House Of Horrors #1 Interviewed

Writing Team For Gene Simmons House Of Horrors #1 Interviewed





Jennifer M. Contino from The Pulse spoke with Leah Moore and John Reppion, the headlining writing team for Gene Simmons House of Horrors #1. An excerpt from the story is as follows:

John Reppion and Leah Moore have been getting not just their feet, but most of their legs wet in the horror genre this past year. Now the two are working on one of the Gene Simmons' Comics Group tales in his House of Horrors volume. They told us what it was like working with Jeff Zornow on their "Into The Woods" tale.

The Pulse: How did the two of you become a part of the new Gene Simmons projects?

John Reppion: "We were approached by Tom Waltz on behalf of Gene and IDW to see if we wanted to get involved with the flagship title for Simmons Comics Group, the horror anthology called Gene Simmons House of Horrors. We wrote up some rough ideas for a story and passed them on. Tom, Chris Ryall and Gene approved the ideas and we went from there."

The Pulse: When you were first getting into the comics industry, did you think you'd be doing so much in the horror genre or is this just how things have played out?

Leah Moore: "It’s come as a big surprise to be honest, once we had done Wild Girl and Albion, we were wondering what we’d like to do next and we kept saying to each other how cool it would be to do a horror comic. It’s a case of be careful what you wish for really as now we’re doing loads of horror comics! Its great fun though, Jeff Zornow has been an angel to work with (albeit a blood obsessed death murder and maiming angel) and he has translated our script into some of the craziest pages of comic I’ve seen in a while. Its not often we write something that actually makes us go 'eurrgh!' when we open the comic but Jeff has surpassed himself and made us feel quite ill."

The Pulse: What is it about this genre that attracts the creative side of you both?

John Reppion: "Well, I'm a big fan of horror anyway and we tried to do this as EC as possible. Getting Jeff as our artist was a real coup and we knew he'd handle the blood and guts of the whole thing in glorious detail so we just had fun with it really; trying to be as insane and nasty as we could."

The Pulse: Since you signed on to work on Gene Simmons House of Horrors, have you had the chance to talk to Gene Simmons and get his input or has most of your communications been with IDW Publishing?

Leah Moore: "We’ve only spoken through IDW, but we heard he really liked the story and was happy to put it as the headliner on the first issue, which is a huge boost for us. We’re really pleased to be involved with the project, and we think it’ll do really well for Mr Simmons."

The Pulse: So jus what is Gene Simmons House of Horrors? I'm guessing it's not his house after the maid's been missing for a few weeks

John Reppion: "Basically, it's Gene Simmons playing Crypt Keeper to a good old fashioned horror anthology in the vein of Eerie, Tales from the Crypt and all that. Along side ourselves there are stories from the likes of Dwight L. MacPherson (Dead Men Tell No Tales), Sean Taylor (Fishnet Angel), Tom Waltz (Children of the Grave) and Chris Ryall (Zombies vs. Robots) as well as Gene's son Nick. Add to that a Todd MacFarlane cover and you've got a winner surely?"

Read more here.

Update: GENE SIMMONS House Of Horrors Launches In July From IDW; New Stills Available

In July 2007, rock legend GENE SIMMONS takes the stage in an all-new capacity—as the mysterious master of ceremonies for his own quarterly horror anthology, Gene Simmons House Of Horrors, which kicks off with a deliriously gruesome cover image by the legendary creator of Spawn, Todd McFarlane, based on an idea by Simmons.

As the flagship title for the newly-formed IDW Publishing imprint, Simmons Comics Group, Gene Simmons House Of Horrors promises to bring readers the best in horror, fantasy and science fiction over all 64 full-color pages.

The anthology will feature intro and outro pages illustrated by Matt Busch and written by The Demon himself, as well as a short prose story by Nick Simmons - Gene’s son, budding co-star on Gene Simmons Family Jewels, the top-rated A&E reality show, and the creator of the upcoming IDW comic Skullduggery. Top that off with five short horror stories by some of the hottest new talent in comics today and wrap it in the terrifying cover image by Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo, and you’ve got all the makings of a deliciously scary treat.

“I had always loved the Twilight Zone. I never missed an episode,” says Gene Simmons. “I read Amazing Stories and Analog. In short, I loved the anthology horror/sci-fi canvas and wanted to re-introduce the format into comic books. [Gene Simmons House of Horrors] is a chance to showcase the best in professional talent, and to introduce new talent, as well. Each story will be written and drawn independently, with wraparound commentaries by myself. The fact that I'm powerful and attractive will only add to the stunning effect of the stories.”

Stories featured in the debut issue of Gene Simmons House Of Horrors include:

“Into The Woods,” written by Leah Moore & John Reppion (Raise the Dead) and illustrated by Jeff Zornow (American Werewolf).

“Into The Woods” is somewhere between Midwitch Cuckoos and Grimm’s Fairytales. A teenage pyromaniac with mismatched eyes who destroys her village but doesn’t know why. We follow the girl as she seemingly condemns herself and her neighbors to a gruesome death. We see wild animals and the forest itself turn on the hapless peasants as they fight for their lives. This is what might happen if Hansel and Gretel stumbled into The Evil Dead... they might need more than breadcrumbs this time.

“Circle Seven,” written by Chris Ryall (Zombies Vs. Robots) and illustrated by Steph Stamb (Angel: Masks)

Dack is a new recruit to the Eternal Punishment Border Patrol, but he's got too much to prove to let simple inexperience slow him down. So he's set to be the Neil Armstrong of his generation, only instead of going up, he's headed down—into the newly discovered gateway to Hell. He's sent there alone, because you can't trust a partner once you enter the Stygian depths. There have been doomsday cries of big plans being made in the worst area of Hell, Circle Seven, and Dack's job is to see if a human being can successfully enter—and exit—Hell, and, most importantly, stop Hell from spilling into the real world.

“Crude,” written by Tom Waltz (Children of the Grave) and illustrated by Esteve Polls (Mega-City Noir)

In 1991, Desert Storm rages in the Kuwaiti Desert. Iraqi forces, in a desperate attempt to delay the overwhelming Coalition onslaught and turn world opinion against the campaign for liberation, ignite many of Kuwait's oil wells, creating an unprecedented environmental catastrophe in the region. As the Coalition attack surges forward, pushing the Iraqi defenders back into their own country, an elite Delta Force team is sent in to investigate the damage done to the oil wells by the blazing, pollution spewing fires. The team goes in with six men, but only one man returns. Something massacred the Delta Force soldiers during the recon mission, and it wasn't enemy soldiers. No, it was something far more sinister, vicious and inhuman. It was something straight out of the depths of the earth itself.

“The Basement,” by Dwight L. MacPherson (Dead Men Tell No Tales) and illustrated by Grant Bond (Revere)

When Agnes Beecham's 9-year-old daughter Rosa began telling fantastic stories about a visitor from another planet living in the basement, she dismissed them as childhood oneirism. One day, however, Rosa's father Michael decided to step into the basement to investigate and returned a vegetable. The doctors told Agnes her husband had suffered a stroke, but Rosa knew it was the man in the basement who made her father a helpless invalid. In the days that followed the incident, Rosa began drawing pictures of strange flying objects and telling her mother the man in the basement wished to take her to his home -- and then she mentioned the name Aleister Crowley.

“Nymph,” by Sean Taylor (Fishnet Angel) and illustrated by Jon Alderink (City of Fire)

Jane is an eco-happy entymologist married to Dave, a commercial contractor who builds strip malls and parking decks. While celebrating their seventh wedding anniversary on a picnic in the mountains, Dave goes missing after an argument about his work. Jane looks for him, only to find him already consumed by the trees and herself the prey of a blood-thirsty tree nymph.

Gene Simmons House of Horrors #1 will be available in July and is available for pre-order now. Diamond Order code MAY07 3563.

Further stills can be seen at this location.

GENE SIMMONS House Of Horrors - Comic Book Anthology's Grand Opening

comic Book Resources has issued the following report:

In July 2007, rock legend GENE SIMMONS takes the stage in an all-new capacity - as the mysterious master of ceremonies for his own quarterly horror anthology, Gene Simmons House Of Horrors, which kicks off with a deliriously gruesome cover image by the legendary creator of Spawn, Todd McFarlane, based on an idea by Simmons.

As the flagship title for the newly-formed IDW Publishing imprint, Simmons Comics Group, Gene Simmons House Of Horrors promises to bring readers the best in horror, fantasy and science fiction over all 64 full-color pages.

The anthology will feature intro and outro pages illustrated by Matt Busch and written by The Demon himself, as well as a short prose story by Nick Simmons - Gene's son, budding co-star on Gene Simmons Family Jewels, the top-rated A&E reality show, and the creator of the upcoming IDW comic Skullduggery. Top that off with five short horror stories by some of the hottest new talent in comics today and wrap it in the terrifying cover image by Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo, and you've got all the makings of a deliciously scary treat.

“I had always loved the Twilight Zone. I never missed an episode,” says Gene Simmons. “I read Amazing Stories and Analog. In short, I loved the anthology horror/sci-fi canvas and wanted to re-introduce the format into comic books. [Gene Simmons House of Horrors] is a chance to showcase the best in professional talent, and to introduce new talent, as well. Each story will be written and drawn independently, with wraparound commentaries by myself. The fact that I'm powerful and attractive will only add to the stunning effect of the stories.”

Read the full report here.

GENE SIMMONS House Of Horrors #1 Debuts


KISS legend GENE SIMMONS has issued the following update:

"I am holding in my sweaty hands, the debut of our Simmons Comics Group and in particular, our first title: GENE SIMMONS House Of Horrors #1. Our friends and partners at IDW PUB, Chris Ryall, Ted Adams and Thomas Waltz really delivered the goods. Great writers/artists and terrific layout. Young Nick Simmons has his first published work, The Child. We will debut GS House of Horrors and our other titles: Zipper, Dominatrix and Indy - Race Of The Galaxies, as well as Nick's self written/self drawn Skullduggery (IDW Pub) at Comicon in San Diego on July 27th and 28th. We will also bring our Gene Simmons Family Jewels TV crew to film the festivities. If you're there, come on over and get your mug on TV. We'd love to see you. Meantime, (though we're still setting it up), if you want to learn more, including how you can subscribe and/or send emails, you can always use our Simmons Comics Group link."