My first job since college was in a newspaper in McAllen, Texas, covering cop beats at night. I had never been to Texas when I took it. Everything I knew about McAllen, I learned what I learned online. “McAllen?! Why is it a citrus country!”
And my job was tough from the start. As soon as I got there, I covered the bodies found along the US Mexican border. They are human smugglers who flocked to killer bees and carried 18 people to fatally crash a minivan. I was only 23 years old, 1,400 miles from my hometown of Chicago. I was on my head and didn’t do my job well.
At the same time, this was about 15 years ago, and the newspaper was almost dying. I had nightmares about layoffs and Farrows. Ultimately, I spend almost five years at McAllen as a reporter. And I’m telling you all this to you, dear reader, as I’m turning the experience into a horror comic.
This is the catchphrase. The young reporter gets a job covering the nightly cop beat in a South Texas newspaper. When the border patrol agents are horribly killed, our heroes need to solve violent mystery with beloved local priests and werewolves in their dark centres.
Called Makabre Valley #1, it’s live on Kickstarter as of today. Here’s our cover:
This first issue is well in itself as an adventure that is included, but the idea behind the book is also to construct a larger story about the death of a newspaper. And it all draws from the real story I’ve covered.
For example, when I was in McAllen there was a car burglar who was called Elle Vanpillow. Wait until we see what we’re going to do with it.
Thankfully, super talented artist Anna Reedman (who won the Observer/Faver Graphic Short Story Award) took part in the project. Anna never lived in Texas, but she doesn’t know that from her work, which is informed by Southwest love, from Cormac McCarthy’s novels to Towns Van Zandt’s music. Moreover, her art fits our dirty horror stories perfectly, and her storytelling choices allow Palpy Gore and Noir to bounce seamlessly between procedural sequences of journalism.
Participants in the project are veteran colorist Brad Simpson (Feral, The Invisible Man), Eisner nominated letter Becca Carey (Absolute Wonder Woman, Radiant Black), and renowned designer Jared K. Fletcher (Paper Girls). There is also a variant cover by John J. Pearson (see below). If I say that, it’s a good team.
And, in my personal note, I am not working for another person, but I strongly believe that the loss of my local newspaper is an uncontroversial blow to our community. This manga wants readers to think about how we got here and how scary it is that there is nothing that effectively replaces what we once had. Plus, we want to tell you werewolves, vampires, goblins riding Chupacabras, false and fascinating ghosts haunting monsters, and many more.
You look at our project. If you like what you’re watching, please pledge your support, get this first issue and consider joining yourself and my collaborators this Halloween.
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