Eibon Press is the all-new
publishing brainchild of Masters of Horror/Shock Festival writer Stephen
Romano, and horror’s own memorabilia legend and creator of Black Devil Doll
Shawn Lewis. Their mission is to “Make owning and collecting horror comics cool
again,” by releasing single issue comic books in super limited “Prestige
Editions,” which will feature premium printing and innovative packaging never
before seen in the history of comics. “Our books are like limited edition
record albums,” says Romano. “You know all that awesome stuff they’re doing
with posters and vinyl soundtracks at places like Mondo? Well that what we’re
bringing to comics. Each and every issue of each and every title will come
encased in a specially-designed album jacket-style sleeve which we’ve invented
ourselves. We call it the “Eibon Sleeve.” Plus you’ll get some fun extra stuff
inside the sleeve with your comic. For example, the first 250 of each 1,000
copy run will contain a signed and numbered bookplate. And we’ll be inserting random
awesome stuff in a few of the sleeves like autographed bookmarks and such. What
we’re doing has never been done before, and we really hope people will dig all
the blood and sweat we’re putting into each issue.” (All text in italics above and below from the press release)
Are you excited??? I am! All the
images Eibon have released so far shows that they are serious about living up
to the expectations they’re giving us. The artwork for ZOMBIE, GATES OF HELL,
and BOTTOMFEEDER is really top notch and alluring. Scrolling through the
preview pages, I’m thinking that the launch of Fulci Comics will be one of the
most significant events in horror this year. That’s not hyperbole, fiends, I’m
legitimately excited.
In past posts I’ve talked about my
love for indie horror comics and obsessively collecting Deadworld, Zombie War,
Faust, etc. Somehow I missed 1998’s THE BEYOND and 2000’s original release of
ZOMBIE, so this is quite the treat!
As for being a fan of Lucio Fulcio,
I remember being a teenage horror fan working my way through the horror
sections at my local video shops. Only two shops had any Fulci films, THE
PSYCHIC and GATES OF HELL (aka CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD). I didn’t know Fulci
from Leone at the time. THE PSYCHIC had a great cover, but the description
didn’t grab me so I never rented it. GATES OF HELL though had this really lurid
cover
It was 1998 after I had moved to
Boston that I got a proper introduction to Fulci from hanging out and working
part time at Garage Video and from my horror obsessed roommate who had a really
stellar collection of Fulci on VHS. That was a good time for getting schooled
in Italian horror in general, an invaluable time that still influences my work
today.
Fulci Comics are giving us more
than just straight adaptations of the films though, ZOMBIE
will shamble ever forward as an ongoing series after the original 4-issue film
adaptation is complete. “You’ll see all your favorite characters of course,”
says Lewis. “But you’ll also see some new faces. And some faces you thought
were dead and buried, too. Stephen’s bringing back Doctor Menard, for example,
as a crazy mutated zombie mad scientist monster, working under the insane magic
of BIACANDO—the voodoo priest sort of responsible for the zombie apocalypse.
But there’s a post modern twist to everything, involving a toxic waste dump and
a crazy Army general. It’s just insane stuff. The fans are gonna eat it the
fuck up. I mean . . . I’m a fan and I’m already eating it the fuck up!” Likewise, GATES will be an ongoing as well! Might we get
the last four of the Seven Doors Of Death?
On top
of these two books, we’ll also be getting Lewis and Romano’s original book
BOTTOMFEEDER! BOTTOMFEEDER is an all-new original horror series, slated for
release in
“We
originally wanted to make BOTTOMFEEDER as a movie,” Romano says. “So when we
decided to make it as a comic series, we “cast it” just like we might have cast
a dream version of the film. This means we can have some heavyweight horror stars
in there, like Bill Mosley and Clu Gulager, who have both given us permission
to use their likenesses . . . plus we get to resurrect Joe (MANIAC) Spinell and
Zoe (MS.45) Tamerlis from the dead. Just wait’ll you see them in our comic. Our
artist did an amazing job of bringing them back to life!”
Check out
my interview with Stephen Romano below and start saving your lunch money,
fiends, because you don’t want to be the only monster kid on the block without
these books!
STRANGER WITH FRICTION; So lets start
with this, what is it that makes the work of Lucio Fulci so special to you?
SR: Well a lot of it starts with an
appreciation of just plain weird art.
Because even in Lucio's earlier non-horror days, he was pretty out
there, you know? Then you get into a lot of specific obsessions that tie into
your childhood or whatever. But
the thing is a LOT of people share the same obsessions. So there has to be SOMETHING to it,
right? From a strictly modern
point of view, the films of Fulci are truly rarified artifacts, because no one
makes movies like that anymore, and they probably never will. And they are very specific to a certain
era in film production, you know with the low budgets and the bad American
dubbing and the lines that sound like they were written by someone who's second
language is english. There's a
kind of campy surreality to that that I really dig. But I also honestly believe that at the heart of films like
THE BEYOND you have really great, progressive art. Some of it is pretty much sleaze, but there's a sort of
genius there too. I mean, who puts
a shark fighting a zombie in their movie?
That's just insane. Total rock and roll, man. That's the final level for me. The super-intense audacious nature of these films. It's beyond. You know?
SWF; For starters we’re getting a
reprint of your 2000 adaptation of Fulci’s Zombie. What made this
SR: I think of it as more of a
restoration leading into a new journey than a reprint, actually. Like a "director's cut"
queuing up a cool new series. The
graphic novel that came out in 2000 was very badly printed and I didn't know
anything about editing comics back then either. It really sucked ass.
We always wanted another shot at making it look better . . . but it took
a really long time to get around to doing it because we've all been off making
our real careers happen. Shawn
started Rotten Cotten. I went off
and did stuff like MASTERS OF HORROR and SHOCK FESTIVAL. It took 16 years and I had to get run
over by a truck first...but finally the time was right to come back and really
get it right, and also extend the series and keep it going. That was another thing that excited
me. The idea of going beyond the
film adaptation, using that as a springboard for a really epic ZOMBIE
sequel. As far as the reasons why
we did it originally... well, we're big fans, obviously! We'd already done THE BEYOND and
decided ZOMBIE was be the next logical step. And that movie would easily make my Zombie Movie Top 5, just
on the Zombie Shark scene alone!
DAWN OF THE DEAD would be first, obviously. Then NIGHT.
Probably RETURN after that.
Then ZOMBIE and THE
BEYOND. I'm sure my partner Shawn
would take issue. THE BEYOND is
literally his favorite horror film of all time. It was his idea to name the
company Eibon Press.
SWF; Fulci Comics is also taking on
Gates Of Hell aka City Of The Living Dead, which was part of the 7 Doors Of
Death trilogy. How deep into the trilogy do you plan to go? Will we see the
last four doors?
SR: Maaaaaaaaybe.
You'll just have to wait and see.
We've got MANY things in the works for our Fulci Comics line. Patience.
SWF; All the images I’ve seen so
far are amazing, can we go through the creative teams?
SR: They're some really demented
motherfuckers, aren't they? The
A-team of ZOMBIE is anchored by Michael Broom, who has since gone on to be a
top creature designer in Hollywood films. Mike designed the storyboards and
practical effects rigs and even the werewolves on THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, so
he's a total badass. He pencilled
ZOMBIE top to bottom. Half the
inks were done by a fellow name Gerry Coffey, and the second half was done by
Derek Rook. Derek also did some art restoration on some of the panels and he
even completely re-drew a few things.
I, myself, did and complete and TOTAL re-editing and restoration job on
each and every page and lettered everything myself to make sure it all looked
very modern . . . and then we brought in two incredibly talented artists to do
our coloring. That was Australian
ace Austen Mengler and the incredible "Fatboy," who are hands down
the best digital colorists I know about.
Austen is an actual painter and he brings really creative style to the
work. "Fatboy" is a bit
more traditional, but his instincts are beyond impeachment. These guys were easy to work with and
professional as hell. Derek goes
solo with pencils and inks of GATES OF HELL, with Ander Zarate providing the
colors. That book has a really
bizarre flavor, very different from the more traditional comic book approach on
ZOMBIE. We wanted a crazier, freer
hand with GATES because it's a supernatural story. The work is just stunning. And of course, I took several liberties with the adaptation,
both with ZOMBIE and GATES, both to make it work as a comic and seed the ground
for sequel stories. Also, it's
really fun to do a new version of something you love. That's the
beauty of movie tie-ins and why I dig them so much. One entire wall of my house is devoted
to paperback novelizations of films!
I have like two or three thousand up there.
SWF; What’s the story here? How did
Fulci Comics come together?
SR: I was working with Shawn Lewis
on a totally different original book called BOTTOMFEEDER and he saw I was doing
good with writing and editing the thing, working with the artists and all
that...and he basically said, "What about all the Fulci Comics we have in
the vault?" He asked me what
it would take to get them going.
We'd already started Eibon Press at that point, but we hadn't done
anything with actual publishing yet . . . and we kind of saw the Fulci stuff as
a means of reaching a wider readership right out the gate. I hate to make it sound like some crass
commercial decision, but we DID know there was a built-in audience there. So then it was a matter of clearing all
the huddles we needed to clear, legally and
SWF; The comics will be limited run
in prestige format and will only be available through the website (coming June
6th) and not in stores. What lead to these decisions?
SR: Well first off, the comics aren't actually "Prestige
Format," not technical sense of the industry term. What we've developed is an innovative
"prestige packaging" that makes our books absolutely unique unto
themselves. You see all this
really limited edition stuff over at Mondo and other places, with all the
posters they do. The reason nobody
has done that with comic books yet is that comic books are traditionally very
expensive to produce and manufacture.
I put in a lot of "sweat equity," doing all the editing and
lettering and graphic design, which saves tons of money. I taught myself to be a one man art
department when I was
SWF; Any other announcements or
teasers you want to let fly?
SR: I think we've covered it pretty
well, man. Except to say thank you
for helping us promote this, man!
The success or failure of Eibon Press and Fulci Comics relies entirely
on the fans. We really hope you
guys dig it.
SWF; Finally, what’s your favorite
of all of Fulci’s films and why?
SR: GATES OF HELL is my personal favorite, and I have to tell
you it's for a really strange reason.
It's those monkeys Fulci has screaming in the cemetery towards the end
of the picture. It just makes no
sense at all, but suddenly you hear all these fucking MONKEYS howling in the
trees! But it creates this super
unique creepy atmosphere that is absolutely unlike any other movie. I remember when I first realized what that sound actually
was on my 15th viewing or so, and just said to myself, "Well this has to
be some kind of high fucking art right here." No bullshit. I
was already in love with the movie for it's obvious scumbag horror assets, but
then I just realized Fulci was a fucking mad genius on all these other, almost
hidden levels. Also, I love the
score in that film. It's one Fabio
Frizzi's finest. He re-utilizes
the theme fromZOMBIE in the third act in a different way that is at once
really arc and overdramatic but also sincere and musically inventive. I like composers who reference their
own work like that. I was a big fan of James Horner too, who was the king of
recycles. He scored HUMANOIDS FROM
THE DEEP, which is still my absolute favorite horror film soundtrack. Our BOTTOMFEEDER series is partially
inspired by HUMANOIDS. Like the
films of Fulci, it represents an age long gone.
Again, ARE YOU EXCITED???
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