Summertime and the living is far from easy, but hopefully it can be easier with these summer fun time (and winter fun time, for our antipodean friends) reading suggestions including horror, fantasy, thrills, chills, adventure, mystery, crime and wisdom from the most advanced civilization on Earth.

There are gorgeous comics, slim volumes, thick volumes, gorgeous pictures and excellent tale-telling. Enjoy the heroes, werewolves, swordswomen, swordsmen, German students suffering from melancholia, dapper masked avengers and their clever valets. Find some joy! Find some hope! Take a break and lift up your heart!

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Peter Straub, editor. American Fantastic Tales, Vol. 1: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps. (New York: Library of America, 2009)

I’ve been watching a slew of Roger Corman films in the wake of his passing and for the Gutter piece I wrote last month. Sure, I read Edgar Allan Poe stories in secondary school and had an unfortunate experience with a recording of “The Tell-Tale Heart” during story time in elementary school, but it has been a long time. So I ended up taking American Fantastic Tales out of the library. And I haven’t finished it yet, but I have determined that I like the weird and uncanny tales of the early to mid- 19th Century. It is a fun spooky time, especially on a warm summer eve. The German students are subject to melancholy and eerie loves. The incels of the 1800s somnambulistically murdering the women they believe they love. There is genuinely disturbing body horror. There are creepy location names. And Herman Melville displays his predilection for explaining an industry in great detail while horrifying us with its practices. The collection is curated so well that you can see Lovecraft coming before his story hits. You can see how he and his cosmic horror fit into this literary tradition and all that comes before, no matter how reputable or disreputable the author.

John Crye (with covers by friend of the Gutter Todd Sharp) The Elect Stories (SharpCrye, 2021-present)

So full disclosure, John Crye and Todd Sharp are not only friends of the Gutter, but they are friends of mine. I was an early reader of The Elect Stories when they were in a slightly different form. I still recommend The Elect Stories if you want a refreshing twist on both the form and style of epic fantasy. The Elect Stories have an epic scale, a definitely disturbing evil that isn’t really defeated, heroes who struggle with being heroes, and even “elves.” But while it involves fantasy cities and states, it’s not set in a faux medieval setting. Instead, The Elect Stories, even with their name, feel like they struggle more with American history and are in an 18th easing into the 19th Century setting. And it feels like it owes as much to pulps and penny dreadfuls as it does to Tolkien. The story starts in volume one, “Purpose, or, the Swordbearer’s Lament,” with swordsmen Palm and Timriel Jackson escorting Father Saren, a sylued (called by some “elves”), from the sylued Forest to the city of Vessena to pursue peace with encroaching humans, and especially encroaching lumber barons. But there is a lot below the surface, figuratively and literally, including a monstrous evil. The story is told in two intersecting timelines, but it’s pretty easy to follow, I think, as once and possibly future heroes must consider what they have done when things seemed simple, what they have lost, and whether they want to try to be heroes once more. Which is always my shit. I appreciate that the passage of time is often told in small details–changes in fashion, for instance, as tricorn hats appear. And outside of Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (2009), tricorn hats do not appear enough in fantasy. The story is also told not in a trilogy of big fat volumes, but of 12 novella-length volumes. Some of Todd Sharp’s covers kind of have the feel of Robert Gould’s covers for Michael Moorcock books and most are pretty art nouveau. But if you find cliffhangers stressful, especially cliffhangers involving events on an epic scale and love, loss and grief and people struggling with the right thing to do, then you’ll be happy to know that the first arc of 12 volumes is available.

Tom King, writing; Greg Smallwood, art; Clayton Cowles, lettering. The Human Target, Vol. 1 (DC, 2024)

The Human Target reminds me of the noir classic D.O.A. (1949 / 1988), set among the superpeople, to use Colin Smith’s lovely term. Like the protagonist of D.O.A, Christopher Chance has been fatally poisoned and he is determined to solve his own murder before he dies. It’s an occupational hazard for Chance. He’s a master of disguise and a virtuoso voice impressionist who can imitate anyone. Chance uses these talents for hire. If you suspect someone wants to kill you, and you have the money, Chance will impersonate you, take the hit, and flush out whoever wants you dead. Like many a noir protagonist, Chance has fallen on hard times and takes a job from a man he never would have in better circumstances, billionaire and supervillain Lex Luthor. A lot of people want Luthor dead, including perhaps members of Justice League International. The Human Target combines several of my favorite things: noir, crime comics, and the more marginal and eccentric characters of superhero comics–esp. DC Comics. The comic doesn’t always make the choices or characterization that I would, but King and Smallwood’s douchey Guy Gardner who feels just right to me. Chance looks a lot like George Clooney in his Out of Sight (1998) days and feels like a 1960s pulp character. Overall, the book reminds me of both Darwyn Cooke’s Parker series and Brubaker and Philips Criminal, though I like Chance more than I like Westlake’s characters. He does feel a little more like a Raymond Chandler character. The art is gorgeous and has a 1960s and 1970s fashion illustration feel that I love. The colors are incredible. Volume 2 comes out this month.

Dan Schkade, writing / art / lettering; Jenn Manley Lee, colors. Lavender Jack (Webtoon, 2018-22)

Do you want adventure? Do you want righteous vigilantism set at the beginning of the 20th century?Heroics with a strong diverse and queer flair? Do you want to stay up way too late at night reading just one more episode? Then Lavender Jack is for you! Sir Mimley Bastrop and his valet/associate/mastermind Maureen “Ducky” DeCecco attempt to uncover and uproot corruption using cunning schemes, advanced Edwardian technology and good old fashioned fisticuffs in the city-state of Gallery. Lavender Jack might sound a bit like Batman in his most detective guise, but while there is probably some Bat-influence, it’s more that Lavender Jack shares many of the same influences. It’s a bit masked avenger pulps and possibly the Scarlet Pimpernel mixed with a splash of Tarzan/Lord Greystoke and Mowgli in one of the villains and a dash of Poirot in renowned detective Mme. Ferrier. But there is way more Jeeves & Wooster and the queerness is explicit in a delightful mix. My only problem is with the occasionally distorted depiction of Madame Ferrier that leans more Dick Tracy villain-esque than most of the other characters. But otherwise the story is fun, the art is delightful and the action is incredibly well-rendered. Schkade has moved on to work on the new Flash Gordon daily strip. It looks very promising. But there are 3 complete seasons of Lavender Jack to read and with the Flash Gordon strips, this might actually be a two for one suggestion.

Ken McCraigzie, as told to Dr. Kate Laity. LIVE GOLD: The Latitude Zero Guide To Life (Unknown Location: Visionary Fuel, 2024)

Summertime is traditionally a time of self-improvement and self-help as well as fun and adventure and relaxation. And what self-improvement could be more advanced and hopeful than that of Latitude Zero? This book presents the unique opportunity to learn the secret wisdom of the most advanced (purportedly fictional) civilization on Earth. Noted philosophy scholar and explorer Ken McCraigzie and a team of intellectual specialists have scientifically considered every frame of Ishiro Honda’s Latitude Zero (1969) to glean all the wisdom they could from the film to help you to improve your life and LIVE GOLD. Defeat the Malic and Lucretia within to live a life of purpose and compassion. Laity’s deft editorial hand compresses hours of conversation and research material into an easy and quick read that glistens like the gold lamé on a Latitude Zeroean trampolinist.

Emil Ferris, writing/art/colors/letters. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Book 2 (Fantagraphics, 2024)

It’s finally happening! After 7 years, it’s finally here–the second volume of Emil Ferris’ masterpiece, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters! Book 2 is just as astonishing an accomplishment as Book 1. Monster-identified Karen Reyes is growing up in 1960s Chicago. She knows she’s attracted to women but isn’t sure to feel about it. She lives with her brother, Deeze. She loves monsters and her favorite place is the Art Institute of Chicago. Ferris even recreates works of art on the page that Karen interacts or responds to at the Art Institute. Ferris also recreates covers for the horror magazines that Karen loves–including a harpy one and a mothman one I am particularly fond of. While Karen is part werewolf, she is 100% sleuth working on solving the mystery of her neighbor Anka’s death. If you are interested in the complete story, you should probably start with the first volume, though I think you can figure out what is happening. But if you just want to sit and be stunned by the art, talent and technique of Ferris’ tour-de-force, it’s a great book for paging through.

S. L. Huang. The Water Outlaws (Tor Dotcom, 2023)

The Water Outlaws is a re-visioning of the classic Chinese martial arts novel, The Water Margin. There are translations of the book ranging from academic (with rad glosses and footnotes) and to versions on wuxia fan sites dedicated to faithfully translating works for the people who don’t read Chinese and probably can’t afford academic translations. Huang’s version presents it in a more engaging popular fantasy novel format. And her version is an interesting translation in how it approaches the genderlessness of Chinese pronouns. That’s right, all the heroes are women opposing corruption and oppression in ancient China! Lin Chong is a faithful soldier of the Emperor, but that can’t protect her from a powerful man who destroys her life. The only solution is joining up with a team of daring bandits to make a stand for righteousness. There is wuxia swashbuckling! Wrongful imprisonment! Daring escapes! Villains are powerful and dastardly! And just outlaws oppose oppression and corruption! What more do you want in a fantasy set in a historical period in a time when evil, oppression and corruption need opposing?!

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Carol Borden turns and executes a perfect jackknife into the Cultural Gutter HQ pool.