The 'Comics from the Gone World' Series of Graphic Novels & Anthologies

Cremo Studios' Comics from the Gone World series originated during 2006-2007 as the offshoot of an idea from one of my commercial publishers as to how we should (quote/unquote) "reinvent Warren for the New Millennium." The comics-savvy reader will need no coaching to dig that the reference is to Warren Publishing, whose anthology magazoons of the 1960s, Creepy and Eerie, had served to resurrect horror comics from the wreckage of a censorship purge of the 1950s.

     The idea resonated agreeably, but corporate momentum proved lacking. So what else is new? One idea of mine was to retool a selection of post-WWII, pre-censorship comics yarns -- not so much in terms of restored artwork, as in terms of removing the (usually) inept writing and replacing same with Theatre of the Absurd-style dialogue: Sam Beckett, at large in the Jerry Iger Comic-Book Sweatshop. (The Iger Shop, responsible for such titles as Journey into Fear and Voodoo and Strange Mysteries, made Bill Gaines' scandalous EC Comics look downright middle-class by comparison.)

     I took the idea and ran with it during 2009-2010, dedicating the concept to my private-label publishing concern, Cremo Studios. Inventory was plentiful, including not only the contents of my Southern-Fried Homicide series of 1998-1999, but also any number of retooled Iger Sweatshop stories. Herewith is the head-count on Comics from the Gone World, including each title's eStore link. (And thanx alot to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, whose Gone World poetry of the last century buoyed many of us through the treacherous waters of the 1960s. Not unlike Warren Publishing's Creepy and Eerie.)

-- Mike Price

 

The Farkleschweiler Dossier -- Horror comics meet Theatre of the Absurd in a new collection from Rondo-nominated Michael Aitch Price -- author and co-artist of the acclaimed "Carnival of Souls" graphic novel. Adapted from a wealth of pre-censorship comics of the 1950s -- but with bizarre twists straight out of the stand-up improv scene -- "The Farkleschweiler Dossier" is a cram-packed 300-page whopper of ghastly mirth and hair-raising hilarity. A companion volume to Mike Price's "Carnival of Souls," "Scream Chills Illustrated," and "MHP's Great Big Crock of Christmas" -- all Comics from the Gone World!  https://www.createspace.com/3476846

Fishhead & Other Carney Gothic Horrors -- Irvin S. Cobb's Southern Gothic shocker becomes an elaborate graphic novel in a dark-carnival setting, as illustrated by Mark Evan Walker from a scenario by Lawrence Adam Shell and a script-and-layouts job by Michael H. Price. Backup chapters include a selection of carney chillers (absurdist) from the Iger Sweatship; Mike Price's survey of Little People (a.k.a. dwarves and midgets) from sideshow to cinema; and Price & Walker's additional tales of a jinxed traveling carnival, "Earth vs. the Sharktopus" and "Bally of the Beast." (And yes, Price & Walker had conceived of a Sharktopus, that unholy fusion of shark and octopus, long before Roger Corman misappropriated the idea.) https://www.createspace.com/3483198

Forbidden Horrors: Comics from the Gone World -- From the studio responsible for the celebrated "Forgotten Horrors" series of movie books -- a new collection of original and rebooted classic-horror comics. https://www.createspace.com/3479792

Forgotten Horrors Comics & Stories -- The acclaimed FORGOTTEN HORRORS film-history series yields its first graphic novel in FORGOTTEN HORRORS COMICS & STORIES -- a collection of comic-book novellas inspired by the low-rent chillers covered in the first five volumes of FORGOTTEN HORRORS, from the Depression years into the Atom-Age 1950s and '60s. From riffs on THE MAN FROM PLANET X and DESTINATION MOON, to takeoffs on THE VAMPIRE BAT and THE BLOB, to the long-unseen TOR JOHNSON--HOLLYWOOD STAR, here is a collection to delight the lover of maverick movies and offbeat comics. The book also marks a decisive tie-in between the FORGOTTEN HORRORS series and Mike Price's COMICS FROM THE GONE WORLD series of graphic novels. https://www.createspace.com/3654100

Gigantic Curse of Iger Annual -- Cremo Studios presents its first full-color anthology in the "Comics from the Gone World" series -- 150 pages of ghastly mirth and jolly mayhem assembled and adapted from any number of the Jerry Iger Comic-Book Sweatshop's pre-Code 1950s yarns. The tale of the Severed-Head Nose-Biter! The Grinning-Idiot Strangler-at-Large and Getting Larger! The Homicidal Sub-Midgetoid! And others too humorous to mention...  https://www.createspace.com/3526927

Gigantic Horrors of Iger Annual -- Pre-Code horrors from the Jerry Iger Comic-Book Sweatshop of the 1950s... Filtered through the Theatre of the Absurd for maximum... uh, Absurdity ... Latest entry in the celebrated and maligned COMICS FROM THE GONE WORLD!  https://www.createspace.com/3578533

Horror Comics from the Gone World -- The COMICS FROM THE GONE WORLD series cranks into high gear with HORROR COMICS FROM THE GONE WORLD (aren't they all?) -- 150 whopping pages of pre-Code 1950s chillers, adapted and re-written for a heightened Sense of Absurdity. Many entries from the legendary Jerry Iger comic-book sweatshop; a few from times more recent, including Mike Price & Todd Camp's rarely seen PLANET OF THE DEAD. Just the ticket for devotees of ghastly mirth and hair-raising hilarity. https://www.createspace.com/3691376

Mummy's Family Album -- Stalking from the ruins of Anxious... uh, Ancient Egypt comes THE MUMMY -- undead bane of temple-defilers everywhere -- with just one dire objective: To inflict his Family Album of creepy cousins upon the rest of the world! First collection ever of the acclaimed series of comic-book short subjects, accumulated from 20 years' worth of magazine appearances and many hitherto unpublished pieces.  https://www.createspace.com/3495971

Oswald's Confession & Other Tales from the War -- Jim Marrs, the bestselling Gold Standard in conspiracy research, and cultural historian Michael H. Price deliver a persuasive study in fact-based fiction in OSWALD'S CONFESSION, a graphic novel designed as a companion piece to Marrs' influential book, CROSSFIRE: THE PLOT THAT KILLED KENNEDY. Retracing Lee Harvey Oswald's final hours among the living, OSWALD'S CONFESSION spins a compelling tale of vain ambition at the ragged edge of mortal danger involving political and criminal intrigues. The mad dash for Oblivion culminates in the presidential assassination of Nov. 22, 1963. The book also collects Marrs & Price's TALES FROM THE WAR series of short comics stories, from the science-fictional "It Takes a Child To Raze a Village" to the Civil War-era shaggy-dog yarn "Lot of Brass!" Bonus tracks include an array of war-comics rarities from the pre-Code 1950s.  https://www.createspace.com/3720535

  

Pasteboard Demons -- The crime-card controversy of the 1990s comes rampaging back to life in Michael H. Price's anthology of his notorious "Bloody Visions" trading-card folios -- all together in a single whopping volume, larger by far than the original pieces. Rare bonus-card images round out the set, with an additional selection of Price's true-crime comics stories. https://www.createspace.com/3477049