Jay Stephens’ Dwellings is easily one of the most memorable horror comics to come along in recent years, combining a wholesome, Casper: The Friendly Ghost-inspired art style with a truly wicked and adults-only sensibility. Now Dwellings is being collected as a hardcover graphic novel, and IGN can debut an exclusive extended preview of this unique project.
Check out the slideshow gallery below for a closer look at Dwellings:
Dwellings is written and drawn by Stephens. The series originally spanned three 72-page issues, each with two full stories. Here’s Oni’s official description for the series:
Welcome to Elwich – an oasis of small town perfection, where the schools overflow with cheery-eyed children, lovingly adorned homes line the historic boulevards… and only the crows can see the deep, festering rot that lurks beneath the pristine surface. Murder. Demonology. Possession. Obsession. Elwich has them all on offer—and behind every dwelling awaits a horrifying new story to be told…
“Dwellings collects 6 tales of Art House Psycho-Horror crossed with vintage kid comic cuteness, a strange brew concocted to invoke the loss of innocence that seethes beneath every happy childhood. Nostalgia weaponized into chilling tales that cut directly to our deepest fears,” Stephens tells IGN. “The lead story, ‘They Know’ sets the small town terror tone with the account of one John Allen, a young man gradually losing his grip on reality due to the murder of crows that follow his every move. Is their presence driving him to kill, or are they there to feast on the corpses they already knew he would provide? This Poe-meets-Hitchcock thriller is drawn in a retro cartoon style that draws you in close to heighten the shocks. Get out while you still can!”
“Dwellings is one of a handful of recent comics that reminds you why comic book storytelling is so special; there are no barriers to what the imagination can accomplish on the page,” adds Oni Press Editor-in-Chief Sierra Hahn. “Jay Stephens’s cartooning gleefully strays off the obvious path toward nostalgia and drops you into delightfully twisted tales that are unforgettable, uncomfortable, and darkly funny.”
“Jay is a special kind of very rare, hyper-talented comics omnivore – he can write, draw, color, letter and design with incredible effectiveness and ingenuity,” says publisher Hunter Gorinson. “So when it came time to reimagine the immortal aesthetic of EC Comics – which has influenced not just our industry, but all of pop culture with some of the most visceral images ever etched into the American imagination – we knew that he was the ideal choice to pay tribute to Johnny Craig, Jack Davis, Al Feldstein, Frank Frazetta, and the rest of EC’s cast of artistic visionaries with his special series of EC homage covers that will soon begin with EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS #1 and CRUEL UNIVERSE #1.”
Dwellings is available now in hardcover format. You can preorder a copy below:
In other comic book news, we’ve got an exclusive preview of High on Life #2, and we break down the biggest new comcis of May 2024.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
