some things you should read

Given that I work at a comic shop when I’m not scouring the internet for new sightings or pestering locals about bigfoot, it’s not that surprising that I end up reading quite a bit in my free time. The paranormal, in all its many forms, is something I’m very interested in (duh) so whenever a comic crops up that seems to tap a bit into that vein I have a tendency to take notice. That’s what today’s article is all about: highly strange comics. You definitely need to check these out!

Blue book/red book/True Weird

images above copyright Dark Horse Comics and Tiny Onion Studios

A year or so before I started working at my local comic shop (LCS), I’d found a renewed interest in comics. It was during that period of increasingly frequent trips to the place that two things happened: 1) I applied to work to there and 2) I discovered a series called Blue Book.

The series, created by James Tynion (writer of Something is Killing the Children, WORLDTR33, and Department of Truth (which is gonna be a later topic in this article) is a pretty factual retelling of some of the most important UFO sightings and abduction cases in paranormal history. The first volume (called 1961) covers the Betty & Barney Hill abduction and it was that volume that caught my attention about the time I was applying to work at my LCS.

If you’re looking for something wholly original, I’ll admit that these books are not where you’ll find anything close to that. If you’re like me and know most of these stories by heart, there probably isn’t gonna be much for you here, but they’re still really cool and have a great look to them! Each issue has a backup story, part of an ongoing anthology series of sorts called True Weird that focuses on lesser known tales of high strangeness (for example the Delhi Monkey Man or the Green Children of Woolpit). True Weird has even kind of spun out into it’s own thing — not that long ago they published a whole part mini-series on the Jersey Devil called “Let This One Be a Devil”.

The second volume of Blue Book focused on the beginnings of the UFO craze, the first true flap, and the Roswell crash. A third volume, or perhaps better labelled a sequel series of sorts, called Red Book examines historical cases in Russia and China.

hunt for the skinwalker

images above copyright Boom Studios!

I’ve always been interested in the stories behind Skinwalker Ranch. I’m sure if you’re reading this you’ve seen that show on History Channel starring Travis Taylor (who, if you didn’t know, is local; the guy’s a researcher over at the University of Alabama in Huntsville). I’m not sure what to think about the show. I mean, it’s entertaining, but I often find myself wondering how much of it is actually happening to them and how much is played up for television. Either way, the show kind of ruined the ranch for me.

I mean, growing up and reading about the paranormal online, it seemed like the ranch was almost whispered about, like the mere mention of the place was dangerous or some kind of faux pas. All we really knew was that a guy named Robert Bigelow owned it, had his own research team checking the place out, and well… that was kind of it. Every now and again a story would leak out of the place or a picture would posted on some message board of an alleged portal opening up over the ranch. You gotta remember, too, that this is happening during a time when, if you tried to go to the ranch, you’d be very quickly escorted off by armed guardsmen in unmarked vehicles. Nobody really knew what was happening there.

Of course now, things are different. There’s a TV show that films every single thing happening on the ranch (which, as it turns out, the stuff that actually goes on down there seems a lot less interesting than what I think I’d imagined) and, if I’m not mistaken, you can actually visit it. Don’t quote me on that, but I’m pretty sure I remember hearing that that was a thing.

Anyways, back before the show, the first real hint at the kind of stuff that actually happened on the ranch came from a book called Hunt for the Skinwalker, written by Colm Kelleher (one of the scientists who worked for Bigelow) and investigative reporter George Knapp. The original book came out in 2005 and it gave the world the first real look into what prompted the sell of the ranch, what the scientists encountered, and why Bigelow was so interested in the place. The comic that I’m talking about is a direct adaptation of that book.

It’s beautifully illustrated and adds a whole new layer to the stories recounted by Kelleher and Knapp. If you know nothing about the stuff that captivated the UFO community and are only familiar with the History Channel Series, this one is a can’t miss.

Department of Truth

images above copyright Image Comics and Tiny Onion Studios

What if the world operated nothing like most people imagine and reality wasn’t a set thing, but was regularly influenced and affected by the beliefs of the masses? That’s kind of, in a nutshell, the idea behind the Dept. of Truth. It follows a new recruit as he discovers that literally every conspiracy theory is true. The department, because of course it is, is run by none other than Lee Harvey Oswald.

I’m not a big fan of conspiracy theories being mixed in with high strangeness and the supernatural. Not in the book, that is, I mean in how most people seem to view this kind of stuff. There’s a very recent comic created by Robert Crumb (Tales of Paranoia for those interested) that talks about that just a smidge. Crumb mentions, in the comic, that push across all forms of social media, to purge their platforms of conspiracy theories. To a degree, I agree with that, what I don’t agree with is the lumping together of bigfoot and UFO enthusiasts with people who believe in an upcoming white genocide or don’t trust vaccines. Like, those are very different beliefs right there, and the further perpetuation of great replacement and white supremacy related topics is very dangerous. People believing in aliens and junk? Harmless. Has nothing at all to do with the other stuff. Should not be connected.

Here, it makes sense, it connects directly to the ideas presented. If you don’t read any other part of it, read issues 10 and 11 (those last three pictures in the gallery above are from that storyline). It follows a man who had an encounter with bigfoot that left him forever changed. As he’s basically destroyed his entire life in the process of trying to have another encounter and prove that he isn’t crazy, a branch of the department is hunting the same creature. They can’t just allow every thing that the american people believes in (that they, in the process, have made real) to continue to exist in the world, after all.

As a sidenote, we at GHPR kind of believe in something not unlike how the world works in that comic. As Signal & Noise continues (particularly so in this month’s episode) you’ll see more of that.

Absolute Martian Manhunter

images above copyright DC Comics

This book is so cool and is hands down one of my favorite things that I’ve read in a long time. It’s a mind-bending new take on the Martian Manhunter, one of DC’s classic characters, reimagined for the Absolute line (DC’s answer to Marvel’s Ultimate series).

FBI agent John Jones finds himself sharing his mind and consciousness with an ultra-dimensional entity. In the process Jones finds himself thrust into the middle of an utterly insane cosmic conflict.

We at GHPR are immensely interested in the ideas of John Keel (high strangeness, ultraterrestrials, men in black, etc). This book plays so heavily into those themes and I was simply blown away at that. I mean, this is DC, the studio behind Batman and Superman. And they’re making a book like this? Well, all the credit should really go to series writer Deniz Camp, but still: DC okayed it! Very cool!

I honestly don’t have too much to say about this one. This is a book best experienced firsthand. As a cool little sidenote, Robbie (our occult scientist) is friends with Deniz Camp. While interviewing him for his immensely popular youtube channel, Pop Culture Philosophers, Robbie was told by Deniz that this series might as well have been made just for him.

high strangeness

images above copyright Oni Press and Spectrevision

Okay, so, yeah, this comic is literally only one issue into it’s run. This is my favorite paranormal comic to date.

This one’s an anthology series produced by Spectrevision. If you don’t recognize the name, you’re forgiven. Spectrevision is a studio that plays host to a whole bunch of super-interesting paranormal themed podcasts, most importantly Euphomet (hosted by Jim Perry) and The Haunted Objects Podcast (hosted by Greg and Dana Newkirk). Both of these podcasts, in the past few years, have been immensely influential in the solidification of GHPR and HSVPara as I’ve pushed this project of mine into the public eye. It’s not surprising, given how good the stuff under the Spectrevision umbrella is, that this comic is just straight up incredible.

High Strangeness is an ongoing anthology series (issue two releases very soon) set around different aspects of, well, high strangeness. The first issue is all about the men in black and that weird phenomenon in which interacting with high strangeness seems to spur on further encounters with it. Almost like, somehow, there’s an intelligence behind the whole thing. For any long time readers here, you’ll know that the possibility of that is of much interest to me.

The back half of every issue contains an essay written by Jim Perry (alongside photography from Karl Pfeiffer, former member of TAPS and director of The Unbinding, Hellier, and Spirits of the Stanley). The essay helps to explain the topics of the comic to the uninitiated while pushing the envelope a bit further.

This is going to be an incredible series and will probably end up being my most recommended piece of accessible paranormal literature.

*********

That’s not an exhaustive list. There are countless paranormal-tinged and adjacent comic series out there.

If there’s any super influential or just generally enjoyable series out there that any of you guys feel should’ve been included, definitely add those in the comments. I’d love to find something new to read!

Stay weird!

-Scott