Horror comics, more than any other genre, have challenged mainstream society's perception that comic books were only ever intended for children.
The first outcry against horror comics was heard in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, after publishers deluged the market with outrageously grisly titles that proved popular with readers who had grown bored with the superheroes that once dominated the industry.
Teachers, parental groups and religious leaders, firstly in America and, to a lesser degree, in Britain, mounted an unprecedented pressure campaign which, by the mid-1950s, drove horror comics off the newsstands. It also forced the American comics industry to impose a rigid code of self-censorship (The Comics Code Authority), which held sway for nearly 20 years - and still exists, albeit in a neutered form, to this day.
Even though horror comics were sometimes cited by anti-comics advocates here in Australia during the 1950s and 60s, relatively few American horror comics were actually reprinted locally, or imported into the country, during this period.
Homegrown horror comics have also been relatively few and far between. The most notable, early examples, included Horwitz Publications' 1960s title, Tales of Mystery, and Gerald Carr's self-published, 'adults only' comics, Vampire! and Fire Fang, from the 1970s and 80s.
Easily the most controversial Australian horror comic ever published was Phantastique, which made its debut in 1985.
Although it had a short lifespan, Phantastique earned the loyal adoration of its fans, but provoked widespread public condemnation.
Showcasing the earliest work of such newcomers as Bodine Amerikah, Kurt Stone, Des Waterman and Steve Carter, Phantastique was an intensely visceral comic.
The comic drew inspiration from such diverse sources as Surrealist art, punk music, 1970s-era American 'underground comix' and the new wave of 'splatter' horror films, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Dawn of the Dead. Phantastique set out to deliberately shock and provoke its audience. Judging by the outcry that was to come, it succeeded all too well in achieving its aims.
As the recipient of a combined $5,000 grant/$20,000 loan from the Office of Small Business, Phantastique was swiftly condemned as a government-funded "torture comic". Not only was it denounced on Sydney talkback radio and attacked in the New South Wales Parliament, but it also drew fire from left-wing/feminist critics, who objected to Phantastique's unique brand of sexually-fuelled carnage.
Two issues (#3 & #4) were already banned from sale in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia by the time the fourth and final issue appeared in 1986.
Writer-illustrator Steve Carter was one of the creative driving forces behind the comic, whose lush but unsettling artwork evoked that of Graham Ingels, a popular American artist who'd worked on EC Comics' equally controversial line of horror comics in the early 1950s.
Undeterred by the public outcry against Phantastique, Steve Carter remained committed to pushing the artistic boundaries of horror comics. The debut issue of his first solo title, Charnel House, was sold through newsagencies in 1991 and was re-released in 1993. Yet despite being every bit as confronting as Phantastique, it went unnoticed by Australia's 'moral guardians' and was a modest commercial success.
Since the early 1990s, Carter has collaborated with fellow writer-artist Antoinette Rydyr in producing dozens of largely self-published, limited circulation horror/science-fiction comics, which allow them to give free reign to their uninhibited creative visions.
Ironically enough, especially in the wake of the Phantastique controversy, the duo have since claimed that women comprised 50% of their readership for these newer, self-published horror comics.
Their single-minded commitment to freedom of artistic expression has still seen them run afoul of authorities. Their sexually explicit mini-series, Spore Whores (published in America by Eros Comix) was banned from domestic sale by the Office of Film and Literature Classification, after copies were seized by the Australian Customs Service in the early 1990s.
Now, 20 years after Phantastique's disappearance, Carter and Rydyr (who sign their work jointly as 'SCAR') have relaunched this infamous title as a new, self-published comic called Fantastique.
The first issue, which, ironically enough, was funded by the Bankstown City Council's Arts/Cultural Grants Program, was published as a full-colour, limited edition magazine in September 2006. (A second, black & white issue was also published in October 2006.)
Fantastique No.1 features a selection of self-contained science-fiction/horror stories, most of which are set in post-apocalyptic worlds, where humans are pitted against primitive, and often sexually voracious, alien societies.
The 'SCAR' team has frequently adopted this theme of a truly combative 'battle of the sexes' in earlier series like Alien Eden, often invoking mythical creatures (harpies, centaurs) as the central protagonists.
The stories in Fantastique No.1 are a curious, yet compelling blend of B-grade 'space opera' and sword & sorcery genres, overlaid with a veneer of sometimes explicit violence.
While the scripts themselves may be somewhat disjointed in structure and didactic in style, the artwork in Fantastique No.1 is some of the best yet produced by 'SCAR', boasting some truly impressive hand-colouring by Antoinette Rydyr.
One only wishes that Carter and Rydyr would create longer storylines, with more complex central characters that would allow them (and their readers) to explore these recurring themes in a more sustained manner. Yet this short, truncated story format arguably gives readers greater scope to interpret the stories' subtext for themselves, than through lengthy exposition or wordy dialogue.
Despite these shortcomings, Fantastique No.1 is a remarkable new work from one of the few truly original collaborative partnerships currently working in Australian comics today.
Copies of Fantastique Nos. 1 & 2 can be ordered from Steve Carter's Comic Nasties, PO Box 312, Greenacre NSW 2190, or online.
This review originally appeared in the February 2007 edition of Collectormania magazine. Text © copyright 2007 Kevin Patrick.
