Cartoonist: Jay Stephens
Publisher: Black Eye Books, Toronto, Canada
Format: 6.625 x 10.1875 (standard comic book size) / Full Colour / 36 pages / saddle-stiched
Audience: For mature readers
Publication date: Apr, 2022
Crowdfunding: Feb. 15–Mar. 15, 2022 at https://go.blackeye.ca/dwellings
web: www.blackeye.ca twitter/instagram/facebook: @blackeyebooks
Press/Business contact: michel@blackeye.ca
return to Elwich with the latest creepy cute tale in Jay Stephens’ continuing horror anthology series Dwellings!
Issue No. 3: “Quiet, Suki!”
When her grandmother mysteriously vanishes from a long term care home, and the staff deny she ever existed, Charlie Ouilette's only clue to discovering the truth is her grandmother's toy handpuppet, Suki. But when Suki starts talking ... leading Charlie deeper into the nearby woods... she begins to wish she'd never put her hand inside!
“Jay Stephens’ Dwellings wonderfully mixes glorious and gorgeous old school cartooning with a sinister underbelly, creating a comic unlike anything else out there. Highly recommended!”
—Jeff Lemire, Sweet Tooth, Black Hammer and the forthcoming Little Monsters
Dwellings is an ongoing anthology comic book series of southern Ontario horror tales, lovingly drawn in a vintage comics style to most perfectly invoke those half-remembered terrors of youth. The true meaning of the word nostalgia is, ‘to return home in pain’. So let’s get nostalgic, shall we?
“…a masterful job… I couldn’t be more impressed with the art and storytelling.”
—Seth (Clyde Fans, Palookaville)
Black Eye Books is thrilled to launch the third issue of Dwellings by Harvey and Eisner-Award nominated cartoonist Jay Stephens — his first ongoing comic book series in over twenty years. The first issue of the series, Dwellings No 1: ‘They Know’, was a smash success, funded in just three hours, featured as a Kickstarter ‘project we love’, and raising over $18,000 with the second issue "Second Tongue” building upon that and raising over $20,000 with more than 500 backers.
As with previous Black Eye projects, Dwellings No. 3 is being offered to readers as a pre-order via crowdfunding, which will run from February 15–March 17, 2022 on Fundrazr at http://go.blackeye.ca/dwellings
Dwellings No. 3 will be printed for an April release as a 36 page, full-colour, stapled comic book with uncoated interior paper and a glossy cover, just like the comics that inspired it. For mature readers only!
previous issues
Dwellings No. 1: "They Know"
A secretive young man named John Allan finds his conscience tested by an increasingly larger murder of crows that follow him after a sudden, violent, incident. How and why are these birds attracted to him, and what do they know? Can John maintain a grip on his reality and identity? A Poe-meets-Hithcock thriller, full of bloodthirsty birds
Dwellings No. 2: "Second Tongue"
The internal conflict between the rational and the supernatural becomes deadly, as a science-minded stranger to town investigates a case of Foreign Accent Syndrome. Mistaken Identity? Or another entity entirely? Are you ready to dwell in the Southern Ontario Gothic of Elwich again, for a jarring tale of familiar horror from within?
Praise for Dwellings:
“…a masterful job… I couldn’t be more impressed with the art and storytelling.” —Seth, Clyde Fans, Palookaville
“One of the best comics of the year!” —Henk Comics (Amsterdam)
“I hate to give Dwellings #2 five stars after giving Dwellings #1 the same ranking, but holy shit! This thing is a couple notches more disturbing. You get drug overdoses, satanic cults, murder, and mutilation, all drawn in the cute Harvey style of the 1970s... a disturbing horror tale of demonic possession... Five out of five demons.” —GoodReads review
“Stephens is building a complex and immersive fictional world here that references many of the darker aspects of our own, while at the same time overtly wishing that the pre-packaged saccharine innocence so many of us grew up bombarded with could be true. I guess dreams really do die hard, after all—but nightmares? They go on forever.” — Four Color Apocalypse
“Stephens at the height of his bravura storytelling powers, dumping us headlong into a gruesome mystery-terror tale about a young man who randomly runs into a ghost from his past... equal parts police procedural and creeping psychological fearfest, with heavy Hitchcockian overtones...” —Sequentialpulp.ca
Praise for Jay’s previous works:
“Dejects is a wonderful collection of Jay’s most bizarre stuff! A priceless treasure for anyone that digs great cartooning straight from the Id!”—Michael Allred, Madman, iZombie, Silver Surfer on Dejects
“…a fluorescent milkshake of a comic book, Jay Stephens’ Jetcat is Saturday morning forever, a timely reminder of what comics are there for, and of how good they can actually be.” —Alan Moore on Jetcat Clubhouse
“Stephens is a way ahead of the curve creator whose all-ages style and whimsical approach to comics is timeless.”—Comics Beat
“If Hanna-Barbera delt with existential angst and deconstructionalism, the end result would probably resemble the Land of Nod, the new comic from Jay Stephens. I sincerely doubt, however, that they would do anywhere near as good a job as he has. Make no mistake, this book is quite an achievement.”—The Comics Journal on Land of Nod.
Awards and Recognition:
Nominated for Doug Wright award: Pigskin Peter (best micro-press publication), Dejects, 2020
Nominated for Joe Shuster award: Cartoonist, Dejects, 2020
Nominated for Eisner awards: Best Humor Publication, Best Graphic Album Reprint, The Land Of Nod Rockabye Book, 2000
Nominated for Harvey award, Special Award for Humor, 1997
About Jay Stephens:
Jay Stephens is a Canadian cartoonist and illustrator currently living in Guelph, Ontario. He is best known as the creator of Discovery Kids’s animated television series Tutenstein, Cartoon Network’s The Secret Saturdays, and the Jetcat animated shorts for Nickelodeon's anthology series, KaBlam!. Aside from his work in animation, Jay is recognized for several comic book projects, including SIN, The Land of Nod, Atomic City Tales, and Jetcat Clubhouse, and has written and drawn for licensed properties such as Alien, Star Wars, Felix the Cat, and Teen Titans. Jay is the creator of the comic strips, Oddville!, Chick & Dee (in Chickadee magazine), Xtra-curricular and Arrowhead (in OWL magazine), and (with writer Bob Weber Jr.) the daily newspaper strip Oh, Brother!. Jay’s most recent project is Dejects (2019), featuring nearly thirty years worth of hitherto uncollected works.
About Black Eye Books:
From 1993–1998, Black Eye Books published such notable cartoonists as Jay Stephens (The Land of Nod, Atomic City Tales), Nick Craine (Dance Me Outside), Jason Lutes (Jar of Fools, Berlin), Tom Hart (The Sands), Jeremy Eaton (World of Trouble), Matt Madden (Black Candy), James Kochalka (Quit Your Job), Ed Brubaker (Lowlife), Brian Biggs (Dear Julia), and New Zealand's Dylan Horrocks (Pickle, Hicksville).
Relaunched in 2019 by publisher Michel Vrana, Black Eye Books continues its pursuit of publishing eclectic and engaging stories told in the form of words and pictures.