Previewing ‘The Haunting Of Jilly Johnson’: More Gorgeous Art And Spooky Stories From The World Of Brit Comics Past

by Richard Bruton

Another absolutely gorgeous bit of lost classic Brit comics, as The Treasury of British Comics brings you the sumptuous art of Rafael Busom Clua on The Haunting of Jilly Johnson.

We’ve already seen the art of Rafael Busom Clua in Sugar Jones, another collection of classic (and somewhat strange) Brit comics by Pat Mills and Clua, where his art telling the tales of a spoilt and pampered celeb was a perfect blend of a classic high fashion look and mild cheescake, just beautifully done.

Well, now there’s a chance to see more of his artwork, this time in a more traditional setting, the spooky and strange tales that Brit comics were all over in the 1970s.

The Haunting of Jilly Johnson is just a real peach of a collection that looks quite incredible, pulling together two of Clua’s stories from the time.

First there’s ‘The Haunting of Jilly Johnson’, where a young woman finds out that her new flat is hardly the happy home she wanted – as she’s haunted from the off by nightmares, leading her to a fortune teller and the typical ‘no, no, no, don’t do that’ found in these sort of tales, she sets off to discover just why the flat is haunted.

The second tale here is ‘The Island of Stones‘, where two English tourists visiting a Greek island find the suitably mythological secret behind a sculptor’s signature stone statues that look remarkably true to life.

Here’s the 2000 AD/Treasury of British Comics PR for you…

‘Following on from the success of Sugar Jones, The Haunting of Jilly Johnson is a masterclass in 1970 supernatural gothic comic storytelling, drawn with immense style by Rafael Busom Clua!

‘From the very first night in her new flat, Jilly Johnson is haunted by nightmares and calls out the name of a man who Jilly does not know. Spooked by a fortune teller, and by what she sees as the flat itself sending her messages, she becomes determined to find out more about the previous tenants, and the accident that led to the death of one of them.

‘And then in The Island of Stones, two English tourists on holiday on a Greek island meet a modern master sculptor, known for his stone statues of the human form, and discover the secret of his success – the head of Medusa. This story acts as a showcase for Rafael Busom Clua, who initially caught the reader’s eye with his incredibly stylish work on Sugar Jones, and is perfect for fans of both 1970s fashion and frights alike!’