art

You might have seen this image in the National Post and thought "Oh look, a rainbow skull! How pretty!". But if you looked closer, you'd realize it was made up of tiny zombies. Not just any zombies, but Walking Dead zombies. Every single one that's been killed through the entire show so far on screen.

Scroll down further, and you see a close-up of each one, labeled with who killed them and what weapon they used.

And why the different colours? Why, they are colour-coded of course, by season and whether they are male or female.

Gather round kiddies. Ol'Ghoul is going to tell you a tale that is like a teaching fairytale for adults: interesting characters, surprises, that moment where our protagonist gets into a bad situation because they didn't do what they should have...all the good stuff. The moral of my tale? Get dressed by 11 am even on your day off.

Once upon a time, there was a woman who'd had a whirlwind week (read: month). Her house was ramshackled. Her front lawn neglected. And she was expecting a visitor later in the day, a visitor who had never seen her home before and might be bringing a camera. The visitor - we'll call her Amy - was set to arrive around 5 pm.

The woman began cleaning her house early that morning. She had errands to run also, and thought about getting dressed. It was getting close to noon, after all. She decided to wait. She'd only be getting dirtier as the house got cleaner, and there was much left to do. And she wanted to make a good impression, of course.

It's important to make a good impression, isn't it?

Dusting, sweeping, sorting, washing, stopping only to brush her teeth (no time for the hair). 

Doorbell rings. 

The woman pauses her work, looks toward the sound, then looks down at her Popeye-themed pajama bottoms and oversized dress shirt she's wearing (she can't see the dirt, but she can feel it). 

It's only 11 am. No packages expected. No visitors until later. Just leave it.

Doorbell rings again.

She throws on her red hoodie as she moves to the front door.

A man in a black helmet (no not Vader) and sun glasses is at her door, holding a large envelope. 

A bike courier?

They share salutations and he asks if she is Ghoul Friday, which catches her off guard a little, but postal carriers do sometimes address her by that name.

She tells the man yes, and he hands her the large envelope, decorated with spooks and ghouls, her name in the branches, her address on the tombstone (blurred in the image so I could show it to you).

"Isn't that something!" she exclaims, remarking on the drawings. 

Emily Carroll is a Canadian artist.

As you know, I'm an advocate of specially crafted pieces, especially when it involves something unique with a flair for the macabre. Friend and fellow artist King Unicorn (EC Steiner) has a project I want to bring to your attention. It's a horror comic called Think of the Children, but it's not just a comic book. I'll get to that part in a moment. First, a synopsis:

THINK OF THE CHILDREN is a satirical horror comic about the events leading to the original Comics Code Authority. The members of the Senate Subcommittee are secret monster hunters, seeking to destroy evil children, who they believe are corrupted by the stories of EC Comics. So that the story can reach as wide an audience as possible, the creators released it as a free webcomic in February of 2011 at http://comicsmakekidsevil.com.

One of the benefits of being a vendor at a Halloween market is that you never know who your neighbour will be. Mine was James Fisher.

Fisher is a local artist and creator of Rue Morgue Magazine's "Disfigures of Speech" column. The print I purchased - pictured right - is from that collection.

Fisher is also the creative mastermind behind Zircocircus.com where you'll find links to more of his artwork and illustrations, along with some macabre melodies he's put together. I know a number of you folks are looking for new music to use in your haunts, and this might be the fresh sound you're looking for to replace some of your stale standbys. You can hear some samples on his myspace page.

With both prints and CDs priced at $10, you can't go wrong.

Fisher spent the whole day sketching the faces of lucky customers onto prints of delicious monstrosities (so the head of the customer was now atop a skeletal form, or a creature, or even decapitated). By the afternoon, it was rare to see his portrait chair empty.

And on top of it all, he's a nice guy. Offered me some of his pasta, gave me his sunglasses to wear when the sun was melting my eyeballs, and entertained me with friendly conversation.