Slow Death Zero is a revival of the legendary underground horror comix anthology, Slow Death.
This one-shot 50th anniversary edition includes all-new comix by 33 writers and artists, with one classic reprint by R. Crumb, 28 stories and pin-ups to chill the bones in our temperature-rising age of global warming.
Edited by Jon B. Cooke, author of The Book of Weirdo, also published by Last Gasp
Inspired by the ecological advocacy of the original title, which debuted on the very first Earth Day in 1970, this edition features horrifying tales depicting the environmental calamity facing our world in this time of climate change.
The book is headlined by a savage depiction of the implications of the melting polar ice cap in Antarctica, by award-winning cartoonist/illustrator William Stout, who provides the cover. Also included is work by Richard Corben, Rick Veitch, Drew Friedman, Bryan Talbot, Hunt Emerson, Peter Kuper, and many more, as well as unseen work by the late, great Greg Irons.
This is a wild and outrageous collection of environmental-themed horror stories, a fat compilation by the most diverse team of Slow Death contributors ever assembled!
As our Editor, Jon B. Cooke, describes it:
Representing the “Old School” Slow Death crew, we have cover artist William Stout, Tim Boxell, Bryan Talbot, Errol McCarthy, and even (gasp!) ol’ man Gore himself, Richard freakin’ Corben, this time teamed with frequent Creepy/Eerie collaborator, Bruce Jones, himself a horror comics anthologist of terror-ific taste!
As a bonus, there’s a rarely-seen Greg Irons page that somehow missed being included in Slow Death #11.
There’s also a whole bunch o’ talents herein who came to prominence a tad later, including Rick Veitch (who actually got his start, back in 1973, in the Last Gasp comic book Two-Fisted Zombies) and Hunt Emerson (whose debut in underground British comix dates to the mid-’70s), plus Weirdo mag alumni Peter Bagge, Drew Friedman, Carel Moisewitch, Savage Pencil, Rick Altergott, and (almost-Weirdo) Danny Hellman, plus work by cartoonist vets Peter Kuper, Bob Fingerman, Mike Diana, and Kellie Strom.
Relative newbies include Max Clotfelter, Cody Goodfellow, Mike Dubisch, Cameron Forsley, Kevin Jackson, Megan Jeffery, John Lucas, Charles Schneider, Garret Shanley, Skinner, Shane Oakley, Toufic El Rassi, M. Yafa, and especially Pat Moriarity, who, as usual, went the extra mile. (Sorry for any mis-characterizations here.)
Hat’s off to good ol’ Gaspar, the Friendly Host, Slow Death’s mascot/chattering skull who, for some of the stories within, turned over horror-host narrating duties ish to Cap’n Ronzo himself, our fearless leader who founded this darn comic book five decades ago!
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