J. Holtham, esteemed African-American playwright, comic book writer (EC Comics’ Epitaphs From the Abyss, Marvel’s Bishop and Night Thrasher), and TV writer and producer (Co-Executive Producer and writer for the Emmy Award-winning show The Handmaid’s Tale), is teaming up with celebrated African-American cartoonist Michael Lee Harris (creator of Black Hitler and Choco Leche) to create The Horizon Experiment: Motherfu*kin’ Monsters. This fourth installment in The Horizon Experiment series of one-shots will hit shelves this December; the series centers on original protagonists from marginalized backgrounds set in a popular genre, led by Eisner and Harvey Award-winning The Good Asian and Infidel creator Pornsak Pichetshote.
Marking Holtham’s first creator-owned comic and Harris’s first Image Comics project, The Horizon Experiment: Motherfu*kin’ Monsters is like Evil Dead but for blerds, a love letter to Sam Raimi and Edgar Wright set to a Wu-Tang soundtrack. Fans of Bitter Root and Chew will enjoy this meta horror comedy full of quips and gore. Also featuring dynamic lettering by Micah Myers, Motherfu*kin’ Monsters is co-edited by Pichetshote and award-winning editor Will Dennis (SOMNA: A Bedtime Story, Gideon Falls).
In Motherfu*kin’ Monsters, a nerdy Black kid from Brooklyn and his friends stumble upon demon-worshipping frat assholes trying to take over the world. What ensues is colorful chaos as “sorta” hero JJ Henry and his fam fight for their motherfu*kin’ survival and to stop this Grimoire-based evil from being unleashed. In this story, instead of having the Black characters be sidekicks and have quick deaths, as has often been the case in horror, Holtham and Harris put them in the center.
“I’m a longtime horror head. I saw Evil Dead II in an old grindhouse in Queens and it rocked my world. Of course, though, we all know the trope: the Black folks die first. I wanted to make a world that works for Blerds, Black witch girls, and all the kinds of Black folk we don’t get to see,” said Holtham. “I was that Black kid in the lily-white college town, which can be a horror story of its own. When Pornsak asked me to join The Horizon Experiment, Blerds fighting zombies was the first place my mind went. Michael Lee has been a dream collaborator. Pushing the gore, pushing the cool, bringing all the Blackness to the page. I can’t wait for people to see what we’ve made.”
“I didn’t realize how much I needed Motherfu*kin’ Monsters in my life,” said Harris. “It’s rare that we get to see fun horror from this perspective and I am thrilled to be a part of it! J penned a unique story that I got to bloody up and I can’t wait for you all to read it!”
“Motherfu*kin’ Monsters looks and feels like no comic you’ve ever read before because J. and Michael Lee are two voices unlike any others working in comics,” said Pichetshote. “J.’s a successful playwright, screenwriter, and TV producer, so it’s been thrilling to watch him do comics. And there are things Michael Lee’s doing in Motherfu*kin’ Monsters that I’ve never seen done before. His command of the medium is that unique, so it’s a treat seeing what he and J. can do with their powers combined.”
Like the other titles in The Horizon Experiment, this one-shot serves as the equivalent of a pilot for a creator-owned series, with the potential of continuing should there be demand for more. Along with an original cover by Harris, the issue will feature variant covers by Eisner Award-winning artist Tula Lotay (Supreme: Blue Rose), part of a series of connecting variant covers across all five Horizon Experiment one-shots.
The Horizon Experiment series kicks off on September 25 with The Manchurian, written by Pichetshote and illustrated by superstar artists Terry and Rachel Dodson (Adventureman, Harley Quinn), featuring a Chinese super spy inspired by James Bond. Future issues include the Muslim exorcism horror The Sacred Damned (by Sabir Pirzada and Michael Walsh), East African werewolf horror Moon Dogs (by Tananarive Due and Kelsey Ramsey), and “reverse Indiana Jones” action-adventure Finders / Keepers (by Vita Ayala and Skylar Patridge). The five issues will be released on a monthly basis.
The Horizon Experiment: Motherfu*kin’ Monsters #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, December 18
Leave a Reply