Wishlist 2005: New Indie Horror Talent

My favorite horror comics of the past few years have been the works of Japanese creator Junji Ito and the American indie horror creators Tom Manning, Eric Powell and Dash Shaw. From Uzumaki to Manning’s Runoff to Powell’s The Goon to Shaw’s Love Eats Brains, their works have never been less than deeply interesting must-reads, and sometimes, like in the case of Uzumaki, they’ve been masterworks.

But, as great as this work is, all of these creators debuted these works on the American scene in 2001 or 2002. Since then, there has not emerged an engaging new talent in indie or international horror comics. And I want one.

In 2005, I’d like to see some more new horror comics worth paying attention to. Horror manga keeps on coming, and largely keeps being interesting, which is great. But there hasn’t been a really interesting, polished, or fully developed horror creator to come out of America (or Canada or England) since the turn of the century.

In 2005, I’m looking forward to discovering some more multi-layered horrror comics by creators who are so good, and so unknown, that they seem to have sprung fully formed into the world (though of course they won’t have), just like Manning and Shaw.