An online binge shopper receives a grisly package.
A horde of the decaying undead grapples with its dwindling humanity.
A family man endures an endless grind of the mundane as cosmic madness looms outside.
The Beauty and The Realm creator Jeremy Haun returns to horror with Haunthology, a black-and-white graphic novel of interlocking short comic stories, now on Kickstarter. Haun started the project in April 2020 to reflect the claustrophobia, isolation and uncertainty that threw the world into chaos as the COVID-19 pandemic loomed, blending real-world dread with the horror lexicon of monsters, creeps and murderers.
Haun worked alongside designer Fonografiks (Saga, The Beauty) and editor Joel Enos to produce the book, which he says was inspired by the chilling short prose collections that inspired him in his youth.
ComicsXF talked with Haun about the book and the campaign in its waning days.
Dan Grote: Horror comics have experienced a bit of a renaissance the past few years, through projects like James Tynion and Steve Foxe’s Razorblades magazine and comics like Nice House on the Lake, the Hill House books at DC and the work of Zac Thompson and Lonnie Nadler. What was it about horror for you that felt like the genre to work in during the pandemic?
Jeremy Haun: Isn’t it always the genre to work in?
Kidding aside, horror just feels like home to me. It’s the genre that I’m always drawn to. That’s extra apt during times of great strife. The best horror is equal parts escapism and social commentary.
During 2020 … and 2021, I needed to talk about the pandemic — about the things that were going on in our world. I also had absolutely no interest in directly talking about COVID, masks or any of that stuff. I told stories that dealt with all of the emotions we were feeling — anger, loss, loneliness, fear and so on, but I told them through stories about monsters and post-apocalyptic landscapes.
Dan: Why black and white?
Jeremy: Because black and white is AWESOME.
I started out in black and white. As much as I love fully colored comics, there’s just something about strong black-and-white illustrations.
When I began Haunthology, I considered color for a minute. But I just knew it had to be in black and white. I just saw it that way.
Dan: Once you knew what you wanted to do, how did you go about finding an editor? Was it as simple as “Well, I’ve worked with Joel before on The Beauty and The Realm, and we have a great relationship,” or did you shop around a bit?
Jeremy: Joel was the only choice. He just gets me and what I’m trying to do.
There’s something incredibly important about finding an editor who balances you. Joel knows when to push me and when to just let me do my thing. It’s an incredibly respectful relationship.
I don’t really want to work on creator-owned projects without Joel. He’s just family.
Dan: The book is fully funded at this point, and mostly done, according to the Kickstarter. But you’ve promised bonus stories and content with the stretch goals. Where are you in terms of all that?
Jeremy: I’m working on them. Each new page unlock adds a new story. It’s incredibly exciting to get to add to Haunthology a bit more.
One of the stories I’d already had in mind before launch. The other two came along the way. I love that. Especially the “story prompt” stories. I’m getting to come up with them based on the prompts of backers. It’s honestly a wonderful distraction from all of the day-to-day business of running a Kickstarter.
Dan: As part of the book’s many support tiers, you’re selling ALL of the original art. If you were to keep a page from the book, which one would it be?
Jeremy: There’s a page from “The Monday after Monday” that features me and my son Owen. I wrote and drew that story right in the middle of lockdown. It was a tough time. That story, and my relationship with my family, really kept me going when the rest of the world was just … chaos. That page is going to be a hard one to let go.
Dan: Your BOOM Studios series The Red Mother with Danny Luckert was among those books caught up in the Diamond shutdown early in the pandemic. How did that affect things from a production standpoint?
Jeremy: During a time when nearly everything went pencils down, BOOM supported us and kept the project going. That was a huge thing — a massive show of belief in us and what we were doing.
Like everyone, we still had a couple months where Diamond was shut down and no new books were hitting stands. That was part of it. But behind the scenes, Danny, Ed (Dukeshire, letterer) and I were still just plugging away.
Dan: Once the industry picked up again last summer into fall, was Haunthology still your main focus or a thing you worked on in the background as you picked up other work?
Jeremy: A bit of both?
I mean — the industry “picked up,” but there’s still been a lot of adjustment that we’ve had to do. Still is.
I’ve worked on Haunthology almost constantly for well over a year now. I’m definitely working on other stuff, but I’m still doing at least some part of production (writing, drawing, lettering) every day.
Dan: The logo on the front cover — a skull with sunglasses, a pageboy cap, bat wings and a Cthulhu tentacle beard — is pretty f’n metal. Was that design something you agonized over, or did it come to you in a dream?
Jeremy: I thought over it for a bit.
I’m not a fan of the term “branding”. It kind of makes me cringe. But also … let’s be real — it’s a thing we need to focus on a bit more as creatives.
I knew that I wanted to do some kind of Icon. It had to be something that looked cool and exemplified both me and my work.
I asked a group of friends to give me a few prompts that made them think of me and the things I make. Because I have the best kind of friends, they mostly took the opportunity to make fun of me for a while. After that, though, they gave me a pretty consistent list of things. Hats, glasses, beard and cocktails (which I just couldn’t make fit in, unfortunately) as descriptors of me. Skulls, tentacles, monsters and Lovecraftian things were top picks for my work.
I sat around for a bit, thought it over and did an initial very quick sketch … and then there it was.
Dan: What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from your previous Kickstarter campaigns that informs this one?
Jeremy: Do absolutely as much beforehand as possible. There’s no way to prepare for everything, but doing as much as you can ahead of time is a lifesaver.
Also, don’t fret over the things you can’t control. You can sit there and watch the money go up and down and then back up again. You can scrutinize every canceled pledge until it drives you mad. But that doesn’t help anything. Focus on having a good product and an honest dialogue with your backers. That’s what matters.
Kickstarter has changed so much over the past decade. I love seeing the growth of the platform and the amazing things people are creating.
Dan: What are some short story collections from other writers you would recommend?
Jeremy: For prose, I suggest the short story collections of Laird Barron, Nathan Ballingrud, John Langan and Joe Hill.
Short story collections are a lot less common in comics, but I’d absolutely suggest the short story collections of Junji Ito. He’s terrifyingly brilliant.
You can back Haunthology through Thursday on Kickstarter.
Dan Grote is the editor-in-chief of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Winston Wisdom.
