Comics
‘Mad Max’ + Cthulhu + Dolph Lungren = “The Squidder”
We’ve been following this book since its announcement and Kickstarter campaign with 44FLOOD, but IDW will be releasing Ben Templesmith’s new tentacle-filled series. The book will be released as a 4-issue miniseries, and then collected. It remains to be seen what the release schedule will be, but Templesmith has said in the past that he can not do monthly comics. My hunch is they will wait until it’s all complete and release it then on a monthly basis. If you’re a fan of Lovecraft or 90s action flicks, this is one to keep your eye on.
From the press release:
San Diego, CA (May 28, 2014) – This July, IDW Publishing and 44FLOOD come together again to release an all-new four-issue series, The Squidder, from famed comic artist Ben Templesmith. Templesmith returns to IDW as a triple threat with a series in which he writes and provides story, art, and lettering, as well as the primary covers. The Squidder mixes action, horror, science fiction, and fantasy elements with a touch of “Squidly” destruction.
Templesmith first gained renown as the artist responsible for the singular style of 30 Days of Night, which he co-created with noted horror-master, Steve Niles, and that went on to well documented success as a major motion picture. Templesmith has previously written and drawn the series Singularity 7 and multipleWormwood: Gentleman Corpse miniseries.
“Ben was there at the start of IDW’s first comic publishing, so it’s great that his return with The Squiddercoincides with our 15th anniversary,” said Chris Ryall, IDW’s Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief. “Although, don’t get me wrong, a new series from Ben is welcome at any time. And thanks to our partnership with Ben’s new venture, 44FLOOD, this just may become a very nice regular occurrence.”
The Squidder, which was the focus of a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign for a limited graphic-novel edition of the story, centers on an old soldier, one of the last of the legendary Squidder Legions, from a forgotten war. The post-apocalyptic world seems to have left him behind, but it remains to be seen if a discarded relic with a death wish and a rebellious Squid priestess can overthrow humanity’s tentacled alien overlords.
“The Squidder is equal parts Mad Max, Cthulhu creatures, and everything I love about early 90s Dolph Lungren action films,” said Ben Templesmith. “All of us at 44FLOOD are excited to be working with IDW to bring our projects into comic book shops and book stores. IDW has some of the best and most dedicated people in all of comics.”
Templesmith has returned to his roots to do the tentacle/Cthulhu-orientated book he’s always promised, and IDW is proud to release another stunning and original project with an artist so important to the foundations of the company.
Comics
[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream
Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.
“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”
Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.
Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.
Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.
Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.
Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.
Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.
Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.
Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion.
Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.
‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.
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