demonic entity that makes its home in the sewers? It’s not a matter of simply thinking the fiend is cool, but of actually wanting a serious romantic relationship with it. What kind of person would have such a disturbing fetish?” The answer, to Wolf, was rather obvious: the
girl-next-door type that millions of boys have fallen in love with only to discover their attraction isn’t
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ove sucks. And while you may think that’s an attempt at a clever introduction to a love story involving vampires, rest assured fangers play no significant role in Love Mon-
reciprocated. It’s hard enough com- peting with the local jock or rich kid, but poor Bob has an even tougher challenge. “When it comes to winning the
heart of your beloved, not being a supernatural bloodsucker from Hell is a pretty big hurdle to overcome,” says Wolf. And although Love Monster is
vamp-free, it certainly includes su- pernatural bloodsuckers from Hell – not to mention multi-tentacled aliens. Wolf made a conscious deci- sion to add a little zaniness to a proj- ect that might otherwise be too dour. “I found out pretty early in the
process that realistic horror killed the humour very quickly,” he ex- plains. “I think adding in a bit of su- pernatural and sci-fi gives the story more room to make light of disturb- ing subjects. For some reason, ‘zombies ate my neighbours’ is imme- diately funny. ‘Some guy stabbed my neighbour and ate portions of him’... yeah, not so much.” To make sure he
Love Monster: Humour and massive head trauma go hand-in-hand.
achieved the tone he was after, Wolf turned to Cabrera, who manages to make gruesome carnage look like fun. “I think David’s artwork really
brings the concept to full comple- tion,” says Wolf. “There’s that bal- ance between fun humour and disturbing horror. If it looks too gritty, the continuous humour prob- ably isn’t going to feel right. If it looks too cutesy, the blood and guts are going to scare a few kids whose
parents thought this was an all-ages book. But David really hit a home run. You’ll find yourself going from harmless giggles to shocking horror in one smooth transition.” Ultimately, however, despite the horror and the humour, Love Monster is a love story. Romance in
horror is nothing new – vampires are constantly seeking to seduce their victims, and more than one monster has desired a mate – but Wolf has put his own spin on the theme. “Love Monster is unique in that it explores horror
love from the reverse angle,” he points out. “The murderers and spectres and faceless amoebas just want to go about their business of slaughtering anyone who looks at them cross-eyed. It’s our lady lead, Pearl, who’s out to hunt down and subdue a mate... in a manner of speaking. What’s more, she’s not an inhuman creature herself. She’s just an average young lady who happens to be a huge horror buff.”
Check out Love Monster at
215ink.com and
seekafreak.com for news and updates.
FOLLOW PEDRO ON TWITTER @PCABEZUELO
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