Nightmare Factory HC (2024 Fantagraphics) By John Kenn Mortensen comic books
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Published Oct 2024 by Fantagraphics.$20.95
1st printing. Story and art by John Kenn Mortensen. For horror fans of all ages, a spinetinglingly creepy and darkly comedic picture book. Fantagraphics' third release in English from Danish cult illustrator John Kenn Mortensen. Gruesome, spindly figures gather outside a house, then spirit away a dreaming youth, bed and all. The stage is set for 32 skin-crawling poems imagining various children's nightmares, all with sequential illustrations by Danish horror master Mortensen. His eerie visions fade to black at the edges, like a dreamer unable to shift their focus, and inspire delicious terror all by themselves. Similarly, the short poems each evoke a distinct sense of dread for the sleeping imagination to expand upon; together, the words and pictures conjure a nightmarish world tinged with pitch black humor. The sequences splay across double-page spreads, evoking Edward Gorey gone grand scale, and grand guignol. For those of a nervous disposition, read in bright sunlight. For those in search of a nervous disposition, take two before bed. Hardcover, 10-in. x 7-in., 104 pages, B&W. Cover price $29.99.
