Every month, Dark Horse Comics gives readers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a comic or book in the Horsepower column which appears in each of our printed comics issues for the month. These articles can include the inspiration behind a specific title, what it's like to work in the comics industry, or some other special feature on the highlighted title of the month. In this month's Horsepower, Greg Lockard gives readers a look into Monsters in Love: A Pride Anthology:
Joy is an act of resistance. And we need as much love and joy as possible these days!
Monsters In Love: A Pride Anthology #1 is ten stories of love and joy and . . . everything (plus a bookend tale from The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos team—Tate Brombal, Isaac Goodhart, Miquel Muerto, and Aditya Bidikar— that ties the worlds together once and for all). I’m so ridiculously proud of the work all these creators have done in this anthology and so excited for all of you to share in these worlds!
Monsters In Love is a series of short stories combining our favorite monster types (werewolves, vampires, witches, ghosts, et al) within the most romantic of romance genre stories by the most fabulous and thrilling comic-book creators:
Sina Grace writes and illustrates an epic relationship between a phoenix and an alchemist in a story that disproves the notion “Nothing lasts forever . . .”
Lilah Sturges and Vash Taylor are very unkind to some naughty vampires but show a sisterhood that is produced in the face of all the undead antics.
Josh Trujillo and Ed Luce discover a summery acid romantic meltdown on Fire Island as the tide brings in the worst . . . or is that “the BEST”?
Lee Ostertag proposes a Faustian bargain that doesn’t stop at three wishes, leading the way to an infinite exploration of love and self.
Jadzia Axelrod and Bailie Rosenlund show us how finding your true self is a very certain type of magic, and the line between friends and lovers can evaporate as a result.
Vita Ayala and Claudia Aguirre create a delightful first date and a map to the starshine for their monsters in the woods.
Jacoby Salcedo shows us a dreamy situationship that transcends jealousy with humorous
aplomb and brilliant dreamland visuals.
Kenny Wroten writes and draws a spellbinding tale of the trauma that can haunt deep to the core of your love.
Zoe Tunnell and Tench tell a tale of a first date with a dragon and the humorous dangers of
those early-in-the-game anxieties.
James Tynion IV and Noah Dao collaborate for the first time on a slow-burn sexy tease that gets the blood pumping and crosses thresholds of desire.
And Aditya Bidikar agreed they could letter EVERY Monsters in Love short story in this anthology (as they have for all previous Monsters in Love tales), and you will marvel at all the different styles utilized across all eleven pieces in this book!
This anthology is pure joy from start to finish. I hope you can share that energy with us this month, and that everyone can experience the tingle across your skin and electricity in your heart and the fluttering in your stomach as you read.
—Greg Lockard, Tiny Onion Editor
Monsters in Love: A Pride Anthology is now available wherever comics are sold!