The Spine Chillers: Vol. 1

by Ben Clark, Alexander Finbow (Editor), Sean Tonelli (Letterer)

The Spine Chillers is an episodic comic strip relating to the little known story about the time the world's greatest writers shared a small boarding house, living together to create some of the most loved thrillers and horror stories of all time. Marvel at HP Lovecraft's inspiration for Cthulhu, gasp as Ambrose Bierce struggles under the weight of his own creative output, and marvel as Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mud wrestle to determine once and for all who is the better horror writer. Comic genius Ben Clark is the creative talent behind the strip. "My idea for the comic strip was to take the writers from The Spine Chillers audiobook series, and have them all live together in a grotty, 1950s style boarding house, with a serious boss of a landlady called Mrs Parkinson, who may have sinister plans of her own. I thought the boarding house backdrop provided the most scope for stories, conflict and most importantly, jokes. One thing I have to stress is that it is not my intention to belittle or insult these wonderful writers, many of whom are among my greatest heroes. I'll be taking the Mickey, but in an affectionate way. What I always attempt in my comics is to be silly, and to make people laugh. The characters I am working on are of course not how these men were in real life, but a daft alternate version, which hopefully people will find amusing!” Volume 1 collects the first two year run of comic strips, all the way from ‘Feet!’ through to ‘Meet Cthulhu.’ Genuinely funny whilst also at times tender and touching, The Spine Chillers collection is a welcomed cultured tonic during these trying times.

112 pages, Paperback

Published January 20, 2019

Reviews

[Owen Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great Ben Clark, understated cartoonist and author of a charmingly silly webcomic about dead genre authors all living in a guest house together. It's like Vic & Bob's "Slade in Residence" but with Lovecraft, Bierce and Poe (as well as others). Renegade published this pleasing soft-cover volume collecting a year or two of these stories as well as some fun bonus guest stories by such comic luminaries as Richmond Clements, Will Simpson and PJ Holden. It's a pleasant read, gently surreal and with some rewarding long-term plots running through the daily "gags".

I've been a fan of Clark's since I bought his "Stringer Bell at the Earth's Core" some years ago at Thought Bubble and even though I was out of the loop for Spine Chillers online, I'm incredibly glad I've read it now.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This webcomic seems to be so obviously my thing that it's a surprise that I hadn't heard of it before. This random find in the library was a quick and decent read. I think I enjoyed the concept better than the execution at certain points, but I did still enjoy it pretty well overall. The style and sense of humour weren't completely to my taste, but it was a decent read.

If the concept of these classic authors living together like some sort of 80s British sitcom is something that appeals to you, you will probably find yourself enjoying this one.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Spine Chillers: Vol. 1, by Ben Clark
I really liked this and laughed lots at the odd-ball humour. This book confirmed my impression that the artistic legacy of Poe was further enhanced by Bierce and then Lovecraft. In these goofy intelligent cartoons these three Americans go boarding together in England and meet new friends such as Dickens, Henry James, Hemingway, Mr Harvey the Hand, A.C. Doyle, and H.G. Wells' duffle bag!
e.g.
"THE WORLD CUP IS AWESOME! GOOAALL!" – everyone watching the TV
"Isn't it exciting? What teams do you have in the sweepstakes?" - James
"Honduras!" - Poe
"Slovakia!" - Lovecraft
"North Korea!" - Bierce
"How splendid! I've got New Zealand! And you, James?" - Dickens
"Oh, erm.. England." - James
"My dear chap. I'm so sorry." - Dickens (p50)

{the suggestion is that even complete non-contender nations have more chance of winning the football world cup than the "performing less than expected" England football team.}

[Wei Chia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmm, I don’t think I have read enough about these authors to appreciate the jokes.