Sunday, September 20, 2015

The Sleep of Reason from Iron Circus Comics

I recently purchased a pdf copy of the horror comic anthology The Sleep of Reason from Iron Circus Comics. I got there via artist Der-Shing Helmer (author of The Meek and Mare Interum) who I've been following for several years now. Helmer is the author of the story "The Untimely Death of Smokey II" in this anthology. I wasn't familiar with any of the other authors before I read it, and I get the impression that horror isn't the main gig for many of them. That's not to say they don't work damn well. As with most anthologies with this many artists/authors, some were great and some were just alright, but altogether it was a fun read. In this post I'll be going over a few of the stories I really enjoyed.


It didn't take much to convince me to give this a shot. One author I knew, 32 others I didn't, horror genre, a cover that looked a bit like one of the creepier moments in Adventure Time, and a $15 price tag ($30 if you want the softcover).

Other than the cover, the whole thing's in black and white, which is a totally reasonable choice considering it's horror and it's long so the price tag probably would have been monumental were it printed in color. Still, many of the artist have styles that might have been even lovelier (and more visceral) in color. There's definitely a huge variety of styles, so I'm sure everyone could find a few here that suited them. Also, the approaches to subject and structure in horror varied a lot, which gave the impression that most of the stories were compact tributes to what the authors were most interested in in the horror genre. Only a few really seemed like they were just another story in a body of work dominated by horror. Altogether, this sort of variety was a big reason I kept on reading.

The anthology starts off fast and dark with "The Child Eater" by Meg Gandy.

Is that you, ScarJo?

The story centers around a little girl suffering domestic abuse at the hands of her father, who she imagines as a man with a skull for a face which occasionally has snakes crawling out of it. It's a little trippy and a little creepy, and the real dark ending offsets some of the early heavy-handedness (no pun intended) with the domestic abuse stuff. It also lets you know to expect supernatural stuff/monsters/mental illness/bad people as subjects in the rest of the book.

"The Untimely Death of Smokey II" by Der-Shing Helmer


This one is pretty much exactly what it looks like. Dead cat, sad kid, and what happens when you lie about how much a dead animal/person suffers when they suffocate to death in a cooler. Classic child revenge.

"Artifacts" by Evan Dahm


"Artifacts" is about a sculptor who seems to have gone a bit bonkers and become obsessed with making little organic forms. There's a moment or two that reminded me of Chris Carter's Millenium, and, as someone with a fine art background I like the crazy artist stereotype who may or may not be communicating with aliens/trans-dimensional beings through his work.

"Alone" by Blue Delliquanti


This story immediately hit my Ray Bradbury pleasure button. The two characters are female, with very different and clearly portrayed personalities--which was great. Even though it's short you get a real sense of the two characters, and the exposition is scattered out nicely. The end is kind of the result of the main character doing something they obviously shouldn't, but hey, space makes you crazy, right?

"I Am Sick" by KC Green


KC Green's style is very American and very cartoon. I'm surprised I didn't know about him sooner. This ended up being my favorite story in the anthology. It tells the tale of a Mr. Rogers-looking guy who volunteers to pray over sick people at the hospital and ends up catching something from one of them. Green's style lends itself to the grotesque body horror of the story, while also making it seem really humorous somehow. It's disturbing but I totally laughed all the way through it.

"Miracle" by Spike 


I have to give this one props. I'm a liberal woman who supports everyone's right to choose what to do with their bodies. This totally hits my dystopian medical system fear straight on the head. So, take one part waiting room pamphlets like "STDs are for EVERYONE!", one part too-late-to-abort-Brundlefly's-baby, and two parts The Brood and you'll get the jist of this one. (Hey Spike, are you a Cronenberg fan?) 

"hostess" by Gabby Schulz


So. Gross. You know that brain parasite that you get from cats that makes you all squirrelly? Well mix that with a generous helping of imagining your grandparents going down on each other to death.

There were several more, but I'm going to say this post is long enough as it is. If you like comics/webcomics and horror, I would definitely recommend giving this a try. It's a great sampler work for various archetypal horror plots and a lot of great independent comic artists. Awesome!

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