The Claws Come Out

by Pat Lewis

An apathetic scientist works late defrosting the Abominable Snowman. A naive blood donor dates a rageaholic vampire. A two-bit fortune teller inadvertently sparks a zombie epidemic. And it's all played for laughs. Martians, werewolves, serial killers and B-movie monsters square off against a variety of tough women in this slam-bang collection of comedy/adventure stories by acclaimed indie cartoonist Pat Lewis.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror

152 pages, Hardcover

First published November 29, 2007

About the author

PAT N. LEWIS grew up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA, but now lives and works in a bachelor pad within the city limits. Though he's been drawing since he was a tyke, Pat started to get really serious about it sometime during his senior year at Penn State. Now, fueled only by a disturbing combination of coffee and junk food, he spends all his time drawing illustrations and making hilarious comics.

Reviews

[Vince Dorse · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Claws Come Out is an anthology that pokes fun at retro horror movie tropes while skewering their outdated gender roles. Not the damsels in distress so popular in 50s monster movies, the heroes in all of these stories are women; women who are smart, strong, brave, and resourceful. You know, like actual women. And they battle just about every kind of creep you can imagine (vampires, zombies, aliens, yeti, sea monsters, etc.). The book is designed as a send-up of those classic E.C. horror comics from the 50s, with a ‘horror host’ in a wraparound bit who introduces each story. Pat Lewis is a skilled cartoonist with a great sense of humor, and you can tell he really knows his schlocky horror flicks. Not necessarily for little kids, the book probably carries a PG-rating (for language and a bit of cartoony gore) but it’s great fun for fans of cartoons and horror.

[Fawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Think B movie, it's pretty cheesy.

[Daniel Frazier · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sharp, very funny parody of the old late-night television horror hosts and classic EC horror comics, The Claws Come Out is a female character driven collection of horror/comedy tales that are sure to please.

[Colleen AF · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first came across Pat Lewis's ABOMINABLE (one of the stories included in this collection-woo!) in the handmade minis section of Jim Hanley's comic book shop in NYC. It was HANDS-DOWN the best mini I ever randomly bought without having no idea who the creator was. As an always quietly raging feminist (eh, who am I kidding "not-so-quietly") I couldn't get over the fantastic 3-dimensionalness of his lead character. I mean I was reading a book where female scientist has to battle an defrosted-by-evil-scientists-to-kill-her abominable snowman, and she does it, she friggin' does it!—without the help of a low-cut shirt, cheesy plotline, nor a single man...unless of course that raptor (yes, raptor) she finds and releases and rides on to momentary safety happened to be male...

After finishing the book, I hunted down more of this mysterious Pat Lewis's comics and started to notice a few things: 1. I should never drink liquids while reading his books, unless I am in the mood to remember exactly what that liquid smells like flying out my nose 2. Pat was a fan of camp, a fan of b-movies, a fan of all things awesome in my mind. His books were often a tribute to them, but, unlike the movies he paid homage to, his characters were fully-formed and despite the number of vampires, zombies, and talking horses in the background, they were always realistic and relatable. I think that may be one of the things that makes his stories so damn funny is that you can see yourself in them.

Now this collection of "broads and monsters" has the standard comic book reader in mind with narration by a elvira-eske host, but all you ladies out there who want to read a book where we kick some ass and take some names (off the gravestones they crawled up out of) should really grab a copy, even if you don't think you are the graphic novel reader-type. I assure you, you are. You just haven't read the right book yet. And this one might be a damn good place to start.

P.S. For those of you who freak out over awesome book design make sure you take the book jacket off and take a look at the sweeet panels embossed on the casing. Things like that give me goosebumps.

P.P.S. (pps? christ, what I am in middle school?) For all comic book readers: If you walk into a comic book store and don't immediately walk to the handmade section, I am positive you are missing something in life.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book with an awful title. Some great storytelling by a cartoonist who deserves the wider audience. This reprints one mini-comic (the great "Abominable") and includes several new stories. Lots of horror-tinged fun.

[Kristina Mathioudakis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really quick read! A collection of four "scary stories" and they were enjoyable for the most part. Couldn't give it a higher rating because there wasn't much to it, and I doubt I'll ever reread it.

[Blair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good absurd fun, somewhat in the vein of MAD Magazine, with the common theme amongst the short tales of women fighting monsters.

[Raving Redcoat · Rating 4 out of 5]

An entertaining anthology of monster stories, featuring strong female protagonists. Well illustrated, very tongue-in-check, and highly worth perusing.

[Jai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny...kinda quirky. The illustrations were cute and simple. Spoiler alert: the narrator reminds me of a cross between The crypt keeper from tales from the crypt and Elvira. Cheesy but funny. The different stories were cute as well. A quick read.