HOME | DD

Description
"Four Color Fright!" takes place in a comic shop and was suggested to me by Don Taylor. Green Shift Music and Comics has been a Tampa, Florida, fixture at one location or another for over 40 years. For most of that time, Don has run the store which, under his management, has attracted a loyal following of customers and a solid reputation in the community as a place where you can get unusual items at a fair price. As I touch on in the story, there was a time when the Green Shift, and other mom and pop comic stores, were a "hang out" for those of us who had nowhere else to hang out. It was the "Cheers" bar for non-drinkers. I remember sitting on the floor and talking about comics with two other guys who actually READ the stories. Now, sadly, both the content and quality of today's comics have changed right along with its customer base. It seems like more and more customers come in looking for "key" books as investments, rather than just looking for a good story to read. Moreover, the glass screen, or "glass teat," is replacing the physical item. As a friend recently reminded me, "print is dead." In any event, when I heard this idea about a comic store owner with economic woes, who was killing his customers due to a floundering economy, I felt it was a great chance to pay tribute to the Green Shift. In addition, I used the opportunity to emulate other artists, like Robert Crumb, because I felt the subject matter lent itself to a looser approach. Page 3 was inspired by one of my favorite horror stories, "The Horror of Mixed Torsos," from Dark Mysteries #13 (1953). Finally, since the story is a parody of an actual place, I decided to change some of the names of the participants. Enjoy!

Description
"Four Color Fright!" takes place in a comic shop and was suggested to me by Don Taylor. Green Shift Music and Comics has been a Tampa, Florida, fixture at one location or another for over 40 years. For most of that time, Don has run the store which, under his management, has attracted a loyal following of customers and a solid reputation in the community as a place where you can get unusual items at a fair price. As I touch on in the story, there was a time when the Green Shift, and other mom and pop comic stores, were a "hang out" for those of us who had nowhere else to hang out. It was the "Cheers" bar for non-drinkers. I remember sitting on the floor and talking about comics with two other guys who actually READ the stories. Now, sadly, both the content and quality of today's comics have changed right along with its customer base. It seems like more and more customers come in looking for "key" books as investments, rather than just looking for a good story to read. Moreover, the glass screen, or "glass teat," is replacing the physical item. As a friend recently reminded me, "print is dead." In any event, when I heard this idea about a comic store owner with economic woes, who was killing his customers due to a floundering economy, I felt it was a great chance to pay tribute to the Green Shift. In addition, I used the opportunity to emulate other artists, like Robert Crumb, because I felt the subject matter lent itself to a looser approach. Page 3 was inspired by one of my favorite horror stories, "The Horror of Mixed Torsos," from Dark Mysteries #13 (1953). Finally, since the story is a parody of an actual place, I decided to change some of the names of the participants. Enjoy!