GORE WHOM THE BELL TOLLS!
THE WAIT IS FINALLY OVER!!! After six long years, Rough House Publishing announces the release of the FINAL ISSUE of their trilogy of 1980’s horror comic book anthologies with, GORE SHRIEK RESURRECTUS VOLUME THREE! Rough House Publishing and Fantaco Enterprises ensures that THIS IS THE ONE YOU’VE BEEN SHRIEKING FOR!
THE WAIT IS FINALLY OVER!!! After six long years, Rough House Publishing announces the release of the FINAL ISSUE of their trilogy of 1980’s horror comic book anthologies with, GORE SHRIEK RESURRECTUS VOLUME THREE! Rough House Publishing and Fantaco Enterprises ensures that THIS IS THE ONE YOU’VE BEEN SHRIEKING FOR! And if you thought the “Resurrection” was a shocker …just wait until the funeral!
GORE SHRIEK RESURRECTUS VOLUME THREE, scheduled for release in Spring 2025, promises to be a darker and dirtier affair, but not in the way you might imagine. It’s a very traditional, black-ink style, full analog comic book experience. It’s got all of what the entire series made great about holding an indie horror comic in your hands for the very first time. Yes, THIS issue certainly lives up to its title, but these stories hold an incredible amount of weight, poignancy, relevance and sometimes a howl-and-a-half of dark humor. It’s not just sheer exploitation as the title would suggest. Much like other contemporaries of the ilk (Slow Death and Deviant Slice comix) , there have always been sociopolitical messages if you are looking for them, otherwise, you can make good use of the barf bag we made for ya’, and bring a mop for whatever is left after the spill!
Like the previous two entries, Gore Shriek Resurrectus Volume Three will be available with two separate covers, both drawn by Rough Master General, Derek Rook, coined the “Oh-My-Gory” Cover A and the equally pulpy, “Yep, Still Gory” Cover B. So if you thought we forgot what you came for, Rough House is making things as clear as the warning banner that graced the lower right hand corner of every issue of Gore Shriek since the very beginning - WARNING! Contains disturbing material and is not intended for children! (However, it is intended for anyone who were once children!)
JUMP IN THE FIRE!
So what can you expect from this last romp?
For one thing, there is more SPLASH for your STASH! Clocking in at a whopping 56 Pages, this is the largest of the three volumes (the first being 48 and the second being 52 pages, respectfully). There is zero filler here! This book is PACKED to the brim, especially with art! We missed no opportunities to make this book a visual nightmare!
And another thing, the EXTRAS are CRAZY-INSANE ovah here! But don’t take our word for it! Check out all our Limited Edition Pre-Order offers for yourself:
ULTIMATE EDITION (LTD 50 Offers) = $79.99
EXCLUSIVE TO THIS OFFER - Two Copies of Gore Shriek Resurrectus Volume Three, Covers A and B (Signed by series creator, Tom Skulan!)
EXCLUSIVE TO THIS OFFER - A personalized-to-you Death Certificate with unique cause of death (Signed by series creator, “Doctor” Tom Skulan)
EXCLUSIVE TO THIS OFFER - Package of 7 Oversized 6”x9” Collectible Cards
EXCLUSIVE TO THIS OFFER – “STRAY” Short Film w/Extras (BluRay)
EXCLUSIVE TO THIS OFFER - Rough House Signature Hot Sauce (6.7oz)
Reversible Slip Cover, Numbered out of 1000 copies (art by Derek Rook)
Double-Sided Centerfold Poster, stapled into comic book (art by The Gurch)
Official Gore Shriek “Medical Grade” Barf Bag (art by The Gurch)
Gore Shriek Resurrectus Three/Ravenous Double-Sided Guitar Pic
The “Balun Gorezette” 4-page Tabloid Newspaper (by Steve Van Samson)
Double-Sided Post Card (art by The Gurch)
Gore Shriek Resurrectus Three 11x17 “Movie” Poster (art by Jeff Zornow)
Three Stickers (One Sticker EXCLUSIVE TO THIS OFFER)
ORIGINAL SKETCH CARD EDITION (LTD 20 Offers) = $49.99
Specify which cover (A or B) upon purchase (If the front cover is not chosen upon purchase from buyer, Rough House Publishing will default to “Cover A”)
All the extra content associated with the front cover (A or B) that you choose.
Original sketch drawn on reversible slip cover (Separate item from the book)
COVER A EDITION (LTD 450 Copies) = $14.99
One copy of Gore Shriek Resurrectus Volume Three (Cover A) Signed
Reversible Slip Cover, Numbered out of 1000 copies (art by Derek Rook)
Double-Sided Centerfold Poster stapled in comic book (art by The Gurch)
Official Gore Shriek “Medical Grade” Barf Bag (art by The Gurch)
The “Balun Gorezette” Tabloid Newspaper (Written by Steve Van Samson)
Two Stickers
COVER B EDITION (LTD 450 Copies) = $14.99
One copy of Gore Shriek Resurrectus Volume Three (Cover B) Signed
Reversible Slip Cover, Numbered out of 1000 copies (art by Derek Rook)
Gore Shriek Resurrectus Three 11x17 “Movie” Poster (art by Jeff Zornow)
Double-Sided Gore Shriek Resurrectus 3/Ravenous Guitar Pic
Double-Sided Post Card (art by The Gurch)
Two Stickers
CRASH COURSE IN bRAIN SURGERY!
So for those unruly beasties out there who are just tuning in, the backstory goes like this: GORE SHRIEK was/is a B&W splatterpunk horror anthology comic book series that was sold at finer comic book shops from 1986 to 1991 courtesy of series creator TOM SKULAN and FANTACO ENTERPRISES. A short time later, the title went dormant.
Fast forward to 2016, Rough House Publishing contacted Tom about “resurrecting” the title for its 30th anniversary - and BOOM! GORE SHRIEK RESURRECTUS was born! It was so much of a bloody good time that we made another one in 2019 and now …we’re doing it AGAIN! Only this time, it’s the LAST time! And we did save the best for the last!
The idea was always to pay homage to the great eras of the series through their flagship artists. With Resurrectus Volume One, it was about original Gore Shriek artist, BRUCE SPAULDING FULLER. Volume Two conjured THE GURCH. With Volume Three we wanted to give a nod to the great and infamous CHAS BALUN who sadly passed away of cancer in 2009. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to obtain any artwork or writings from his estate, but we did dedicate our Gore Shriek newspaper to him with the title “The Balun Gorezette” in the stylings of his old “Gore Score” fanzine that predates all of the horror movie review podcasts of today by literal decades. Chas was one-of-a-kind human being, and one of the first horror influencers WAY before it was cool, …and one of the greatest!
THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE!
Originally, Gore Shriek Resurrectus was envisioned as a two-parter that would both be released in the same year (2016). Rough House CEO and Artist, Derek Rook recalls that time with fear, loathing and ultimately …reverence. “I will never forget the series of misadventures leading to the release of GORE SHRIEK RESURRECTUS VOLUME TWO (2019). We had hired an amazing group of people for that second issue, including series favorite THE GURCH and for a time, we were going full steam ahead. There was a series of unfortunate incidents that will mercifully go undocumented …but by the end of that ugly comedy of errors, the Italian in me was about to go full tilt Tony Soprano.”
“Ultimately, Volume Two was a great book, in spite of all of the technical difficulties and obstacles. We exceeded expectations in many respects, including a bigger book, tons more extras, lots of accolades from the fans and articles in Rue Morgue, Horrorhound and Fangoria magazine. Problem was, I got into this business to be a comic book artist, and I was wearing so many hats at the time, that I inadvertently benched myself almost completely out of that issue. That, and the entire series just felt - unfinished. There was a lot of flourishes that went by the wayside - even one story (“Lil Darling”) ended up on the cutting room floor. There’s no doubt that Volume Two hit the shelves kicking and uh, …SHRIEKING!”
“During the years that followed, Tom (Skulan) and I had a few hear-to-heart conversations that finally led to the genesis of this final issue. A proper close out not only to what we all considered the “Classic” era of Gore Shriek, but the triumph that we all sustained under some pretty extreme duress. Death, health scares, a global pandemic, the collapse of the convention scene, a writers strike…for a while, the struggle was very real and everyone in the Rough House and Fantaco families felt the crippling weight of that dark time almost to the breaking point.”
The term “Resurrectus” that was coined originally by Mike “Corpse Monger” Wasion back in 2015, now takes on a MUCH different and more poignant meaning. This book IS the collective victory lap of not just us, but our Roughian fans that have believed in us, fought with us, struggled with us and ultimately lived to fight another day with us!
DISPOSABLE HEROES!
Rough House wanted to keep pushing the needle forward, so we decided to go with a new (and smaller) batch of talented artists including Alex Sarabia (New York Ripper 2), Michael Harper (I See Monsters) and Puis Calzada (Metallica Merch artist). And to add a little flavor of issues past, we had Jeff Zornow (Escape from the Beyond) and The Gurch (Art Most Foul) return in a guest star capacity to provide their artistic flair for a few pages and extras. And Derek Rook’s art is in a LOT more of the book, victoriously.
Rough House Author/Designer, Steve Van Samson had just joined the team in time for the last issue, which included his first-ever comic book story called, “No.Ware.Man.” which was based on a concept by Tom Skulan himself. This time, his contributions to the book were much more substantial with three brand new stories, including “Reservoir Bogs”, “Ravenous” and “Clash of the 21st Century”, …the last of which featuring some surprise kaiju cameos from your favorite infamous schlock films of decades past. It’s a fucking hoot. Wait til you see this! And on top of all that madness, Steve was the brainchild for the aforementioned, “The Balun Gorezette”, which he wrote exclusively. It’s a parody of those old supermarket tabloids that gossips and lampoons old Gore Shriek stories from issues past, while effectively writing new ones, all the while, dropping Easter eggs for the hardcore fanbase to discover and decipher along the way!
Monster scribe Mike Wasion, who has since moved on to other publishing projects including “Slaughtered Kingdom” and the forthcoming “Death Mask” courtesy of Bloody Gore Comix, returns with a tale inspired from a story concept by Mario Bruni (Mars Attacks) and Bruce Spaulding Fuller titled, “This Slaughterhouse Earth”, which promises to send the series off with a loud, earth-shattering, motherfucking FAZOOM!!
Wanna get a feel for what’s coming your way in justa’ bouta’ month? READ ON!
KILL ‘EM ALL! (Gore Shriek Resurrectus Three - story synopses)
LIL DARLING – Predators are everywhere. And we mean, EVERYWHERE! But even for Apex scumbags in wait, there is a home where they can be properly pampered, cared for and loved. Written and drawn by DEREK ROOK.
RESERVOIR BOGS – Young love knows no bounds, nor boundaries. When three former besties return to enact a reunion of their pre-college years, secrets are revealed that promise purge the depths of their own lurid past. Written by STEVE VAN SAMSON, penciled by DEREK ROOK and inked by MICHAEL HARPER.
RAVENOUS – Nothing says Saturday night like local rock bands, beer, babes and …mysterious creatures that snatch fans into the sky before they fulfill their meet and greet packages? The truth is stranger than fiction …even THIS fiction. Written by STEVE VAN SAMSON, penciled by ALEX SARABIA and inked by DEREK ROOK.
CLASH OF THE 21st CENTURY – Canada better have upped its property insurance to include “Acts of Kaiju” because when they decide to settle a grudge match in downtown Vancouver, it becomes an unofficial sequel to three schlock films of decades past! Written by STEVE VAN SAMSON and drawn by PUIS CALZADA.
A SMALL SACRIFICE – Birth is always painful. Written and drawn by DEREK ROOK.
THE DEVIL WHO STRAYED – When a serial killer is released back into the wild after a botched mistrial, he soon realizes that the court of public opinion comes in many forms. Written and Drawn by DEREK ROOK (and is a sidequel to a short film titled STRAY) with characters created by DAN BLACK.
THIS SLAUGHTERHOUSE EARTH – This finale episode ends the only way that it logically could after three issues of carnage candy – With a nice, peaceful Midwestern visit to Sunday Mass. If you have any sins to confess, now is the time. Written by MIKE WASION and drawn by MICHAEL HARPER.
CREEPING DEATH!
Gore Shriek Resurrectus Volume Three is being worked on day and night to meet a projected late Spring 2025 release! PRE-ORDERS BEGIN THURSDAY MARCH 6th 2025 at 7PM EST, so if you are a Gore Shriek or just an indie horror comics fan, now is the time to come and support one of the greats! We expect many tiers to sell out FAST so be the first in line when pre-orders open! Til then, here’s blood in yer eye!
IT’S ALWAYS HONEY IN CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS!
BLACK HONEY and Other Unsavory Things, the 2nd literary Rough House slab of creator-owned nightmare fuel, and the first to collaborate the fantastical writings of novelist, STEVE VAN SAMSON with the horror laiden art of DEREK ROOK to produce one bloody/sweet collection of short horror tales to keep the Halloween vibe going well past its expiration date!
ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING (under the Rough House Pulp™ novel imprint) launches their newest title….BLACK HONEY and Other Unsavory Things!
BLACK HONEY and Other Unsavory Things™ is the second literary Rough House slab of creator-owned nightmare fuel, and the first to collaborate the fantastical writings of novelist, STEVE VAN SAMSON (Mark of the Witchwyrm, The Bone Eater King) with the horror laden art of DEREK ROOK (Gore Shriek, Gates of Hell) to produce one bloody/sweet collection of “horrific short stuff” to help keep that Halloween vibe going well past its expiration date!
For this latest release, ROUGH HOUSE has returned to its horror roots, …and those roots are firmly woven down into the cold bitter end with eleven stories of Monsters, Malice, Murder, Madness and did we say Monsters? Yes, …lots and LOTS of (different types of) MONSTERS!
BLACK HONEY and Other Unsavory Things™, is available in Standard, Premium and Ultimate Editions satiating the bitter tastes of the casual reader, all the way to the ultimate collector of pulp media!
As with all of ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING’s honeycomb of “tangible awesome”, BLACK HONEY and Other Unsavory Things™ is available in a variety of formats to suit any budget, with more Limited Edition collectable extras than the number of stingers on Jonny Knoxville’s scrotum after humping a hornets nest.
CATCHING AN EVENING BUZZ!
Here is the rundown of all you have to choose from when you order these oddities:
That’s right kids, lock up your beekeeper, because these softcover and hardcover editions will scare you harder than a 1980’s Special News report about Africanized Killer Bees flying all the way to Ozark, Missouri just to pop a deadly stinger right in your bitch-ass mouth!
With a title such as BLACK HONEY, and the imagery that accompanies it, one might assume that this was some pulpy blacksploitation shlockfest about an insectistisized madame seeking sweet revenge by sticking it to the MAN, one venomous barb at a time! Although such a theme is far from above the Rough House brow, … acclaimed writer STEVE VAN SAMSON is instead delivering a bounty much more ambitious than just ONE single tale of woe, but rather multiple stories that exploit horror from all corners of the globe, with evil beyond all of its many manifests! The story “BLACK HONEY” being but one, and sets the hellish tone for what’s to come!
Says VAN SAMSON of this new TERRORific night table companion:
“The nightmares in this collection were written in between my novels over a span of just about five years. Some have been published in previous anthologies, others have never before seen the light of day. Lurking within BLACK HONEY and Other Unsavory Things are eleven diverse horror tales. Stories of monsters and madness that will whisk the reader from a cursed village in old Massachusetts to an arcade in the 1980s and even to the plains of a post-apocalyptic Africa. These accounts are sometimes sweet, often unsavory and, if I’ve done my job correctly, are going to leave a sting.”
THE BEES KNEES (on the road to black honey)
CEO and Rough Master General, DEREK ROOK while soliloquizing of the onset of this project shared this piece of BLACK HONEY history: “It was Winter of 2021. We were just about a year into the lockdowns and restrictions brought on by the dreaded pandemic, …the same pandemic that brought forth our newest (at that time) release, MARK OF THE WITCHWYRM™. It was our “Fuck you” in the face of the great reset and it showed our fans that we weren’t afraid to take chances, be ambitious and make something creative and special even if only out of spite.
Perhaps ironically, although filled with monsters and intrigue, Witchwyrm also contained a strong message about honor and hope, something that was on back-order at that time, much like the mothballed supply chains across America.”
“It was around then that Steve pitched me the idea of a collection of his short horror stories, …some previously released through other publishers, and others that were in various stages of completion in his brain. At the time he was calling it DEAD ENDINGS: Tales of Monsters, Madness and of the Cold Bitter End (talk about a mouthful of words a’la negative.)
I wasn’t immediately receptive to it, mostly due to the fact that we already had a comic book property (Gore Shriek Resurrectus) that was essentially an anthology horror as well. But while we were driving up the icy back roads of Cumberland, RI, Steve started telling me about one of the stories …“Black Honey”, and about the Grendel Hive - this image of a woman who was essentially a human surrogate hive hybrid to these mutated bee-like creatures. Her hair was described as dripping and tar-like with these images of trypophobia inducing honeycomb holes encrusting and infused with what’ left of her skin. I was riveted. I couldn’t get the image of her out of my head.”
“As time went on, it became more apparent that this was not an anthology, but much more of a collection….a horrific memoir of oddities past and present with no real connective tissue. Coupled with the idea that Steve and I could work directly on this project with no outside collaborators really cemented the idea. This was after all, the main reason we began this partnership – to marry the art forms of writing and physical illustration into a much more immersive reading experience. I’ve always used Stephen King’s novella, Cycle of the Werewolf as the template for how a Rough House book should look and feel, while adding all the extras that have made our books unique and special to our audience. “
“Fast forward to Spring of 2022. We changed the title to the more ambiguous and palpable, BLACK HONEY, …then we went back to work.”
“This time around, we wanted to present a more straight-forward approach to our marketing campaign while keeping what makes our product special to the Limited Edition collector amongst our brethren.”
Rook continued, “While we’re always looking for fun new ways to present our products onto the unsuspecting public, we wanted this project to be slightly more organic and intimate for the roughians who have stuck with us going all the way back to the beginning.
We sent out a bunch of advanced reader copies to our peers in the biz and allowed BLACK HONEY to be reviewed on its own merits, good or otherwise. The results of that exercise were staggeringly positive. Read them for yourselves!”
“I just finished reading BLACK HONEY and Other Unsavory Things. Steve Van Samson’s collection is both wildly satisfying and perfectly balanced in its diversity of narrative styles and settings. Every story is a lovingly-crafted nightmare waiting to be discovered. I’m greatly looking forward to seeing this young author’s career take off in epic proportions.”
— Peter N. Dudar, author of The Goat Parade
"This is a masterful collection of horrors and you absolutely need this book in your life! Keep your guard up when reading—the contents inside this collection will leave you right where horror means to take you."
— Ashley Greathouse. author of Lily and Hen House
“The stories in this incomparable collection comprise a crash-course into the immense talents of its author, about whom I should expect to hear much in the coming years. Van Samson is a tremendous writer and Black Honey is one of the finest selections of weird and horror fiction I have ever had the pleasure to read.”
— Ed Kurtz, author of The Rib from Which I Remake the World and the Boon trilogy
"BLACK HONEY is one of those collections that offers pieces of everything we love about horror. There are shades of King and Barker in here, but Van Samson also takes us to the dark shadows of Victorian England, to post-apocalyptic madness, and to quiet horror of one's own back yard, with his own fresh twist. “No God But Hunger” and “Letter To Evelene” were my personal favorites, but every story brings something to the table. Top notch!"
— Morgan Sylvia, author of Abode
…TELL ME WHATSA’ HAPPENIN!
The stories presented in BLACK HONEY and Other Unsavory Things read like the back cover of a British heavy metal album! In keeping with VAN SAMSON’S penchant for diversity in location, culture, setting, tone and feel permeates in this body of work and the darkness that lies therein. Take a sneak peek at the synopses below:
BLACK HONEY - A period piece following a young couple as they cross western Massachusetts by stagecoach. While Stewart sleeps, Missy notices an ominous buzzing sound in the distance and becomes obsessed with finding its source. Soon they will both learn that some secrets are better left undiscovered.
NO GOD BUT HUNGER - A PREDATOR WORLD story, starring the woman in the elephant mask. As Rè and her partner Nico stalk a leopard across the moonlit Serengeti, there is something much worse stalking them.
GROWING JUST BENEATH - An unfortunate tale of gardening gone awry, proving that even the most mundane tasks can lead to obsession and eventually, madness. This one really gets under your skin.
THE ROOT OF ALL NOISE - Marcus Wade has just been through a nasty breakup. Now, all he wants is to rekindle his old love of running and be alone. Just him and the mountain trails, the open wilderness …and the voice?
MONSTER FINANCING AVAILABLE - The specimen was installed in a quiet lake, somewhere in Missouri. It was supposed to get itself spotted by some locals, get its picture in the papers and hopefully kickstart the tourist trade. Unfortunately, the creature had other plans.
OFF ROAD - Tino has had a rough couple of months and to top it off, Gavin Labeck and his crew are currently chasing him on their bikes with murder in their eyes. The mountain road is narrow and dangerous and Tino is peddling for his very life. Worst of all, he’s fresh out of friends.
ZANDAXAAR - Working a lame job in a dead end town has set Bert in something of a downward spiral. All he really has are some impressive high scores on the hardest game at the arcade, ZANDAXARR. If only he could get that creepy guy in the red hoodie to leave for the night so he can work on beating that high score.
THE TERROR OF LONDON - In the dark, John Covington contemplates days long past from the confines of a wheeled chair he has occupied for decades. Though an old contract is nearly due, he wonders if a bargain might be reached with the devilish debt collector. If so, perhaps there is a chance for one last adventure.
LETTER TO EVELENE - On the run, Roman stumbles upon an old house in the woods. At first, he’s just happy to be indoors but before long, a mystery begins to reveal itself. At its center is a strange boy who appears in the yard–always at night and alone. Over and over, he calls out to the malevolent dark, a single repeated question. Who looks for you?
SALTWATER TEARS - Just like the nursery rhyme says… off the coast of Barrowbrine, lies something that was once a woman. A sad young mother called Molly Maeve who gave herself to the ocean long ago. Now, all know to keep their young ones far away from the shore, lest Molly try to replace what the waves once stole from her.
NIGHT FISHING - Beckett can hardly believe his luck. After wanting to go night fishing for so long, his mother has finally decided to take him and Katie to do just that, even as the night itself keeps a cruel secret.
BLACK HONEY and OTHER UNSAVORY THINGS, available in Three Limited Edition tiers and promises to attract unsavory insects if left out in the dark…
…and guarantees to kick you right in the hive!
THIS WINTER, ROUGH HOUSE EATS THE WYRM!
Rander Belmorn is far from home. He searches tirelessly for the one man who might be able to cure his dying son, but time is running out. The road, a frozen waste at the very edge of the world with a single lingering question …How do you kill a witch? And with that slogan ROUGH HOUSE releases their first full-length novel, MARK OF THE WITCHWYRM™! This is dark fantasy, …Rough House Publishing Style!
On OCTOBER 30th 2020 at 8pm EST, Rough House Publishing will launch Pre-Orders for their debut creator-owned full length novel, MARK OF THE WITCHWYRM™, written by newest roughian keeper of the Veld, STEVE VAN SAMSON, and promises to be the first in a new line of novellas, anthologies and novels offered by the independent publishing outfit.
“Rander Belmorn is far from home. He searches tirelessly for the one man who might be able to cure his dying son, but time is running out. The road has led to a frozen waste at the very edge of the world. But what Rander Belmorn never learned on that long, lonely road was the answer to the last question…The only question…How do you kill a witch?”
And with that slogan begins a bold new journey for ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING as they expand their catalog from comic books and graphic novels, into other forms of pulp media beginning with their debut full length novel, MARK OF THE WITCHWYRM™, a first for the company, being released in the DEAD of Winter 2021. And with all Rough House infernal offerings, Artist/Publisher DEREK ROOK promises, “We have widened our bandwidth in formats and genres, but assure you we’re bringing every bit of our sensibilities with us into the veld. Steve crafted an amazing story. This is definitely a dark fantasy, …Rough House Style!”
EARLY BIRD GETS THE WYRM
As with all of ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING’s payload of “tangible awesome”, MARK OF THE WITCHWYRM™ will be made available in a variety of formats to suit any budget and with more limited edition collectable extras than you could throw a moderately sizable battle axe at!
Here is the rundown of all you have to look forward to when the Pre-Sale goes live:
As per usual, the ULTIMATE and PREMIUM editions of MARK OF THE WITCHYRM will come with a bunch of signature EXTRAS that will make for a monster of a purchase for the die hard Roughians worldwide! Here is the breakdown of all you have to look forward to!
STICKERS
THE ROUGH HOUSE/WITCHWYRM STICKER - 4x5.5” Inches. This Rough House logo is going to need an electric heater to get through this frozen hell.
THE OUROBOROS STICKER - 5” Inches in Diameter, featuring the “Mark” as it appears throughout the novel.
DOUBLE-SIDED POSTER - Folded 11x17. Full Color. Side A features the incredible artwork of RENE AIGNER with additional artwork by author STEVE VAN SAMSON, designed in fine style into a 1950’s “movie” poster (shown).
The flip-side of this poster features a full color stylized “comic book” front cover illustrated by DEREK ROOK (not shown).
ENAMEL PIN - 2” Inches in Diameter. Go Team Witchwyrm! This hardback embossed enamel pin will complete the look of any uniform made of burlap and/or blood-stained steel.
CAST ILLUSTRATION CARD - 4x5” cardstock B&W illustration of the entire principle cast of MARK OF THE WITCHWYRM penciled by author STEVE VAN SAMSON and inked by DEREK ROOK.
SLEEPING WITH THE WITCH
Author STEVE VAN SAMSON has spent the last year and change getting plenty dirty in the Rough House sandbox, but his writing street cred was well-travelled before taking the roughian plunge. Not only did Steve contribute his scribing skills to last years, GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME TWO in a story titled, “The No.Ware. Man” (click here to get yours), but he is featured in a brand new Vampire Noire anthology entitled, SLAY, featuring a direct tie-in story to his ongoing Predator World series, which will also see a Rough House edition beginning in 2021. To read more about Steve’s other notable works, (Click here).
Of WITCHWYRM, Van Samson said this of Rough House’s newest offering. “MARK OF THE WITCHWYRM™ grew from an idea I’ve had in me for over twenty years. The goal was to have my own wandering, (Conan the Barbarian) type character that could have a series of adventures across a bleak, plague riddled world. I knew it would be a period piece, but wanted to go for more dark ages than high fantasy. Alchemists and plague doctors over wizards and elves. But from the beginning, I also knew that there had to be monsters.”
And monsters there are aplenty in this harrowing read as we find our lead character (Rander Belmorn) in a desperate race against time as his journey takes him (and us) deeper and deeper into a doom-ridden frozen hell where even the most benign of settings can kill you and everyone and everything is a potential threat. In a world where every circumstance has conspired to make waste of his journey, the only thing Belmorn has to look forward to seemingly is death itself, …and that’s all before the discovery of the title character….and once you wear it’s mark, DEATH is a mercy. Something wicked stalks the Veld. A creature which had earned its death many times over….and it cannot be killed.
Regarding the constitution of his main protagonist, Van Samson shed some very dark and relatable light, “The challenge with my hero was to make Rander Belmorn come off as this mythic, heroic type character, but one who was far from invincible. Sure, he had to be big and mighty and wield some big axes, but he also had to be able to bleed. Superman types are all fine and good, but I always prefer the ones who screw up and have to really fight their way to the bitter end.”
EVERY JOURNEY IS A DAMNED CIRCLE
Regarding the approach he took to bring the world of the Witchwyrm to life, Van Samson explains, “As the concept grew, I liked the idea of using this world as a dark reflection of our own. Pulling certain things that would be familiar and twisting them. I wanted the reader to wonder if the story were taking place on Earth or perhaps the Earth of another tangent universe, but I also wanted to push the setting so far back that it didn’t matter. The main thing was to mix invented names and ideas with things that the reader would find familiar.”
With shows like “Game of Thrones” and to a lesser extent, “The Witcher” and “Vikings”, what was once targeted for a very intimate niche audience, is now in the forefront of the pop culture zeitgeist and the subjects of water cooler conversations for all walks of life across the globe. With the advent of streaming services and a slew of new, cutting edge programming, viewers have an E-ticket to more (and more diverse) genres of storytelling from contemporary to otherworldly and has injected new life into tired genres that a decade ago wouldn’t have lasted a single season on network television. And with consumers rediscovering their identity through physical media, the ground could not have been more fertile for Rough House to make its mark with this new story, in this format.
AS THE WYRM TURNS
“The idea from the start was to expand into producing creator-owned properties in and outside of just comic books”, says Rook of his vision for the Rough House product line(s), “but being such a small company, once the train leaves the station, you’re either on it or chasing after it. It wasn’t until Covid that we were forced to stop with the rest of the world. I knew immediately that once we shut down, that it would be for a long stretch, and it felt in very poor taste to try to continue promoting and selling new products when people were losing their jobs, livelihoods and people were dying. So during that downtime we planned our next project, and this organically came out of that experience.”
Much like the characters and their ultimate fates in MARK OF THE WITCHWYRM™, Rough House Publishing is compelling roughian fans to embark into uncharted territory, where no roughian has ventured before. …and at the end of it all, Rough House Publishing will be leading the charge when it exclaims, that every journey is a damned circle.
FROM THE CASKET, ...TO THE CLOTS!
Crawling from the unhallowed grave of print media, and given new life for the digital age, ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING throws open the gates of Hell, and unleashes (the former FANGORIA column favorite) MIKE WASION’S COMIC CASKET lives!!!… in a new format, in a new forum, and now, with a brand new name, …Enter the BLOOD CLOTS!
Here’s the official synopsis:
“This new Rough House monthly article, BLOOD CLOTS will feature a unique perspective on comic books, magazines, novels, music and films that hit us with an insane amount of inspiration to become the twisted deviants that we are today! Filled with sharp-as-a-murder-knife whit and hauntingly inhuman insight, these articles will jump headlong into the underbelly of pop culture from resident roughian, MIKE “CORPSE MONGER” WASION and the rest of the ROUGH HOUSE gang ta boot! Between series overviews, single issue deep dives, interviews and bat-shit gonzo suicide runs into obscure errata, BLOOD CLOTS got you covered….with 6 feet of dirt, and thoroughly watered with Trioxin infused rain.”
A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE!
Like every ignored warning before a trip to Crystal Lake, like every Sumarian curse uttered deep in the foggy woods, like every flash of lightning above a castle-top laboratory, something stirs on the slab. Renewed with unholy life, and vengeful hunger... the resurrected (and former FANGORIA column) MIKE WASION’S COMIC CASKET lives, in a new format, in a new forum, and now, with a brand new name. … Enter the strange and bizarre world of the BLOOD CLOTS!
Crawling from the unhallowed grave of print media, and given new, spectral life for the digital age, ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING throws open the gates of Hell, and unleashes this conjoined beast, that knows where all the bodies are buried.
So gather round the camp fire, and crack open a cold one, ….we’ve got a story to tell ya!
Back in the chilly days of early 2011, - a literal lifetime ago - a greenhorn horror journalist (and lifelong comic junky) was handed the keys to his own column at a newly revitalized FANGORIA...with carte blanche to get as deep, and as weird as he needed to, to scrape the bottom of the horror comic trash can, to dig up long-interred bodies, to summon vengeful four-color ghosts, to look at EVERY worm beneath that pulp-pop rock...and he did so, with aplomb.
Hence, COMIC CASKET was born!
At least, until the checks started bouncin'. Wasn't the first, won't be the last in THAT parade. After all, this wasn’t Corpse’s first rodeo, having previously slung prose for neighboring pop culture periodicals such as HORRORHOUND and STRANGE KIDS CLUB Magazines, the latter of which transitioned into an online presence along with RETRO SLASHERS to boot!I
I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE!
They say everything in life eventually comes full circle. Alas, we’ve been waiting for Peter Steele to return from his Brooklyn grave for over a decade and not so much as one guttural drone from the Green Man. But we digress.
It was 2010. DEREK ROOK was going into the 7th year of semi-retirement from drawing and publishing comics. Aside from the occasional recreational page drawn for the yet unreleased follow-up to LUCIO FULCI’s GATES OF HELL comic book series (formerly of the publishing imprint, XMACHINA) Rook was working as a Corporate Security Account Manager and the history of his contributions to Blackest Heart Media’s graphic novel, LUCIO FULCI’s ZOMBIE (2001), was exactly that….history!
But at that time, “CORPOSE MONGER” was all about comic book history and when he smelt the proverbial blood in the waters off the shark and zombie infested waters off the shores of Matool, it wasn’t long before he contacted Rook to get the full skinny on the truncated print run of the aforementioned title for a forthcoming addition of COMIC CASKET. Some would say that this fiendish summit lay the skeletal foundation of what would eventually become ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING, LLC just a year and change later, …and they would be right.
So after a draft or thirteen (sorry Mike), on OCTOBER 2011, FANGORIA #307 ran the now infamous article, and history was made. Ironically, ZOMBIE GN penciller MIKE BROOM had painted a cover from The Howling for that very same issue. Coincidence?
COMIC CASKET ran steadily on a monthly basis until FANGO stopped running the article in 2013, and soon after, died an untimely, tragic death of it’s own.
For seven years there was silence. The aftermath of the now infamous FANGORIA MAGAZINE implosion of 2015 left many editors, associates and contributing writers little more than the exorcised husk or a once malignant horror culture leading magazine and an eviction notice. Crawling out from under the dead bodies was Corpse Monger, his beloved column, ….and a dream.
WE ARE GOING TO READ YOU!
All right, all right, …stop yer cryin’!
Sheesh! There’s no sad endings here! Look, FANGORIA ended up coming back stronger than ever in 2018, under new management and has been kicking ass ever s…..um, …So, FANGORIA ended up coming back stronger than ever in 2020, under new management and, …Ahem, please pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
And not to be outdone, COPRSE MONGER’s COMIC CASKET has come home to the ROUGH HOUSE, and we’re promising to make this BIGGER, BADDER, BOLDER and BRUTAL! And this time, the CASKET will NOT be restricted to just comics, or censorship!
NO ONE WILL BE A STRANGER!
So what’s the difference between Mike Wasion’s COMIC CASKET and BLOOD CLOTS?
Besides the name change, you’ll still get new Comic Casket episodes written by the Corpse Monger himself whenever time and circumstances allow. He owns enough horror, sci-fi and exploitation memorabilia to open up his own oddities driven haunted attraction and when the dark spirits possess him again, you can be sure to enjoy another storied tale of indie horror comics brought to you by the man himself!
The bonified bitch of the bunch is that working as an indie creator is a very tough business. With very little time and money to spare, it’s amazing any of us find the time or the creative petrol to persevere, especially in these most recent dark and uncertain of times…but like any good horror slasher villain, just when you think we’re dead, we spring up for one last kill and stay for another 10 sequels!
Hence the soft rebranding. Let the BLOT CLOTS begin!
In the meantime, DEREK ROOK and his merry band or roughians will be continuing the column, showcasing their retro deep dives beyond just comic books into other forms of pulpy media like magazines, record album reviews, movie dissections, creator spotlights, lost pulp pocket novels, and whatever horrors lay in wait!
These are the “LOST” analog oddities that made us (the screwballs, we), and the best part is you don’t have to wait one single extra day to feast your grubby eyes on the FIRST SIX EPISODES brought to you by your unfriendly neighborhood Corpse Monger!
HOOK YOURSELF UP WITH A NEW DOSE OF “BLOOD CLOTS” THE FIRST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH!
CLICK BELOW AND ENJOY RIGHT NOW!
SHRIEK AND SHRIEK AGAIN!
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO SPLASH IN THE SPLATTER!!!! Rough House Publishing announces the long-awaited comic book SEQUEL, GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME TWO! On MAY 24th, 2019 online pre-orders for the sequel to their FantaCo Enterprises licensed GORE SHRIEK® property went live, and this time they firmly promise that all “heads will roll” with this epic second installment! THE WARNING’S RIGHT ON THE COVER!
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO SPLASH IN THE SPLATTER!!!!
Rough House Publishing announces the long-awaited comic book SEQUEL, GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME TWO! THERE’S A WARNING RIGHT ON THE FRONT COVER KIDS! THIS ONE DELIVERS!
The first ever promotional poster for GORE SHRIEK RESURRECTUS; 2015. Artwork by PUTRID MATT CARR!
On MAY 24th, 2019. Independent comic book juggernaut, ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING opened up their online pre-orders for the sequel to their FantaCo Enterprises licensed GORE SHRIEK® property, appropriately titled, GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME TWO, and this time they firmly promise that all “heads will roll” with this epic second installment in their “Resurrectus” line of the of the horror anthology series!
As usual, this new GORE SHRIEK® series is NOT a reprinting of the past, but a BRAND NEW ongoing comic book reading experience, with veteran GORE SHRIEK® artists paired up with new blood to compose a splatterpunk comic book that will hearken back to what’s been deemed the “Fangoria Age” and the glorious B&W indie comics BOOM of the 1980’s.
“We left no sharp object unburrowed for this new issue”, claims Rough House head artist/founder, DEREK ROOK of this latest effort. After re-releasing their inaugural issue earlier this year as an ONGOING series, ROOK made a point to ensure their rabid gore hound audiences that a sequel wasn’t just inevitable, but that it was actively in development after what appeared to be a long and indefinite hiatus.
“We never stopped, but we did have to pump the breaks in order to deal with some personal business and life changes. Once we were ready to rock and roll again, we decided to organize a soft re-launch of the company, beginning with RESURRECTUS ONE as an ongoing series. In retrospect, we were so much stronger for having done so.”
And if this sophomore issue is any indication of a Rough House with a more fortified brick-shithouse foundation, then new and seasoned GORE SHRIEK® “Roughians” (Rough House appropriation for “fans”) are going to let go of all their guts in gory matrimony over this new installment!
To this bold statement, ROOK promises, “We’ve recruited the most widely talented super freaks from all four points of the globe to ensure the true long-term GORE SHRIEK® aficionados get their devils due! You’ll be a LOT of things after reading this issue. Disappointed will NOT be one of them!” And to ensure that all promises hold true, said “super freaks” included Rough House’s mainstay scribe, MIKE “Corpse Monger” WASION along with newest Rough House brethren, STEVE VAN SAMSON (see article HERE) and the runaway talents of TOM SKULAN, MARK BLOODWORTH, WILLIAM SKAAR, J. PAOLO YU-ASENSI, DAVID JAMES RAVENNA, PUTRID MATT CARR, KARL DAHMER, ALEXANDROS PYROMALLIS, with JEFF ZORNOW, ALEX HOEY and DEREK ROOK!
CONJURING UP THE BIG G!
GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME TWO is MORE of everything you loved about the first issue, only with more diversity, more audacity and more WTF moments than you can shake a gnarled Clavicle at. With the first issue ushering original GORE SHRIEK® artist, BRUCE SPAULDING FULLER back off the bench after almost 30 years, then for this newest issue, the RH crew had to travel out a bit further in the ether to bring home another classic GORE SHRIEK® superstar, …the one, the only, … THE GURCH!
To the uninitiated, the name, “GURCH”, sounds like a character in the very horror comic that we are trying to sell, but in reality, he is an astute and extremely talented gent from across the pond. For those who are in the know, his unique and kinetic style of artwork was most widely associated with the classic Gore Shriek® Vol. 2 which ran from 1990-1991, and included an “All Gurch” issue #2 ½. That may have been where his initial run had ended, but THE GURCH’s artwork was popping up as early in the series as Gore Shriek® Vol. 1, in the rare and coveted digest/ashcan #6 ½.
And now he’s BACK!
THE GURCH received the first GORE SHRIEK RESURRECTUS issue in the mail and was immediately taken with the accuracy and attention to returning the series to its bloody roots, and as such, jumped all in for this newest installment. THE GURCH provided two brand new stories, a full color-centerfold poster, pin-up artwork and extras. He’s not fooling around, kids, GURCH came back to kick some good ol’ fashioned, steel toed ass and assures fans that he is 100% all in for this Rough House ride! We have so much more planned for him as this series unfolds, but you’ll just have to wait and see what we have in store for future issues!
So what can Gore-Heads expect from this latest parlay into the blood fields of gore and swill?
For one thing, the book is clocking in at an epic 52 pages (parred up from the originals 48) which includes of course, more stories and also more commentary. As the classic GORE SHRIEK® series progressed, largely after legendary comic book artist STEPHEN R. BISSETTE took over as Managing Editor, the book became increasingly more of a “magazine” complete with articles, artwork and stories mixed together almost in a fanzine style format. This new issue tests those waters a little as well.
In addition, GORE SHRIEK®RESURRECTUS VOLUME TWO features not one, but TWO incredibly disturbing GURCH covers for the die hard’s to sink their chompers into!
COVER A (dubbed “Bird Brain”) was drawn up specifically for this Resurrectus Volume, while COVER B (dubbed “Cheeky”) was originally drawn years ago for an issue of GORE SHRIEK® that never materialized, once again “resurerected” specifically for this series.
Regarding the feel and tone of the new installment, ROOK shed some dark light over the proceedings. “We want the book to feel “lived-in”, like pulling on an old pair of Doc Martins. We don’t just want a bunch of random horror stories smashed together in some garden variety horror anthology. This is GORE SHRIEK®, and once you’ve experienced the roller coaster ride of pure hardcore horror, strange humor, bizarre occurrences and deadly consequences, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry and ….well, you’ll fucking SHRIEK!”
Each artist is hand-picked based on not only their personal style but knowledge of title, and series creator, TOM SKULAN approves all of the scripts to ensure that we’re giving our audiences something that is unabashedly, and uniquely, GORE SHRIEK®!
SNAPPING OPEN THE SPINE
Here’s a breakdown of the stories featured in this issue!
100 STORIES TO READ BEFORE YOU DIE - Just because you have irrational fears doesn’t mean they can’t kill you, or can’t they? A swift reintroduction to the madness of Gore Shriek favorite, THE GURCH!
IMAGO DEI - How many times does the universe have to tell you, when travel abroad, DON’T–TOUCH-ANYTHING! Make sure your passport is in good shape, because you definitely WON’T be! As told by Gore Shriek® newcomer, ALEXANDROS PYROMALLIS!
NO.WARE.MAN - Did you ever wake up from a nightmare and quickly try to write it down before you forgot? Really? So did TOM SKULAN, and the result is the FIRST EVER Gore Shriek® story based on a treatment from the series creator himself. Polishing off this tale of easily-sold settlers is Gore Shriek’s newest scribe, STEVE VAN SAMSON with artwork provided by MARK BLOODWORTH and DEREK ROOK!
DEJA WHO? - You didn’t think THE GURCH was done with you yet, did you? He’s far from done with rattling your cage as written and rendered in this Twilight Zone-style tale of mistaken identity, or identity mistaken!
ROTTEN APPLE - New York City traffic can be the death of you. Throw in a heat wave and a flat tire on top of it, and you’d certainly be eating your crap sandwich with a rotten apple. What else could go wrong? Well that’s just the first panel. A little tale of bad luck brought to you by writer/artist, DEREK ROOK and artist DAVID JAMES RAVENNA!!
LIL DARLING - Predators are everywhere. And we mean, EVERYWHERE! But even for Apex Scumbags in wait, there is a home where they can be properly pampered, cared for and loved. Written sand Drawn by DEREK ROOK!
GORE BEAST - This little embellishment about how bullies are dealt with will have you saying, “Well, that escalated quickly!” as told by writer, MIKE WASION and artist, J. PAOLO YU-ASENSI!
TRASH COLLECTING - Remember what happened to the boy who got everything he ever wanted …NO! He didn’t live happily ever after! This is a Gore Shriek® yarn! What we can tell you is this is by far the DIRTIEST story we’ve ever run! You might need a shower after reading this one! Written by MIKE WASION and drawn by KARL DAHMER!
PIZZA BY THE SLICE - You may have seen every over the top road trip movie in existence, but we guarantee you’ve never seen a rubber and asphalt, bare-knuckle, acid trip, horror ho-down like THIS in your whole putrid existence! Writer MIKE WASION and artist, WILLIAM SCAAR closes you out of this episode with a little Alabama heat, pigsploitation, boobs and braces galore! Grab a slice of the works, buckle your safety belts and enjoy the shit show!
AN APPROPRIATE SERVING OF EXTRA SPLATTER, …PUNK!
The comic book market is dying (don’t worry, kids. This story has a happy ending!)
However, the nostalgia and collectible market are continuing to thrive and as such we continue to offer you a phrase we coined, “TANGIBLE AWESOME”! What does that mean to you? Welp, for one thing, you’re not going to ever read this book on a tablet or any other digital format. We want to give the roughians a real comic book reading and collecting experience that you’ll enjoy as much 30 years from now as you do today. With the last issue of GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS, our readers received special lobby cards specific to the three covers they chose from along with commemorative stickers and shameful self-demoters (Rough House stickers to boot).
This time we exhumed a new SLEW of extras that have been divided between the two GURCH front covers that we are offering with GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME TWO (please see included extras HERE). Because they’re so lofty this time around, we’re gonna’ give you a play by play of everything we’re offering up this go-around for your viewing and purchasing displeasure!
TWO STICKERS
With every purchase of GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME TWO (COVERS A or B), readers will receive a Rough House Publishing sticker and a GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS promotional sticker with at by THE GURCH!
FULL COLOR DOUBLE-SIDED CENTERFOLD POSTER
With every purchase of GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME TWO (COVERS A or B), readers will receive a Double-Sided Centerfold poster, suitable for display and/or framing. One side features art from DEREK ROOK from the story “ROTTEN APPLE” and the other side provided by THE GURCH!
THE MANIAC BANSHEES DEBUT 11 SONG CD
Brother Marlon and Dante Motta served as Associate Producers for the original crowd-funded version of Gore Shriek® Resurrectus Volume One back in 2016. Together they are the horror metal outfit, MANIAC BANSHEES, and their music was heavily inspired by the horrors provided by GORE SHRIEK®! As a super special limited edition extra, we are including this Full-Length debut Compact Disc with every purchase of GURCH COVER A! CD artwork by DEREK ROOK! Limited to 250 copies!
THE GURCH POSTCARD
THE GURCH wants to keep in touch with you! So he’s gone ahead and drawn up this handy double –sided “faux advert” Post Card so you can pen pal your new goul friends from coast to bloody coast! This will be included with every purchase of GURCH COVER A! Limited to 250 copies!
THE VOMIT BUSTER™ GORE SHRIEK® BARF BAG
This medial grade barf bag is made to withstand your weak ass stomach and the vomit inducing stories we have offered up to our readership! Love us or hate us, this “VOMIT BUSTER™” will serve both purposes! Available with GURCH COVER B! Limited to 750 copies!
THE 12-PAGE GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS TWO ½ ASHCAN
This digest sized ashcan contains two added GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS stories specifically for this volume! Not for sale or available in any other format. Artwork and stories provided by JEFF ZORNOW and ALEX HOEY! Available with GURCH COVER B! Limited to 750 copies!
THE INDECIA
GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME TWO is available for pre-sale NOW with shipping expected to begin mid-July! GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME ONE is available immediately, in limited volume while supplies last! ORDER YOURS HERE!
GET IN THE VAN, …SAMSON!
2019 marked a slew of new beginnings for the merry band of bastids known as ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING! With several new acquisitions and releases pending, we did manage to stop the van long enough to hit a truck stop bathroom, paid a Worcester hooker to get bent, …and brought on a new permanent member of the ROUGH HOUSE ARMY!
Join us in welcoming Rough House’s newest recruit, STEVE VAN SAMSON!
STEVE VAN SAMPSON - ROUGH HOUSE’S NEWEST DEVIANT!
As the “scrappy take-no-prisoners publishing brand” (snicker) rolls into a new release this Spring and a Summer/Fall tour to follow, ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING is planning to kick the teeth out of the convention circuit and initiate some new roughian brethren along the way!!
2019 marked a slew of new beginnings, starting with a re-brand of our company so soft, that most roughians didn’t even feel it on their leathered, battle-worn skins. While we were at it, we relaunched our GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS line as an ongoing series to amazing success and have been working on several new projects concurrently that we are fighting against the chain to share with the “Rough and the Curious”! With several new acquisitions and releases pending, we did manage to stop the van long enough to hit a truck stop bathroom, a seedy 3rd rate drive-thru, paid a Worcester hooker to get bent, …and brought on a new permanent member of the ROUGH HOUSE ARMY!
Join us in welcoming Rough House’s newest recruit, STEVE VAN SAMSON!
Steve met Derek Rook and Co. at last years, SCARE-A-CON New England Convention as their booths (The New England Horror Writers and Rough House Publishing, respectively) were forced to stare each other down as the likes of Tom Savini, Jason Lively and Dee Snider perused back and forth between the two. Steve, being the friendlier of the two, took a break from selling himself and his team of writers long enough to drop by and introduce himself.
Man, did he pick the WRONG TABLE!!!!!!
Little did Van Samson know that Rook was searching for a new member of the Rough House team on the sly, ….a Swiss Army Knife of a roughian, who when told we were going out to pummel some major ass under heavy return fire without the benefit of a safety net, would reply simply by asking, “Who’s car we takin’?!”
Rough House Publishing’s Owner/Artist, Derek Rook had this to say regarding his eventual decision to bring on a new team member to the coveted Rough House role, that over time he’d become extremely protective of. Said Rook of what led to his talent search:
“Rough House Publishing, LLC was originally a label I created to “shelter” my creator-owned material back when I returned from comic book retirement back in 2010. My original plan was to keep it small, manageable and largely just mine, but as luck would have it - no good deed went unpunished.” Rook said half-jokingly about the extreme highs and lows of the Comic Book and/or Entertainment industry.
With time, the idea naturally evolved with the inclusion of partners Mike “Corpse Monger” Wasion and Rook’s then girlfriend, Sarah Michelle. “There was a point when the amount of work exceeded the talent we had available and I found myself being pulled away from the drawing table more often than I was comfortable with. I was succeeding at being everything except a full time artist, which was my whole reason for existing in this industry. Something had to change.”
Over the months that followed the con, Van Samson and Rook took a few meetings and before long, groundwork was being forged for Steve to join the Rough House crew.
Steve’s one of us, people, but don’t take it from us! Here’s Steve Van Samson himself on Van Samson, giving you a little free Intel on all things Van Samson:
“Steve Van Samson is a graphic designer, artist and author of the vampires in Africa books "The Bone Eater King" and "Marrow Dust". His writing tends to be on the pulpy side--intermingling genres like horror with dark fantasy and adventure. He believes that character is king and there should always be little seeds planted between the lines, that the reader will only discover in subsequent readings.
THE PREDATOR WORLD SERIES (BY STEVE VAN SAMPSON)
THE FINAL SUMMONS (2019)
In 2019, Steve's short story "The Terror of London" appeared in "The Final Summons" by the New England Speculative Writers. In addition the forthcoming anthology "Wicked Weird" by the New England Horror Writers, will feature another of his short stories, "A Feast of Flies". His long running column Monochrome Manor (new reviews of really old movies) appeared monthly on the now defunct movie review site Cinema Knife Fight which was run by acclaimed horror author, L. L. Soars.
Steve is also the singer of the classic heavy metal band "Enchanted Exile" (who released their second album "Bloodwork Scriptorium" in 2018) and is a founding member of the nostalgia podcast "Retro Ridoctopus". He lives in Lancaster, Massachusetts with three amazing girls and one smallish dragon.”
Steve will be immediately contributing his design and layout skills to existing and future projects, some of which you will see right here on this website. He’ll also be a large part of out sales and promotional campaigns in print and social media going forward, with some major writing projects being announced later this year. No official title has been given to his particular skill sets at this time but it’s certain that he and the rest of the Rough House clan will be hard at work, making sure you have plenty of “tangible awesome” to sink your teeth into within the next year.
“Now has NEVER been a better time to take a trip with us down the Rough House Road”, Rook threatens to the roughian public at large. “If you dug what we were up to out of the gate, you’re going to go crazy for what comes next!”
So pack your Tijuana Bibles, down a handful of Xanax (only as prescribed by an actor posing as your preferred medical professional) get your 90’s combat boots on and…
GET IN THE VAN!
A RESURRECTION IN GORE!
ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING announces GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS, the ongoing series which promises a return to the “Fangoria Age” of America’s most infamous horror comic book property! Each issue will be limited to 1000 copies and are expected to be devoured as fast as they are printed. And once gone, they are gone! The Resurrectus series is all about the future of the series, while honoring it’s past and the creators who made it all possible.
ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING announces GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS, THE ONGOING SERIES which promises a return to the “Fangoria Age” of America’s most infamous horror comic book property!
Originally released in 2016 as a 30th Anniversary issue of the title, Gore Shriek® Resurrectus Volume One was specifically printed, packaged and released to the ravenous Gore Shriek® fans who participated in a crowdfunded campaign to resurrect the title after almost 25 years of dormancy. For the chosen few, it was a welcome return to form, but many others were left Shrieking for more due to an extremely limited print run (less than 300 copies) which now are considered highly collectible.
DRAWING FROM THE PAST
GORE SHRIEK Vol. 1 #4 52PP RELEASED 1988.
For the uninitiated, GORE SHRIEK® was originally published back in 1986 and with its trademarked cautionary banner, “WARNING: Contains disturbing material and is not intended for children!”, knocked the independent comic book circuit on its severed head with a contemporary, splatterpunk horror anthology that kept teens bloodthirsty for more and sent parents reeling in collective disgust. GORE SHRIEK® was also responsible for breaking artists like BRUCE SPAULDING FULLER (Hollywood FX Artist) and GREG CAPULLO (Batman) with heavy contributions from legendary artists, STEPHEN R. BISSETTE (Swamp Thing) and the late, great CHAS BALUN (Deep Red) before ending its run in 1991.
Now in 2019, all incantations will be answered when ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING releases the officially licensed, GORE SHREIK® RESURRECTUS ongoing series, beginning with a newly minted VOLUME ONE complete with brand new extras to boot! Each issue will be limited to 1000 copies and are expected to be devoured as fast as they are printed. And once gone, they are gone! The Resurrectus series is all about the future of the series, while honoring it’s past and the creators who made it all possible. While the old issues that fans remember are still out there to be sought after, Rough House Publishing is more interested in adding to Gore Shriek’s incredible legacy!
“Once again, the fans have spoken!” states comic book artist and Rough House CEO, DEREK ROOK, who reassures that, “No one’s going to bed hungry with all the Gore Shriek® goodness we have in store! Between what we and Tom have cooking, it will be a Gore Shriek® smorgasbord of gory-gluttony for everyone! The fans are in for a real treat.”
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: GORE SHRIEK CHRONICLES (2017); GORE SHRIEK DELECTUS II (2019)
And by “Tom”, Rook is referring to FantaCo Enterprises and series Creator, TOM SKULAN, who in addition to licensing the main Gore Shriek® series to Rough House, is producing his own Gore Shriek® Special Editions, beginning with last year’s GORE SHRIEK® CHRONICLES and following up with GORE SHRIEK®DELECTUS 2 in 2019. Both can be purchased at the official FanaCo Enterprises website, WWW.FANTACO.NET.
A SHRIEK INTO THE FUTURE
And keeping with the “Resurrection” theme of GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS, VOLUME TWO and THREE are also slated for a 2019 release and will feature the “back from the grave and ready to party” return of fan favorite Gore Shriek® artist, …THE GURCH!!!!! Gurch is 100% on board for Volume Two and far beyond!
GORE SHRIEK®RESURRECTUS VOLUME ONE is the premiere issue of the ongoing series and available in three separate, highly collectible front covers by original Gore Shriek® artist, BRUCE SPAULDING FULLER, PUTRID MATT CARR (Deep Red) and DEREK ROOK (Lucio Fulci’s Gates of Hell). Volume One is a 48-page premium “Silver Age” cover-to-cover splatterfest, featuring additional artwork from ERIC ROT(Deep Red), MARK BLOODWORTH (Deadworld), JEFF ZORNOW (Godzilla), MICHAEL BROOM (Lucio Fulci’s Zombie) and AUSTEN MENGLER (Black As Your Soul – NIN) with MIKE “CORPSE MONGER” WASION (The Dead Omnibus) and STEF HUTCHINSON (Halloween - Nightdance) writing their way directly into your worst (or best) nightmares!
GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME ONE will also be shipped with these awesome extras:
A Full Color, Double Sided 10” x 13.5” Centerfold Poster.
A Collectible Lobby Card (Three Different Designs; One per cover design).
A Double-Sided, Signed and Numbered Slipcard.
2 Commemorative Stickers.
2019 will be a GORE SHRIEK fans, bloody wet dream that you don’t want to miss!
What makes GORE SHRIEK different from the lot of horror anthologies that have paved the way before lies within its own unapologetic commitment to be what it is. It doesn’t rely on the old mcGuffin that the malevolent of this world will be punished, even if by forces much darker than themselves. It doesn’t wink at it’s audience to remind them that it’s only a comic book. GORE SHRIEK doesn’t play by the rules, and as a result, no one is safe. One minute it can have you laughing, the next it could be ripping your heart out so you can see it better. GORE SHRIEK RESURRECTUS is the real deal and the one promise it guarantees is that you WILL always SHRIEK and SHRIEK again!!
PRE-ORDERS for GORE SHRIEK® RESURRECTUS VOLUME ONE begin
FRIDAY JANUARY 11th 2019. 7PM EST.
EXCLUSIVELY AT: WWW.ROUGHHOUSEPUBLISHING.COM
WE'RE AN EQUAL OPPORTUNIST EXPLOITER!
Hide anything that’s not stuck to the seat, fight your sex surrogate back into the dumpster and cancel your subscription to “BEAUTIFUL WORCESTER” because America’s favorite EQUAL OPPORTUNIST EXPLOITER has finally made its way to the interwebs, … ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING is in the, um, …house. Heh.
THE FIRST ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING LOGO SKETCH. DECEMBER 2011. BRICK & MORTAR INCARNATE!
Hide anything that’s not stuck to the seat because America’s favorite EQUAL OPPORTUNIST EXPLOITER has finally made its way to the interwebs, … ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING is in the, um, …HOUSE. Heh. You’d better up your antivirus software now because when we’re done with you, you’ll be highly entertained, semi corrupted and probably dead broke. We have a tendency to become addictive when indulged.
Read on!
SAY GOODNIGHT TO THE WORLD!
ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING is a brick and mortar, do-it-yourself production company of “Not-So-Funny Books, Music & Pulp Media”, launched in 2011 by Comic Book artist DEREK ROOK. Here we invite you to kick off yer stinkers and make yourself at home. And while you’re here, ...blast our ORIGINAL MUSIC, read our NEWS, watch our VIDEOS, listen to PODCASTS, keep up on our CONVENTION APPEARANCES and purchase all the ROUGH HOUSE BOOKS, PRINTS, ORIGINAL ARTWORK and all other SURPRISES you can get your dirty little digits on. Interlope at will!
PASS THE GUN AROUND!
So who are these bastids, and why should we care?
Welp, ...DEREK ROOK was born and raised on comic books, 70’s exploitation films and has been working as a professional artist since 1997. He’s either slashed pencil marks, strewn ink or published (in no particular order) for such notable intellectual properties such as THE OMINOUS REPULSIVES, ZOMBIE, GATES OF HELL, PHANTASM and HALLOWEEN and has a side hustle delivering vigilante justice in his hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts.
After an eight year hiatus, ROOK launched his new publishing label, ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING, with fellow pariah and former FANGORIA writer and HORRORHOUND contributor, MIKE “CORPSE MONGER” WASION after both did a short but memorable stint with CALIBER COMICS Publisher GARY REED providing art for his newest title, VOICES FROM THE DEADWORLD.
To round off this rogue trio of comic book outlaws, was the “SO MUCH MORE THAN THE GIRL NEXT DOOR” Model/Actress SARAH MICHELLE, who's sales and promotional prowess made even the most stingy of convention mainstays stand up and scream, "TAKE MY MONEY!”
And speaking of money, ROUGH HOUSE began it’s mighty crusade literally with none. Not a dime. Not one penny. (Even this website that you gaze your filthy stare upon was made from scratch, in house, without any outside assistance or prior knowledge on how to build the fucking thing … in short, we winged it!)
With their first acquisitions, ROUGH HOUSE utilized social media and crowd funding crusades and knocked down the doors of every magazine, website or podcast that would help spread the word, making their first publications rare gems.
Each project was produced with a very organic DO-IT-YOUR-EFFIN-SELF type of business model, effectively demonstrating to fellow artists, writers and creators, a new approach to comic book entrepreneurship.
And like with any other punk rock outfit, they got in the proverbial van and made their way down the ROUGH HOUSE ROAD! Parts Unknown.
LOOKS THAT KILL CALENDAR 2014.
2012 provided a warm up gig for the newly formed breach birthed, self-publishing entity, when ROUGH HOUSE teamed up with independent film studio, FAT FOOT FILMS and PICK YOUR POISON, to produce a uniquely disturbing, psycho-erotic all demonic pin-up girl calendar, appropriately titled, LOOKS THAT KILL, which regardless of the day, month or year, has been the bludgeoning gift that keeps on giving for many collectible fans worldwide! Don’t believe us? Check out the accompanying video produced by FAT FOOT FILMS, entitled “BEFORE YOU DIE”, performed by the lunatic progressive, metal band, HELLITOSIS, and featuring many of the deadly calendar beauties in all their go, go, gory action glory! CLICK BELOW and don't get any on ya!
FRONT COVER THE DEAD-OMNIBUS
In 2015, ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING released their first official title, THE DEAD-OMNIBUS, a GIANT 296 page epic graphic novel, deemed by fans and detractors as THE MOST VIOLENT ZOMBIE COMIC BOOK EVER MADE! THE DEAD-OMNIBUS was a compilation of 8 issues of the critically infamous comic book series, THE DEAD, originally published through ARROW COMICS back in 1993, by series creators RALPH GRIFFITH and STUART KERR (of DEADWORLD fame). It remains ROUGH HOUSE's most ambitious and sought after release after quickly selling out of its initial print run.
And that was just the beginning!
Hot off the release of THE DEAD-OMNIBUS, ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING continued its resurrection brigade of old indie comic books with the notorious 80's horror anthology series, GORE SHRIEK, with a 48-page brand new volume appropriately titled, GORE SHRIEK RESURRECTUS, released in 2016 under license of original series creator and FANTACO ENTERPRISES founder, TOM SKULAN! This eviscerated volume would eventually kick off a NEW ONGOING SERIES of the same name, with all new stories, all new (and some returning) artists with the same splatterpunk feel that made the series famous over its 30 year print run.
The one/two punch of 80’s comic book revivals has compelled the ROUGH HOUSE to open up the attic and sic the rest of the creator-owned bats onto an unsuspecting public! All of which you will see blacken the sky in the very near future! Sorta.
ROUGH HOUSE IS IN YOUR FIST!
ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING is a different kind of comic book company …mainly because we’re not just comic books. We make "TANGIBLE AWESOME", in all shapes, sizes, genres and formats. Every one of our products will have its own unique look and feel and will fit grudgingly under your basement mattress (dead hooker’s aside) or up on the top shelf, pressed between a stolen hotel bible and your copy of “What Your Poo is Telling You.”
ROUGH HOUSE PUBLISHING PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT! …ALL FOUR FEET OF IT.
Most of all, we want to show everyone that in an age where all forms of of artistic expression have become increasingly devalued, defunct, defiled and ultimately digitized and downloaded for free, ... WE came out of the rubble to remind everyone that when the rubber hits the road, ...NOTHING beats that hard to find, limited edition collectible, made by fans, for the fans, ...or more appropriately...
For the ROUGHIANS!