1000 Nightmares #2 - Creator Studios

1000 NIGHTMARES No. 2, September 2018

Digitally released in September 2018, Bil Richardson’s “savage second issue” of “1000 Nightmares” undoubtedly demonstrates its creator’s desire for his publication not to be “your typical horror anthology” with its disconcerting look at religious fanaticism, a hapless human’s intimate relationship with an extra-terrestrial, and a savagely brutal case of animal cruelty. In fact, a number of this comic’s stories are so disturbingly thought-provoking and deeply troubling that, having finished digesting its concerning contents, many readers were probably very grateful to know that “all proceeds from the sale of this book” were due to “go to the mental rehabilitation of the truly sick individuals who created it.”

Opening this collection of ‘shorts’ is the filmmaker’s take on just what appalling lengths of behaviour people will go to supposedly “in the name of God”. Focusing upon the adolescent Ali, and the far older Aslam’s belief that the boy must “die now” so he can “go to heaven a hero of Allah” before the youngster acts upon his “sinful lusts”, this visually striking eight-page tale momentarily appears to be about to provide its audience with a genuinely happy ending. However, as the author’s point behind this narrative is that “it’s a good thing God is not as cruel to us as we are to each other”, the fact the child’s bearded guardian suddenly reveals he is carrying a remote controlled detonator for the suicide vest the lad is forced to wear, soon makes it abundantly evident that the unwilling pawn in the grown-up’s game is destined to face an explosive fate.

Perhaps far less provocative, albeit similarly as stimulating, is “STD”, which portrays Mister Jones’ admission to hospital following the man’s seemingly innocuous intimacy with a woman who “had a tattoo of a playboy bunny over her breast.” Infected with a truly horrendous-looking alien virus, Meg’s clearly suffering victim finally manages to locate the lady’s address “way out in the sticks” only to come face to face with a very hungry visitor from outer space; “When the thing exited Meg, her body exploded.” Wonderfully pencilled in black and white by Andy Dimitt, it is clear just why Richardson decided “colouring would only detract from it.”   

Arguably in some ways though, this book leaves its best anecdote until last, courtesy of its writer’s “adaption of a short story I wrote a long time ago.” Inspired “by people who treat animals better than humans” this narrative is definitely not for dog-lovers as an apparently quietly-spoken, well-meaning rancher decides to treat a cruel pet-owner with a lesson the beer-swilling “King of the Trailer Park” will never be allowed to forget…

First published on the "Dawn of Comics" website.'

Written by: Bil Richardson, and Art by: Bil Richardson & Gustave Dore

1000 Nightmares #1 - Creator Studios

1000 NIGHTMARES No. 1, September 2018

Straight from the ‘get-go’ and the comic’s stunning Simon Bisley cover illustration, it must have been clear to this digital book’s readers that Bil Richardson was determined to make his “ferocious” first issue of “1000 Nightmares” better than “the old conventions of short horror”. Indeed, the creator’s droll disclaimer that he “cannot be held legally liable for any scares caused by the reading” of this twenty-five page periodical is disconcertingly well-founded as the filmmaker “delves into the darkest depth of war, religion, desperation and the meaning of life” with a series of ‘shorts’ which are as horrific as they are, at times, disturbingly amusing.

Foremost of this anthology’s tales, and arguably the most visually impressive, is “The Oracle”, whose opening splash page depicting the malformed ‘head’ of a sinisterly creepy all-powerful religion is not only truly terrifying, but actually helped the author “spark the idea for the story.” Dialogue driven, as Jon unwisely publically undermines all the new church’s fateful predictions as “baloney”, it doesn’t come as much surprise when the non-believer is soon spirited away during the night by hooded zealots and comes face to face with the very “deformed guy who spouts gibberish” he’s been maligning. What follows next however, proves a real shock, and any pity the sympathetic prisoner feels for the multi-mouthed “poor wretched soul” is soon replaced by mortal terror; “Dinner is served.”

Equally as entertaining is the desolate black & white tale, “Hard Times”, which focuses upon the perturbing hardships forced upon a farming family during a particularly harsh winter. Desperate to keep their solitary cow alive, so as to ensure their baby is supplied with a continuous stream of milk, things soon look bleak for anyone’s survival after Old Blue, the hunting dog, croaks and the “old heifer” is found frozen to death in the barn. Uncomfortably, cannibalism soon becomes the next step for those who remain, yet this comic’s writer still manages to throw in a few shocks to misstep his audience’s expectations before the situation reaches its “gruesome conclusion”.

This publication’s final story, “The Meaning Of Life”, is also noteworthy, due to its all-too brief narrative containing plenty of gallows humour concerning the philosophical outlooks of two vultures as they’re about to feast upon a mass human burial site. In fact, the two raptors depicted within this fiction, whilst clearly unexpectedly intellectual for a pair of scavenging birds of prey, are precisely the sort of carrion feeders children wouldn’t have wanted to encounter whilst enjoying the classic 1967 “Walt Disney” animated film “Jungle Book”…

First published on the "Dawn of Comics" website.'

Written & Art by: Bil Richardson, and Pencils: Yevgeniy Frantsev & Renan Shody