This panel had an All Star cast of horror comic creators. It consisted of Cullen Bunn, Jeremy Haun, and Tony Moore. Cullen Bunn has written horror comics like Shadow Roads, Brothers Dracul, and Harrow County. Jeremy Haun is the artist on horror comics including HAUNTHOLOGY, Red Mother, The Beauty. Tony Moore is the artist on The Walking Dead comics.
The panel was asked what brought them into loving horror and creating horror comics. Cullen joked when he was a little boy, he was watching outside and a man crawled out from under his porch, went to the apple tree, picked an apple, and then crawled back under the house. Jeremy grew up out in the country where there here pigs and would hear the pigs screaming which terrorfied him. Tony stated that he grew up living with his grandmother who worked second shift and his uncle had a bunch of horror and geek stuff that he found cool. The thing they all had in common was growing up inn the country.
When asked what influenced them, Tony stated that he grew reading horror comic, watching Tales from the Crypt, Tales from the Darkside, and numerous horror movies. Cullen stated that he was drawn to the Charlatan comics especially their horror line. Cullen went on to state that Baker and Landsdale where writers who he found inspiration. Jeremy agreed with it all and stated that the 80s was full of horror novels, movies, and shows that he loved. They all discussed how there were horror magazines like Famous Monsters and Fangoria Magazine. Cullen mentioned a specific Twilight Zone episode where the girl falls off the bed and rolls under it and doesn’t come back as one of those moments for him.
The panel discussed Horror comics can be combined with any other type of genres. You can tell a lot of stories by combining different genres. The movie Alien was an example of this.
When asked about the appeal of horror, Tony stated that is a weird type of therapy for him. It provides him with an escapism as a kid because there was a lot of death around him. Cullen stated it helps him to cope and some how it provides hope for him because people can struggle and survive.
The panel discussed the differences between black and white and color in comics. They agreed both can be good depending on what you want to do. Tony stated that they did The Walking Dead in Black and White because it was cheaper but it made things easier to sell because the blood isn’t bright red but rather a shade of black. Jeremy stated that movies like Night of the Living Dead and Psycho were both black and white and it made them more intense. Tony stated he did Deadpool in color with a ton of red on purpose to show the gore of it.
The topic of jump scares and how comics don’t have them came up. The group agreed the Closest thing to a jump scare is a page turn. Use the new page as a way to bring out that scare.
The group talked about how to make good horror. One of the most effective methods is to make the audience care about the characters. The slow build can build the readers love of the character and up the emotions when the character is put in a horror situation. “Make them like or hate a character then audience will forgive the other parts”.
It was a great panel with such incredible panelists of Cullen, Tony, and Jeremy.
Stay Geeky!
