Dwellings Vol. 4: Info Kit
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: Oct, 2022
Crowdfunding: August 2–31 at https://go.blackeye.ca/dwellings
web: www.blackeye.ca twitter/instagram/facebook: @blackeyebooks
Press/Business contact: michel@blackeye.ca
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Black Eye Books is thrilled to launch the fourth issue of Dwellings by Doug Wright Award Winner and Harvey and Eisner-Award nominated cartoonist Jay Stephens. The first issue of the series, Dwellings Vol. 1: ‘They Know’, was a smash success, funded in just three hours, featured as a Kickstarter ‘project we love’, and raising over $18,000.
As with previous Black Eye projects, Dwellings Vol. 4 is being offered to readers as a pre-order via crowdfunding, which will run from August 2–31, 2022 on Crowdfundr at http://go.blackeye.ca/dwellings
Dwellings Vol. 4 will be printed for an October 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!
WINNER of the Doug Wright Award for Best Small Press Comic 2021, the indy phenomenon described as “cute, creepy, stabby chic” is BACK! The 4th Dwellings tale crawls forth on Crowdfundr in August!
Dwellings’ disarmingly cute-as-Hell horror returns with an all-new story called “Being of Sound Mind,” where Mid-century Flea Market Kids’ Comics meet Art House Horror Cinema in a ‘no-such-thing-as-ghosts’ story unlike any you've read before...
DWELLINGS VOL. 4: “BEING OF SOUND MIND”
A trio of GenZ besties with money to burn have turned a reportedly haunted Elwich undergarment factory into a cutting-edge “Amusement Haunt,” using 18hz infrasound “ghost frequencies” broadcast throughout the Fang Factory to generate an uncanny, entirely natural, terror.
But is the infrasound creating an illusion of ghosts, or opening a threshold ? What secrets about the friends will be revealed from the Other Side? And can the sceptical local reporter debunk the ghostly gossip before terrified believers get themselves hurt?
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?
Praise for Dwellings:
“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
“For my money, the most engaging funnybook out there right now is ol' Jay Stephens' Dwellings.” —Phil Hester (Swamp Thing, Green Arrow)
“Sometimes you just need a self-contained story, even if it eventually ties into a much bigger theme or plot... (Dwellings) offers a series of southern Ontario horror tales drawn in a vintage comic style that is both cute and terrifying.” —The Comics Beat
“...has all the hallmarks of classic Harvey Comics: clear storytelling, cute characters, and clean linework... But don't let the innocent style of art fool you—Dwellings is full of twists and turns and a generous helping of blood.” —Palmer's Picks
“…a masterful job… I couldn’t be more impressed with the art and storytelling.” —Seth, Clyde Fans, Palookaville
“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
previous issues
Dwellings Vol. 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 Vol. 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?
Dwellings Vol. 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!
Awards and Recognition:
Winner of Doug Wright award: Pigskin Peter (best micro-press publication), Dwellings Vol. 2, 2021
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 recent collection Dejects (2019) compiles nearly thirty years worth of hitherto uncollected works, and Jetcat and Friends (2021) features all the adventures of his all ages character Jetcat. His most recent project, the ongoing anthology horror series Dwellings, launched in 2020.
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.