Broken Frontier

Continue to journey with Steven Surman into the shadowy minds of today’s dark creators. Picking up where the last installment of "Creating by Candlelight" left off, Surman continues to identify the reasons why the dark genres of the arts and entertainment are so appealing, this time by analyzing comic books and film.

Read Part One

Creating by Candlelight: Dark Storytelling’s Allure in the Arts and Entertainment (Part 2)

Chilling Comic Books

The use of bleak elements in creative expression has a long reach, as John "Wes" May of Nashville, TN, proves with his independent comic book, Midnight’s End, Mr. May’s is a story that employs the heavier ambient mood of classic gothic storytelling, a literary method combining romantic, relational themes with brooding haunting elements. The particular genre was made well-known by early writers like Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, and Matthew Lewis. But his story goes further, as it deals with a murder mystery around a gay couple when one is ultimately killed by a vampire. The black-and-white gothic tale has a noir flare that gives the story a multi-faceted appeal.

But Mr. May’s story doesn’t rely on fear to invoke emotion. "[The story is] not intended to cause fear at all. I think that the horror genre offers a window to loss that no other genre can," Mr. May said as he discussed how the book was a method for him to cope with his own personal losses. Because the story uses the comic book medium, Mr. May relies on visual imagery as well as the written word. His illustrated characters and scenery have a smooth, sleek, and shadowy appeal, balancing gloom with beauty. And though Mr. May’s book is not intended to terrify, he believes strongly in a good scare. "I think it’s good to be scared. Darkness begets darkness until you see the light again."

Mr. May’s graphic tale is in good company. From the classic days of Tales from the Crypt to the modern Hellboy, the young artistic medium of comic books has had a successful hand in the dark genres. Seth Frail has great faith in the comic book medium’s ability to tell shadowy stories. He has spent a decade of his life as a professional artist. The Ballwin, MO resident has been a freelance and commissioned artist for eight years and used the profit as a main source of income. His portfolio grew so large that he eventually held five art exhibits of his work.

His first major breakthrough in the comic book industry was the graphic adaptation of The Time Machine in the Graphic Classics: H.G. Wells, Second Edition collection. Since then, he’s worked on smaller independent titles such as Monster Babies and was the featured artist for the U.S. Air Force’s magazine, Airman, from 2005 to 2006. He is currently illustrating Brian Augustyn’s comic book, The Witness.

Mr. Frail’s passion as an artist has allowed him to consider the actual impact of dark storytelling in visual art. "Who doesn’t like a good scare every now and then? A good horror story is like a good joke: you must have a setup to draw your audience in to hit them with the punch line. Suspense is like that, or else no one cares about the payoff." He agrees with his contemporaries that the macabre genres offer a greater insight, opening a door of exploration into the recesses of our minds that we typically shy away from.

Mr. Frail believes, however, that there is more to offer from the comic book medium for horror stories. The tantalization of pictures and words fused together can deliver greater feelings than just words or imagery alone—a "hulking shadow" effect captured at the turn of a comic book’s page, as Mr. Frail sees it. But along with Mr. May, he believes that monstrous storytelling can evoke more than just terror, but empathy and compassions as well. "I’ve always empathized with Frankenstein’s monster more than the doctor himself, for example—some of it being psychology and some being curiosity."

Macabre Filmmaking

But comic books and prose alone don’t have the mainstream reach of film, where dark tales find their zenith of popularity. Jeffrey Lynn Ward of Florida works intimately with cinematic horror, having graduated from Columbia College. He’s since worked in the film industry and now has broken out on his own with his first independent horror movie, Hallows Point. The movie depicts a séance that calls back the spirit of a murdering teacher, of which Mr. Ward was the writer, director, and producer. The sweaty experience of shooting the film in a stifling Florida warehouse was testament to his love of horror.

"It’s the campfire-story mentality. The best part of camping is sitting around the fire telling ghost stories until everyone is petrified. With a movie, you’re allowed a much bigger fire," Mr. Ward said. He agrees with his storytelling colleagues that the appeal of darkness is wanting to know what is lurking beyond our field of vision, what is hiding in the closet or crawling under the bed, ultimately what fuels our own fears in our minds. But the reach of film is much farther and often times more gripping than any other medium because it’s real-time; the pace is self-sustaining and guides the viewer. "There’s a lot of satisfaction in a reaction from an audience. Fear is by far the most fun to me."

To capture the feelings of terror in Hallows Point, Ward and Erik Curtis, his director of photography, decided to shoot the movie in High Definition, allowing the camera to capture everything the naked eye is able to see. This allowed the crew to use practical lighting like standards bulbs and candles without having to worry about larger studio lights. It all added to the mood of visual eeriness in the end, which set the gloomy mood for viewers. This combined with creative camera moves and quality makeup provided by Dawn Gardner, made for what Mr. Ward saw to be a successful horror film.

Mr. Frail agrees with Mr. Ward of film’s potency. "In film you have tools at hand like sound and time that simply aren’t present in literature or illustrations," Mr. Frail said. Because of this, writers and artists are required to use storytelling techniques to touch at deeper feelings other than pure adrenaline-rushing terror.

But all of these contemporaries have a common consensus, whether they are author or filmmaker, writer or illustrator. Whatever is waiting for us in the blackness behind our eyelids has a purpose—to make us question and find courage in what we can’t see and don’t know.

It is the indulgence of these dark storytellers and their countless associates that helps us look for that answer, to understand what scares us and why. Only through an embrace of the darker side can anyone fully appreciate the lighter side. No matter if a thriller novel, a dank gothic tale, or a blood-curdling horror film, they all provide the chilling fear of the unknown for readers to examine and understand.

"We enter a world of our mind. We can face our fears and stare them down. That’s a valuable thing," Mr. Kenyon concluded.