“The comic book was a bit of a lark,” according to Lamberson.  “I was looking for different ways to promote the novel, and I already had the “Gruesome” rock CD and Johnny Gruesome Death Mask in the works.  A lot of authors post sample chapters for their books on websites, but I thought it would be more interesting, and more fun, to post comic book adaptations of selected chapters, since the novel was largely inspired by E.C. Comics’ revenge-from-beyond-the-grave stories and Marvel Comics’ Tomb of Dracula.”

Lamberson found two artists willing to adapt his material without pay: Toronto-based Kelly Forbes and Argentinean Martin Blanco.  Forbes’s segment, “A Day for Damnation,” went live on the Johnny Gruesome website (www.JohnnyGruesome.com) six months ago, and Blanco’s piece, “Lividity,” went up two weeks ago.

“Each artist brought a different approach to the project,” Lamberson says, “which is what I’ve asked all of the creative people involved in Johnny’s multimedia world to do.  Kelly has a very creepy, naturalistic style—disturbing, giving the nature of that chapter’s content—and Martin’s style more directly invokes the E.C. approach—fun and gory.”

The comics are available for free on-line, but Lamberson decided to print a limited run comic book for contributors through Chris Hedges of Insidious Publications.  Blanco’s work wasn’t completed in time for inclusion, but one page from his story was used to introduce Forbes’s piece. The digest-sized comic is what Lamberson submitted to the New York City Horror Film Festival.

“Chris and I used the cover that Zach McCain created for the novel, and used his illustrations for the novel to flesh out the story and unify different elements.” The limited edition comic became an unintentional collaboration between the various Gruesome artists.  “Just for fun, we threw in some vintage ads from old comics as well.  My favorite is the one for the Aurora monster models, since they were what led to my love for horror in the first place.  If you look closely, one of the gravestones in the ad has ‘Gruesome’ written on it.”

Lamberson created the Johnny Gruesome character in a screenplay he wrote two decades ago, shortly after completing the script for his cult film Slime City—and the comic book category is part of New York City Horror Film Festival’s screenplay competition.

“It’s the first year they’ve given an award in this category,” Lamberson says.  “And it may be the last!  My novel Personal Demons won the Inaugural Anubis Award for Horror, and there was never another one given!”

The Johnny Gruesome novel is available for pre-order from Bad Moon Books (www.badmoonbokks.com) and is slated to ship in mid-November.   The book is a Limited Edition hardcover with a press run of 250 copies, each one individually numbered and signed by Lamberson, McCain, and author Jeff Strand, who provided the introduction.  The book also features a frontispiece painting by Eric Mache.

“There’s a story behind that painting too,” Lamberson laughs.  “I hired Eric to create it back when I first wrote the screenplay and he presented it to me on the set of Brain Damage when I was Frank Henenlotter’s Assistant Director.  Everything is coming full circle.”