Monks, with fellow Queens-native Joseph Michael Linsner, co-created Cry For Dawn (1989–1992), an American horror comic book anthology. Linsner and Monks created Cry For Dawn Productions to publish the book; the publisher, based in Valley Stream, New York, also released other comics in the period 1989 to 1993.
Cry For Dawn Productions dissolved in late 1993,[1] and shortly thereafter Monks founded his own publishing company, known variously as CFD Productions, C.F.D. Productions, or CreativeForce Designs & Productions.[2] With his new publisher, Monks became a driving force in independent horror comics, launching NightCry, Tales of the Dead, and several one-shots. Notable creators published by CFD included Dan Brereton (in That Chemical Reflex, 1994), Brian Michael Bendis (in Noir Quarterly, 1995), and John Cassaday (in No Profit for the Wise, 1996). Monks' own comics writing appeared in NightCry, In Rage and Tales of the Dead.
Monks closed down CFD Productions in 1997 and started up Chanting Monks Studios in 1998, launching titles such as The Night Terrors, also featuring Bernie Wrightson and William Stout; Gory Lori, a modern-day zombie apocalypse series illustrated by Jeff Salisbury and Mike Koneful; and the horror anthology Zacherley's Midnight Terrors, a tribute to TV horror host John Zacherle, with art by the likes of Basil Gogos, Ken Kelly, and William Stout.
In 2002, at age 33, Monks lost his sight as a result of diabetic retinopathy. In December of that year, he completed his first anthology of original fiction, Stuff Out'a My Head, released by Chanting Monks Press. The anthology featured illustrations by Bernie Wrightson and others.
In 2003, one of Monk's short stories, "Chance Meeting," was optioned for adaptation to the screen[3] by Japanese publishing house Bunkasha in tandem with DK Publishing. Titled Flowers on the Razorwire: Chance Meeting, directed by Hart D. Fisher, the work was intended to be used as a Japanese television pilot but was instead released as a stand-alone DVD under CPI Home Video and Chanting Monks Press. Monks also appeared as an actor in the film, with his character being tortured by a dominatrix demanding he tell her a scary story.
In 2003–2004, Monks collaborated with Hart D. Fisher (and Fisher's publishing house Boneyard Press) on a number of projects.
Monk's story, "Shuteye", appeared in The Mammoth Book of Best Horror Comics (Running Press, 2008, ISBN978-0786720729), and the New Horror Handbook (BearManor Media, May 2009, ISBN978-1593931445) sports a chapter about his film work.
In 2010, Monks launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding project to complete The Bunker, his first feature film (the Kickstarter ran from August 1 to September 30, 2010). Kevin Smith and Ralph Garman talked about the project on their podcast Hollywood Babble-On and contributed the final funds needed to reach the goal. With The Bunker, Monk became the first blind feature film director.[4] In 2013 The Bunker was released on DVD in the US via Commodity Films, and in Germany via Tom Cat Films.
Bernard Albert Wrightson was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel Frankenstein illustration work, and for his other horror comics and illustrations, which feature his trademark intricate pen and brushwork.
Métal hurlant is a French comics anthology of science fiction and horror comics stories. Originally created in 1974, the anthology ceased publication in 1987, but was revived between 2002 and 2004 in multilingual editions, and then again in 2020.
John Cassaday is an American comic book artist, writer, and television director. He is best known for his work on the critically acclaimed Planetary with writer Warren Ellis, Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon, Captain America with John Ney Rieber, and Star Wars with Jason Aaron.
Verotik is an American comic book company founded by heavy metal/horror punk musician Glenn Danzig. The comics are aimed toward adult readers as they often contain imagery of a sexual and/or violent nature.
Steve Niles is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery, Simon Dark, Mystery Society, Batman: Gotham County Line, Kick-Ass – The New Girl, and Kick-Ass vs Hit-Girl.
Daniel Alan Brereton is an American writer and illustrator who has produced notable work in the comic book field.
Twisted Tales was a horror comics anthology published by Pacific Comics and, later, Eclipse Comics, in the early 1980s. The title was edited by Bruce Jones and April Campbell.
Weird Mystery Tales is a mystery horror comics anthology published by DC Comics from July–August 1972 to November 1975.
Chamber of Darkness is a horror/fantasy anthology comic book published by the American company Marvel Comics. Under this and a subsequent name, it ran from 1969 to 1974. It featured work by creators such as writer-editor Stan Lee, writers Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, and Roy Thomas, and artists John Buscema, Johnny Craig, Jack Kirby, Tom Sutton, Barry Windsor-Smith, and Bernie Wrightson. Stories were generally hosted by either of the characters Digger, a gravedigger, or Headstone P. Gravely, in undertaker garb, or by one of the artists or writers.
Dawn is an American comic book character created by writer/artist Joseph Michael Linsner. Dawn was first envisioned by Linsner in 1987; she first appeared in an official publication in 1989.
Christopher Sequeira is a Sydney-based Australian editor, writer and artist who works predominantly in the speculative fiction and mystery realms.
William Bryan Dubay, also known by the pseudonyms Will Richardson, and Dube, was an American comic-book editor, writer and artist best known as editor and writer for Warren Publishing, including that company's horror-comics magazines Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella.
Black Eye Books is a small but influential Canadian comic book publishing company founded by Michel Vrana. Under the auspices of Vrana, Black Eye was known as a publisher of artfully designed alternative comics and graphic novels, most of whose cartoonists have gone on to successful careers with fellow Canadian publisher Drawn & Quarterly. For several years, Vrana acted as Drawn & Quarterly's exclusive outside design consultant. In 2019 the company was relaunched as a micro-press with a focus on using crowdfunding to bring projects to fruition.
Cry for Dawn was an American horror-anthology comic book that ran nine issues from 1989 to 1992. The book was primarily written by Joseph Michael Linsner and Joseph M. Monks with artwork by Linsner. The series featured guest artist and writers in some issues, but the work was largely performed by Linsner and Monks. It was published by Cry for Dawn Productions from 1989 to 1992 and introduced the character of Dawn, the goddess of birth and rebirth. Although Dawn served as an emcee in the Cry for Dawn issues, she would later have many titles dedicated to her journeys through heaven and hell across multiple spin-off titles for Sirius Entertainment, Image Comics, and Linsner.com.
Creepshow is a graphic novella published by Penguin imprint Plume in July 1982, based on the film Creepshow. The film, directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King, consists of five short films, two of which are based on earlier prose stories by King, while the remaining three were written specifically for the film.
Horror comics are comic books, graphic novels, black-and-white comics magazines, and manga focusing on horror fiction. In the US market, horror comic books reached a peak in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s, when concern over content and the imposition of the self-censorship Comics Code Authority contributed to the demise of many titles and the toning down of others. Black-and-white horror-comics magazines, which did not fall under the Code, flourished from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s from a variety of publishers. Mainstream American color comic books experienced a horror resurgence in the 1970s, following a loosening of the Code. While the genre has had greater and lesser periods of popularity, it occupies a firm niche in comics as of the 2010s.
Hart D. Fisher is an American horror crime author, comic book writer and publisher best known for creating a comic book about Jeffrey Dahmer and for founding Boneyard Press.
Death Rattle was an American black-and-white horror anthology comic book series published in three volumes by Kitchen Sink Press in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Death Rattle is not related to the Australian one-shot comic Death Rattle, published by Gredown in c. 1983.
The House of Hammer was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the Hammer Film Productions series of horror and science fiction films. The brainchild of Dez Skinn, almost every issue of the magazine featured a comics adaptations of a Hammer film, as well as an original comics backup story, such as the long-running feature Van Helsing's Terror Tales.
Joseph Michael Linsner is an American comic book writer/artist, known as the creator of the mature-audiences supernatural character Dawn, and for his illustrations of female characters. He is a popular cover artist in the comics industry.
References
Notes
↑ "Newswatch: Cry For Dawn Productions Dissolves," The Comics Journal #167 (Apr. 1994), p. 23.
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