by BK Munn

The revived Black Eye Books has launched Jay Stephens’’ first ongoing comic book series in over twenty years. Dwellings is a series of self-contained horror stories “blending retro cuteness with classic small town horror,” in Stephens’ patented style. According to the publisher, Dwellings “will feature one complete and self-contained story each issue. The first issue features a tale of murder and crows entitled They Know.” The book has been solicited on Kickstarter and was fully funded in 3 days hours, although many extra incentives are still being added.

Here are the details from the Kickstarter (the basic buy-in is $5 for a digital copy of #1 or $10 for print plus digital):


Set in southern Ontario, Dwellings is a series of 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?
Dwellings will be printed for a December release as a 36 page, full-colour, stapled comic book, and is being offered to readers as a pre-order via crowdfunding, which will run from Oct. 1–31, 2020 on Kickstarter .

About the Author

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’s most recent project is Dejects (2019), featuring nearly thirty years worth of eclectic and hitherto uncollected works.
About Black Eye Books

From 1993–-1998, Black Eye Books published such notable cartoonists as Nick Craine (Dance Me Outside), New Zealand’s Dylan Horrocks (Pickle, Hicksville), 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 Jay Stephens (The Land of Nod, Atomic City Tales)
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.