“A Modern Day E.C. Comic”: Previewing Ed Piskor’s Sci-Fi/Horror ‘Red Room’ #1?
by Olly MacNamee
Ed Piskor has always stuck me as both ambitious and a creator who follows the beat of a different drum. And his latest comic book project, Red Room, encapsulates both these qualities concisely as he launches a whole new shared universes with a difference. This one leans more on horror and sci-fi than clean-cut superheroes. Or, as Piskor describes it:
“Red Room is a cyberpunk, outlaw, splatterpunk comic that you can’t unsee once you feast your eyes on the mayhem. Think of Red Room as modern day E.C. Comics, infused with the dream of Black Mirror. These are subversive, stand alone stories that are all part of a larger, twisted narrative.”
Piskor may well be known to many of you as the co-host of the enjoyable Cartoonist Kayfabe YouTube channel in which he and fellow comic book creator and friend, Jim Rugg, re-evaluate old school comics with some reverence and a whole lot of playful critiquing too. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also the place you’ll see Piskor tease more for Red Room #1 ahead of next week’s release by Fantagrahics.
Ahead of the preview, check out the synopsis, as well as variant covers by Peach Momoko and Rugg.
“In Red Room, criminals livestream murders on the dark web for fun and profit. The series will be told through a series of interconnected, stand alone stories, focusing on unsavory characters that lurk in the most grotesque corners of cyberspace. The murders are a mystery, the victims unknown. Aided by the anonymous dark web and nearly untraceable crypto-currency, business is booming and the viewership is ever-growing.”
Red Room #1 is out Wednesday May 19th from Fantagraphics
