Dwellings

by Jay Stephens

Overview

A 2023 National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards Comics Finalist

"The kind of nightmare horror fans won’t want to wake up from." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Genuinely disturbing...if you feel brave, check it out." —The Toronto Star

"An absolute delight. Probably the most fun I've had while flinching squeamishly on the edge of my seat..." —BOING BOING

Welcome to Elwich—an oasis of small-town perfection, where the schools overflow with cheery-eyed children, lovingly adorned homes line the historic boulevards . . . and only the crows can see the deep, festering rot that lurks beneath the pristine surface.

Murder.
Demonology.
Possession.
Obsession.

Elwich has them all on offer—and behind every dwelling awaits a horrifying new story to be told.

Shock, terror, and wry humor pepper every page of Emmy Award-winning, Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist and animator Jay Stephens’s Dwellings.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637152911
Publisher:	Oni Press
Publication date:	05/07/2024
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	403,951
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 10.30(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	17 Years

About the Author

Jay Stephens is a three-decade veteran of the Canadian alt-comics scene, starting out in the early 1990s with the influential creator-owned series' Sin, The Land of Nod, Atomic City Tales, and Jetcat Clubhouse, while also dabbling in licensed comics work like Aliens, Star Wars, Teen Titans, and The Invisibles. Also known for his kids' comic strips Chick & Dee, Arrowhead, and the syndicated newspaper strip Oh, Brother!, as well as the underground weekly strips, Oddville! and Nod. Jay's side career in film includes working in the Art Department on a few low-budget horror movies, and creating and producing animated television like Jetcat, the Emmy Award-winning Tutenstein, and Cartoon Network's The Secret Saturdays.

Editorial Reviews

★ 03/18/2024

In the faux-serious introduction to this addictively squirmy collection of linked comics, Stephens (Land of Nod) claims the “tainted” town of Elwich has “more hauntings per capita than any other place in Ontario.” Drawn in the disarmingly perky style of an old Disney comic, where all the characters have adorably big eyes and plucky attitudes, the comics jump from one gory, blood-drenched terror to the next. In the first entry, a teenager accosted by a man claiming the 19-year-old sold his brother out to the police nonchalantly kills the man with a rock (then pops his earbuds back in and strolls off), only to eventually find a gruesome vengeance that will put readers in mind of an Edgar Allan Poe story. In the volume’s other tales, a crook goes on a killing spree before ending up in a torture chamber, an obnoxious influencer gets more than he bargained for when he opens a haunted house, a demonic cult sacrifices a child, and a cursed hand puppet causes mayhem. Though the pacing is zippy and the tone verges on tongue-in-cheek (retro-comics interstitials advertise a “Baby-AK 47 Kid-Lashnikov” and a “Memento Mori Funhouse”), the layering of dread is surprisingly effective. Stephens threads in recurring characters and Elwich lore, rendering a believably cursed hellscape. It’s the kind of nightmare horror fans won’t want to wake up from.(Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Dwellings is an unnerving collection of interconnected short stories set in the town of Elwich. Each story combines the aesthetics of classic all-ages comics with horror tropes to create a unique, unforgettable reading experience.

CBR

A twisted horror comedy series where darkness lurks beneath the squeaky-clean exterior of an idyllic small town.”

IGN

This year’s most unique and twisted horror reading experience... Retro cuteness and bloody gore make for a disturbingly nostalgic twinge... An oversized helping of deliciously discomforting horror.

House of Nerd

"A single, rewardingly complicated narrative [...] It's the sort of thing you can enjoy once, and then resolve not to read again because it was too disturbing and then immediately pick back up."

The New York Times

Superb... a compelling read from start to finish.”

Comics Beat

Quite possibly the best horror comic of the last 20 years.”

The Comics Journal

Glorious and gorgeous old-school cartooning with a sinister underbelly. Highly recommended!"

Jeff Lemire

"Recommend this book to fans of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, where along with gory content comes a healthy dose of dark humor."

Booklist

"Genuinely disturbing...if you feel brave, check it out."

The Toronto Star

Imagine telling dark and terrifying cult horror stories through the lens of a Peanuts comic strip. In a nutshell, that's exactly what Dwellings is, and it is fantastic. Using the art and style of our childhoods to deliver real fear is such an effective idea. If anything, the feeling of safety usually provided by the style adds to the unsettling vibe of the book. [The stories] are absolute home runs that you will be thinking about for days. What a disturbing little treat this book is

Comicbook.com

Add in the cutesy, distinctly vintage style of Stephens, and what you get are deeply horrific tales of small town life that speak to deeper ideas about community and the human condition.”

AIPT 

"DWELLINGS is like Lynchian horror as a Saturday Morning Cartoon... Jay Stephens has an impressive resume when it comes to cartoons, having worked on a variety of delightful genre pastiches such as The Secret Saturdays, Tutenstein, and the JetCat segments from the Nickelodeon classic KaBlam!, as well as the comic book series Welcome to Oddville! But his newest work, DWELLINGS ... takes this aesthetic in a new direction, combining Saturday Morning Cartoon-esque art and vibes with the gruesome atmosphere of Lynchian horror. It's an unsettling genre mashup... [and] I can tell you: it's an absolute delight. Probably the most fun I've had while flinching squeamishly on the edge of my seat in quite some time."

Boing Boing

02/05/2024

Stephens's (Welcome to Oddville!) unique story collection showcases, with twisted zest, an interplay of supernatural and human evil involving paradoxically childlike individuals. A hapless crime witness gets drawn into an orgy of carnage, goaded by hungry crows. A PhD candidate investigates a mysterious identity switch, only to become the sacrificial victim in a cabalistic ritual. An anger-fueled showman attempts to stage a fun factory of occult phenomena created by "infrasonic ghost frequencies," but butchery ensues. A whistle made from a murdered clown's finger bone brings down a team of torturers. A youngster's good intentions to save his pal's sister lead to killings and self-mutilation. All occurs in the outwardly placid but covertly weird town of Elwich. The disarming yet chilling art features round-headed, big-eyed characters in an American Chibi style, deliberately based on 1960s Harvey Comics like Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost. The simple primary colors, plus interspersed fake ads and gag strips, enhance the old-timey comics feel. VERDICT Readers who enjoyed Afterlife with Archie by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa or Octopus Girl by Toru Yamazaki will enjoy untangling the plots of these six cutesy yet highly disturbing stories.—Martha Cornog

Library Journal