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Pages like these two are a lot of fun, because I get to dive back into pure “character designer” mode. It reminds me a bit of the times on Invader ZIM when I’d get tasks like “draw ten revolting monsters” or “design twenty alien species to fill this food court.” The task I have myself here was basically “create six nu-metal Cenobites.” 

Yeah, I’ll go ahead and throw Rivet Hed in the “nu-metal” category. Nu-metal often had kind of a vaguely left-leaning POV, but mostly it was just basic anti-authoritarianism. “DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, MOM!” is basically Rivet’s whole deal. It’s a knee-jerk reaction to a repressive childhood. Which is perfectly reasonable! Knee-jerk anti-authoritarianism isn’t a bad place to start an intellectual voyage. It can lead to good things like rejecting patriarchy, capitalism, white supremacy, etc. But it can also lead to bad things like, y’know, injecting heroin and not injecting COVID vaccines. You have to up your thinking game at some point.

But whatever! I mentioned Cenobites, and Clive Barker is definitely a big part of my artistic DNA. I read every Book of Blood as a teenager and loved all three of his movies (yep, even Lord of Illusions). There’s such a rich elegance to Clive Barker’s specific brand of repulsive boundary-pushing. I don’t think you have to be a lapsed Catholic to enjoy it, but I suspect it helps.

“The Drool” there are very “Chatterer,” aren’t they?

Just noticed the “hypocricy” typo in the upper right. It never ends, does it? I’ll find the last typo on my deathbed at 102, then die secure in the knowledge that others will find more tomorrow.

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Is “FILLER” the best panel I’ve ever drawn? You make the call!

The Flayed Pig and The Chairman feel like old-timey political cartoons. You know, the ones where, like, a pig in a suit labeled “BIG OIL” smokes a cigar labeled “DEMOCRACY.” I’m sure cartoons like that are still being made in 2024, but I stand by “old timey.” Those cartoonists know what they are.

But back to Clive Barker: That big spider monster with a drowning nun in a tank for a head feels very Barker-y, doesn’t it? It could exist in the same world as Pinhead and his buddies. (Always imagined the tank was full of blood, too, for extra squickiness.)

Back in 2001 Clive Barker teamed up with McFarlane Toys to release the “Tortured Souls” series of highly-detailed mutilated BDSM monster action figures. They were basically Cenobites with the IP serial numbers filed off, and several of us on the ZIM crew thought they looked very cool indeed. One day on our lunch break, a few of us headed off to the dearly-departed Meltdown Comics in Hollywood to buy the entire set of six Pseudo-Cenobites. 

The detail on these things was insane. Very realistic leather, chains, flayed flesh, etc. You’d swear all those glistening wounds were real. Who wouldn’t want these lil’ freaks on a shelf in their home for everyone to see? Hey, take that dangling blood bag man and nestle him in there next to muumuu Homer Simpson and the stuffed Totoro… So beautiful! Look, Grandma, he’s got a head growing in a transparent sac on his abdomen. Like some kind of screaming head pregnancy!

Several years later I ended up giving all my Tortured Souls to a Goodwill in Hillsboro, OR. Hope some lucky kid out there is enjoying them today.

BACK TO THE PRESENT!

Speaking of things being appropriate for kids…

Stoked, honored, and frankly startled to tell you my new book SHOCK CITY is one of the Junior Library Guild’s GOLD STANDARD selections for this year! The JLG is an organization that curates books to sent out to libraries all over the US, and I love libraries so this is very cool. Thanks, JLG!

Among other things, the JLG stamp is a good indicator for parents that a book contains no Clive Barker’s Tortured Souls content. You never know when it’ll sneak in there!

NEXT WEEK: DOODLEBUGS AND DOODLEBOOKS.