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Modern Horror, Humor And Rumor? Another Satan's Baby Possibly On The Way In The Goon

Published Sat, 11 Oct 2014 20:00:12 -0500

Liz Hey reports from NYCC

You can always expect that any Dark Horse panel you attend at Comic Con is going to be one of the most metal ones you see that day, and when it begins with your moderator not having a voice because he lost it at a Judas Priest concert, you shouldn't be at all surprised.

But that's exactly the kind of environment you would want to talk about modern horror in comics, and certainly with the assortment of creators on stage this year at the publisher's "Modern Horror, Humor, and More!" panel at New York Comic Con, humor wasn't hard to find either.

What was originally meant to be a celebration of the fifteenth year of Eric Powell's The Goon was changed last minute when the creator himself had to call out. Stepping in quickly were some of Dark Horse's funniest and most disturbed. Alex de Campi of old school style horror title Grindhouse, Evan Dorkin of the much acclaimed Milk and Cheese, Paul Tobin of the recent release Colder, and Tim Seeley of horror themed superhero comic Sundowners. Together, it was a solid forty five minutes of previews, influences, fears, and F bombs.

Beginning with Seeley, the audience got to see some of the art from the first two issues (currently out now) up big on the screen without text. The creator explained the way he crosses the two genres or horror and heroes, using deep psychological fear as a main catalyst for the story, much like many classic psychological thrillers. As mentioned at the panel, Issue #3 of Sundowners is set to ship in two weeks.

Again bringing in conflicts of the brain and perception is Tobin's new release, Colder. Taking place in a mental asylum, the title features art that looks like it could only come from the asylum patients who were tested on with hallucinogenic drugs in the 60s that he cited as his references. "Every time I didn't want any one to disturb me while I worked I just kept [the issue #1 cover] up on my screen," he laughed.

Dorkin who had plenty to say about everything else, was actually fairly humble when it came to talking about his own work. Milk and Cheese might have come out in the 80s but his other title, Eltingville seems even more relevant today than ever as his story following fanboys who end up contributing to the elitist, sexist, racist facet of some fandoms is finally being called out on larger stages at Cons. He didn't mean for it to be about these things, he says, saying he was just writing about the worst of the fandom. He continues to explain that these issues actually developed to be part of the story just as they are an unfortunate part of the culture today.

De Campi's work stuck closest to literal definitions of the horror genre as the creator referenced exploitation horror films of past decades as her biggest influence. Very interestingly, she mentioned the way that both DC and Marvel have featured the exploitation style gore into their comics but without the proper purpose or intentions needed to make the practice okay. "The victim is always the punchline," she comments on them. In fact, the panel as a whole agreed that too often are women, children, and minorities are the objects for terrorizing while the white males get to stand apart as heroes. Dorkin even added that the film King Kong had a much greater impact on him because the people being killed and shown powerless were grown men.

Though Powell couldn't make it, he did send his regards via a prerecorded video message in which he was caught out of his "Punk Rock Redneck" persona but only for a moment. However, he didn't need to be present for the panel to talk potential plans for the future of Goon. Though brief, rumors were mentioned of possibly another addition to the much infamous Satan's Sodomy Baby story arc. A demand seems to be clear on part of the creators and fans, though surely retailers and censorship groups (and possibly Powell's mother) are expected to be reluctant.

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