Draw You In By Jasper Bark

 

Draw You In Vol. 1- Collector’s Item
By Jasper Bark
2024 Crystal Lake
Paperback, 264 pages

 

                                                 

                Jasper Bark has been a friend of mine for many years and I have been a fan of his since I first read Stuck On You (Crystal Lake, 2014) a decade ago. We have often discussed horror comics, with an accent on Eerie Pubs and in particular, artist Bill Alexander. When I cracked this book open and started to dig in, I swear I thought he was writing this tome just for me. But no, everyone can (and will!) enjoy this layered horror mystery that takes place in the comic world. And another world.

 

                Linda Corrigan is a comic book artist of some renown, but with the changes in the industry, she finds herself under-employed and working Artist’s Alley at a Con. Her editor comes by her table and invites her to a swanky industry party. That is the last she hears of him. She can’t get into the party because nobody has heard of the guy. In fact, even though she had worked for him for a number of years, his name and credits have all disappeared. She thinks it’s an elaborate hoax, but the police just think she’s lost it.

 

                FBI Agent McPherson heard her tale and believes her. He has similar cases that he’s exploring, and he offers her a job to work with him. Also in tow is comic historian Richard Ford and together, they have a link to forgotten horror artist R.L. Carver. Research shows that Carver was much more than just a funny-book artist and they find themselves embroiled with secret societies, men in black, and life-threatening ordeals. Could Carver’s legendary, unpublished Tales That Draw You In have something to do with it all? Is the work actually cursed?

 

                This is a multi-textured first entry into Bark’s mythical but often true trilogy of Draw You In. Real comic creators make appearances and many of the oddball characters are based on real people. Gun-toting Hymie Schmeling is none other than our beloved Eerie publisher Myron Fass, right down to almost shooting his partner “Stanley Morris” (and what about that secret of his? Hmmmm…). Like I said, I swear this was written for me!

 

                Comic geekery, violent murders, some Plato thrown in for good measure, along with well-rounded characters that you can relate to are just some of the ingredients that Bark weaves into this epic tale. It is all told with an unblinking eye and prose that contains a touch of humor alongside a touch of evil. At the end of this first volume, which leaves many questions unanswered, I am left wanting more. I’m looking forward to jumping into the next volume not only to get some answers, but to see what else my friend Jasper has up his nefarious sleeve.

 

Draw You In Vol. 2- Secret Origins

By Jasper Bark

2024 Crystal Lake

Paperback, 268 pages

                                                 

                Well, Linda found herself on a book tour after Volume One and had retired from her role as FBI helper. Of course, strange things happened on her tour, and she couldn’t get the mysterious and unfinished work out of her mind, so she hitched back up with McPherson and Richard and they got right back to work. Richard had uncovered a potential goldmine of a lead… an actual member of the underground (literally) group Shadows in the Cave, a cabal who can and have changed the face of America’s history.

 

                The first half of this volume sends the trio on a scavenger hunt of clues laid down by the secret informant. They find themselves in Boston and Cambridge, specifically on the Harvard Campus. Listen- I have lived in the Boston Area for over 40 years, working in and living near Harvard Square for a quarter of those years and Jasper Bark seems to know the area better than I do! In fact, I never knew that the Shadows in the Cave actually are found in a deep sanctuary beneath the college. Our heroes passed their tests and are admitted into the lair and given more information, as well as have some taken from them. Linda puts it best herself: “I never expected our investigation to take this turn. Then again, I never expected a prehistoric larvae to lay a memory into my brain in an underground cavern.”

 

                Just as they run out of one lead, another presents itself and things keep getting more and more dangerous. Bark throws us a couple of Draw You Interludes to give us a taste of Carver’s notorious Tales That Draw You In. The story (within the story) is just as complex and weird as the main storyline, with nice grisly horror images that I can only picture as being illustrated like Graham Ingels’ work on “Horror We? How’s Bayou?” (Haunt of Fear #17, Feb. 1953). It really shows why Carver had trouble getting it published, and it’s not just the content.

 

                Bark is one smart cookie. He may even be the Midswégan himself. (Read the book, dammit.) The intricacies of this plot are many but none of it feels overwritten. This really is storytelling at its top level. Again, we are left with a lot of questions but even as things become more confused, they become clearer. As Linda’s repressed memories are brought out, we’re learning just how much more she is involved in the whole plot.

 

                I’m eager to get to the final volume of this puzzle and get all of the pieces into place. It has been quite a ride to this point, and I doubt it will let up in Volume 3.

Draw You In Vol. 3- Behind the Mask

By Jasper Bark

2024 Crystal Lake

Paperback, 354 pages

                                                     

                This volume starts off with Linda at her shrink, digging up her forgotten memories. Scary work, indeed. She eagerly hooks back up with Richard and McPherson because she has learned something. Where the Midswégan is. And what is it? It is an artificial god, a “tapestry of minds”, and they fear it is going to cause the end the world as we know it. The trio continue their detective work and their search for Carver until McPherson abruptly throw Linda and Richard out of the car, abandoning them.

 

                In this volume, we meet Carver’s three Horror Hosts “in person”, we learn the identities of the Shadows in the Cave and we learn that, even in our own real lives, we have to question “the fabric of reality” and what is real and what isn’t. Bark shifts into overdrive and Corrigan’s world goes from dangerous to hopeless to mystical and well-beyond. I’m trying to not tip my hand at all and remain spoiler free, but you wouldn’t believe me if I said anything, anyway!

 

                This is an extraordinary work of (mostly) fiction, on such an epic scale that it makes Stephen King’s The Stand (1978) read like Fun with Dick and Jane. After you get the rug pulled out from under you, Bark politely sets up another rug, makes you stand on it, then proceeds to pull that one. But every blow you take is essential to the story as a whole. Think Lovecraft’s worlds were fucked up? The world Corrigan finds herself in puts ol’ HP in the backseat, makes him buckle up and stay quiet. Bark never loses sight of his comic book fandom while creating visions that no artist, not even R.L. Carver could ever illustrate.

 

                Really, this is a remarkable piece of work, and I’m not just saying it because my own name appears in the same inch of text as Gustave Doré and Bill Alexander (which it does!). The scope and breadth of this trilogy is breathtaking and massive but thanks to Bark’s ability and the pure joy he displays in his writing, it never gets confusing or dull. This trio is the definition of a page-turner. And don’t worry, the gore quotient kept this gorehound happy and salivating.

 

                This is really an extraordinary work of art. Get it, read it and immerse yourself into a memorable experience. The truth is heard. It gladdens our hearts.

Pick up Jasper's magnum opus here!

Tortures of the Damned By Hunter Shea

 

Tortures of the Damned
By Hunter Shea
2015 Pinnacle
Paperback, 439 pages

 

                I like short books; 170 to 180 pages is ideal. I have the attention span of a gnat. But when Hunter Shea is the author, I don’t even balk at a 439-page book. He is one of the few authors who knows how to write an interesting and exciting page-turner. Short chapters, many of which are cliffhangers, and a breezy writing style. As I have said many times… Hunter Shea gets it.

 

                A series of explosions rock the East Coast, releasing poisonous gasses and taking out all of the electricity. It is quickly evident that the world is forever changed, and the story follows the Padillas, another close-knit family in the Shea tradition, and with their neighbors Buck and Alexiana, trying to survive Yonkers in a post-apocalyptic setting. After being forced out of Buck’s well-prepared bomb shelter (by crazed rats!), the motley crew, including the Padilla’s young children, try to make sense of the situation and get to safety… wherever that might be.

 

                For readers familiar with Shea’s crypto-zoological masterpieces… no, there are no Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) or Jersey Devils, but nature does indeed run amok in this one. The poison gasses make many species of critter go bonkers. Besides the crazed rats, we have vicious horses, alley cats, bats, and birds all making it tough for the survivors. Surviving humans are no less of a threat to the family. The body count is massive and the isolation the family feels is palpable to the reader. One touch of horrific realism- human ignorance and hate are still the most dangerous things, even in the post-Apocalypse.

 

                Some reviews have been pissy about the ending because they expected or wanted something different, but I found it perfect and satisfying. Could a sequel be in order? It doesn’t need one, but there’s definitely room for one. I will buy it if it should materialize, but if it doesn’t, I’m perfectly happy with the story as it is.

 

                One. More. Time… Hunter Shea gets it! He knows how to write an exciting and heart-wrenching horror story.

Snowman By Norman Bogner

Snowman

By Norman Bogner

1979 New English Library
Paperback, 160 pages

                Who doesn’t like a good Yeti book, anyway? Especially when the Yeti is an invincible super monster who can travel from continent to continent and live for thousands of years! Well, that’s the Yeti you get in this book.

                Snowman starts out as a ripping horror tale, with the Yeti settling into the California Mountains above a new, exclusive ski resort. Gory killings happen. It seems like the whole thing was going to be a satisfying “set ‘em up, knock ‘em down” slaughterfest, but the resort’s money men think pretty quickly, and the middle of the book is more about putting a group of Yeti hunters together than about bloodshed. Daniel Bradford, the leader, who faced the Yeti in the Himalayas and (barely) survived, builds his dream team and since money is not an issue, equips them with some ass-kicking hardware.

                So, yeah, the book went from horror to high adventure half way through, but with well rounded, if familiar characters (Bradford’s love-interest/ liaison to the resort, the tenacious reporter, etc.) and an interesting monster, it’s all good. I suggest saving this book for the warmer weather because when the crew is up in the icy, thin air on the mountain, freezing their asses off, you feel it!

                This book was first published in 1978 by Dell Books but, like me, you should hold out until you find the New English Library edition with the nifty cover monster cribbed from Terror in the Midnight Sun (Sweden, 1959). Snowman is  New York Times best-selling author Bogner’s only novel that could be considered horror and it’s pretty durn good.

Talia By Daniel J. Volpe

Talia
By Daniel J. Volpe
2021 Self-published
Paperback, 211 pages

 

Blood makes the best lube!

                Evidently, Talia is a prequel to Volpe’s 2020 book Billy Silver, but I didn’t know that going in and it certainly made no difference to me, the reader. If you haven’t read that one yet, you’re still good to go.

                Talia is a midwestern gal transplanted in New York searching for fame in the bright lights of the big city. Well, she finds fame (of a sort) after being taken under the wing of Mike (never a name one should trust!), an underground specialty pornographer. She performs her jaw-dropping sleaze on camera for Mike and his psycho henchman Sally with no complaints until it gets bloody. Y’see, Mike has started to make snuff-porn. And if you don’t like it, Sally’s razor has something to say.

                Volpe lays the sleaze on thick and the fluids and depravity flood from the pages. The porn is gratuitous as fuck but we’re not reading Bambi here, kids… this is Splatterpunk Supreme. I mean, the first line in the book is “The strap-on dildo was nearly the size of a fire extinguisher”. Not just blood is splattering here, either. Once it does, however, the story became a lot more interesting for me. In my horror eyes, blood > cum.

                Admittedly, with little backstory on Talia (maybe there is some in the previous book), she sure seemed to get into the swing of things in the heavy-porn scene for such an innocent farm-girl. But she is badass and after a run-in with Sally, she gets even more violent. The book takes a supernatural turn that leaves the pages dripping with gore and satisfying revenge.

                Talia is filled with various bodily fluids, rape, murder, torture, gore, and nihilism… just exactly what you want when reading an extreme horror book. This one can be torn through in a sitting or two. Volpe is a heck of a nice guy in person but has one fucked up and twisted imagination. Soon to be a certified National Treasure.

                This edition has a nice, eye-catching cover by Mr. Michael Squid.

The Surrogate By Nick Sharman

The Surrogate
By Nick Sharman
1980 Signet
Paperback, 249 pages

 

                My father was a bit of a douchebag. He’d belittle me, hit me; he told me I was a mistake. He admitted that he had been unfit to be a father. But he was a saint compared to Frank Tillson’s father!

                After a childhood of abuse and his mother’s death, Frank packed up, left home, and never looked back. Working as a radio show host, widowed, and raising an 8-year-old son alone, he gets summoned by his dying father to talk about who is going to get the old man’s considerable fortune. Frank tells him to fuck off. Plus, he tells him to fuck off on behalf of his son, Simon, who ol’ gramps wants to take over his empire. The old man dies with the situation unresolved.

                That is when all hell breaks loose.

                The old man’s reach from beyond the grave raises plenty of chills up the spine and as a horror villain, he is a memorable and formidable monster. With sheer residual hate, he can force his will on people, places, and things of all sorts, even a doll (which is always nice). Sharman creates a gloomy atmosphere, thick with malevolent evil and sludgy black shadows, and things are never quite as they seem.

                I’d read Sharman’s The Cats before and liked it, so I decided to grab this, his third novel, as well. Knowing there were killer-doll parts helped push it to the top of my pile. Sharman, real name Scott Grønmark, is a very good writer, with excellent descriptions and pacing. He uses similes liberally, but it doesn’t get annoying because he chooses the perfect words to paint his pictures. He uses similes like Ghastly Graham used spittle. This is one book that I would think about while at work, then rush home to dig back in. A real page-turner, I tell ya.

The Mountain King By George Ernsberger

The Mountain King
By George Ernsberger
1979 Berkeley
Paperback, 250 pages

 

                I read this book as a teen. In the years since, I couldn’t remember much about it, just that there were snakes, but I do remember that I liked it. I figure that since it has been over 40 years since I last read it, the time was ripe for a revisit.

 

                Four couples head out for a wilderness weekend to a remote cluster of homes (their own summer cottages) on the side of a mountain in the Catskills. Tranquil, beautiful, and restful. Except for pretty much everyone involved is a douchebag. One husband fantasizes about punching his wife in the face, many of them have had “a past” together, and assholism and cattiness runs rampant. It’s a good thing that during a massive storm, part of the mountain breaks loose and that sends hundreds of confused Timber Rattlesnakes down to make life hell for the humans.

 

                I have no complaints about the characters all being kind of unlikeable; that just means they are real. Ernsberger gives us an excellent portrayal of a group of damaged people. You know, like we all are. Of course, when the snakes are loose, I really root for them because snakes are better than humans. The Mountain King is a Timber who has been living on the mountain a long time. At roughly 7 feet, he is the king of the den. Ernsberger’s science is excellent and his passages from the King’s point of view are cogent, which is very impressive when writing for an animal who relies on instinct rather than thought.

 

                I liked the book a lot this second time around, though I’m willing to bet that I only read the juicy parts as a teen. The bickering and yammering between the humans wouldn’t have interested me and the human to snake death ratio is way one sided. Kind of like real life. Humans kill snakes way more often than vice-verse. Even though I’d like a lower snake mortality rate, this is a thrilling and well written adventure tale filled with claustrophobic situations and a feeling of dread and hopelessness.

 

                This appears to be Ernsberger’s only novel. He had been the vice president of Berkely Books prior to this book’s publication. The only other credits I can find are for two fantasy anthologies published by Avon in the late Sixties where he was the senior editor at the time.

The Son of the Werewolf by Guy N. Smith

The Son of the Werewolf

by Guy N. Smith
1978 New English Library
Paperback, 124 pages

                The end of The Return of the Werewolf lets you know that this one was forthcoming, and it does not disappoint. At 124 pages, there is no time to be anything but a fast-paced page turner to be devoured in an afternoon.

 

                Margaret Gunn, pregnant after an assault from the baddie from the previous book, gives birth to Hugh, an ugly baby whose third finger on each hand was longer than the rest. A sure sign of a werewolf. He is an outcast, hated in school and in the town and he likes it that way. And then he committed a murder and was jailed. It was while incarcerated that he discovered his own secret, his lycanthropy.

 

                After his release, the book follows ugly Hugh as he leaves his home and goes out on a blood-drenched road trip. GNS gives us what we all love in his books; blood, guts and some “oh no he wouldn’t” sexual situations. Gordon Hall returns from the previous books and tells us some legends that come in handy for the denouement of the book. He also gives us some words to live by… “You can never be sure of anything where werewolves are concerned”. Indeed not. Cover art by Bill Francis Phillips.

 

                This book ends the trilogy that started with Werewolf by Moonlight. All three books have been collected into Werewolf Omnibus (Sinister House, 2019), along with a short story. As the original New English Library books have become pretty expensive, the Omnibus seems like a pretty good way to go if you want to read these. And you should read these.