A Surreal, Spooky Comic You Should Read!
Pink Midnight's Mind Warping "Butterfly House" is Triumphant
I’ve been slack about supporting new comics from friends, peers, and mentors lately, so here’s your first notice: Paul Allor’s Butterfly House is fantastic!
I bought this comic through Pink Midnight Press’s first crowdfunding campaign, and it was everything I enjoy in a good indie comic book. This first issue in a planned series is completely wordless, and the artwork flows like you are walking through a lucid dream. The story follows a nameless man who wanders into what appears to be a beautiful arboretum filled with butterflies, but he soon finds something much darker waiting for him inside.
Before you get the wrong idea, this is not the sort of gore-fest monster hack-n-slash darkness you often see in comics. There is some violence and some gore, but it feels more akin to the horror you feel in a black-and-white Hitchcock film or something from that era. There is something deeper being shown than just the violence, and that’s what makes it terrifying.
The horror supports a more heartwarming story, though, about a man facing and accepting a transformation emerging inside himself. It is the kind of frightening emotional transformation that is difficult for anyone to describe in words, but Paul and the artist, Juan Romera, manage to do so with elegance in pictures.
Romera’s artwork keeps the feeling of a pulp comic with all black-and-white pages, yet his gorgeous art and effective page layouts take you by the hand and never leave you behind—a common fault I have seen in other silent comics. The artwork seems simple but is deceptively intricate giving you the feeling of walking through an episode of “The Twilight Zone.”
For a one-shot comic, I promise this is one that will leave you thinking about it for a long time! And here’s how you can get your own copy:
Pink Midnight Press’s crowdfunding campaign for their second story, Barber Psychic, is running until this Thursday! I have not read this story, but I have already backed it—and so should you!
If you follow the link, there are several tiers to support the new comic, and many of them include both The Butterfly House and Barber Psychic together. So it’s a double the content from Paul’s amazing team!
Having had Paul as both a teacher and an editor on my upcoming comic, The Airship, I can attest to his amazing talent and neverending ability to entertain. I have read many other stories of his, and his depth of style seems endless from hilarious comedy to terrifying horror to heartwarming drama. Please take a moment to check out his work, and support the efforts of a true artist.
Support Paul’s campaign here:
Sterling Martin is a writer, artist, and designer living in Chicago, IL. His background includes drawing, writing, theatre, teaching, improv & sketch comedy, and whatever else he can get his hands on to be creative. You can find him on the internet at:
Instagram: @sterfest.art
Website: sterlingmartin.design
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