This year marks the 11th year of the Massachusetts Independent Comic Expo (MICE). Given the current circumstances, all programming has been moved online this year, and instead of having it all in the span of a single weekend, panels and workshops will be occurring every Saturday and Sunday in October, dubbing it “A Month of MICE.” Details at https://www.micexpo.org/attendee-guide/
I’ve been attending MICE since 2013, and volunteering since 2016. It’s my favorite event of the year, and I’m going to miss getting to see everyone. So, in honor of A Month of MICE, I’m going to try and post about a comic a day.
Frontier #6 Anne By the Bed by Emily Carroll
Emily Carroll was a special guest at MICE in 2014. Since the festival overlapped with Yom Kippur that year, I missed Saturday, and by the time I showed up on Sunday, Emily had sold out of all the copies of “Through the Woods” she brought. And all the copies supplied by the local comic shop Million Year Picnic. And all the copies that could be obtained from local comic shops and bookstores in the area. So, she was sitting at her empty table kind of bored when I got there. Luckily, I already had a copy for her to sign, and she also drew a small sketch for me, my first piece of original art by a comic artist. Her work is horror, tales of dread.
Anne By the Bed is done in a sort of documentary style. It tells about the murder of Anne Herron, whose death becomes the inspiration of a Bloody Mary-esque party game. The comic alternates between telling the story of the Herron’s and interviews with people who claim to have had experiences while playing the game, and self-proclaimed experts. History flowing into urban legend until ultimately, the story is made into a movie with Anne cast as the villain.
The form gives her a chance to play. Historical parts are drawn in black and white, while contemporary accounts in color. On one page, the Herron family is introduced through photographs, and on the following, when describing their deaths, the same photos are defaced. Throughout, faces are obscured, heightening the sense that we cannot see the full story.
Purchase online: http://www.youthindecline.com/product/frontier-6-emily-carroll
Carroll’s website: http://www.emcarroll.com/
Unfettered Ectoplasm 