Freakshow #1 cover art by Stephen Mooney and Stephen Thompson (2004)
Freakshow is an Americana-focused supernatural detective comic written by Rob Curley and published by Atomic Diner. A one-off, pencilled by Terry Kenny and inked by Lisa Jackson and Len O'Grady, was published in 2003. The series proper was published in two volumes, the first consisting of 15 issues drawn by Stephen Mooney and Stephen Thompson published between November 2004 and July 2006, and collected in three trade paperbacks, the second so far consisting of two 60-page issues, drawn by Declan Shalvey and published in 2007 and 2009. There has also been a full-colour one-shot special, drawn by Bob Byrne, published in 2007.
Freakshow begins in Los Angeles in the 1950s, as gay former police detective Jack Dixon and scandal-magnet former Hollywood actress Susan White set up as private detectives, soon joined by young wannabe actress Elizabeth Grange and New York rich kid Myles Weishaupt. They soon move to New York, where they operate from a house provided by a wealthy client, which is haunted by the ghost of one of Myles' childhood friends, James Demolay, who holds Myles responsible for his lynching by racists. The realistic, hardboiled art style of the series belies the bizarre cases they investigate, including a mad Russian inventor who causes mayhem at the Oscars using mass hypnosis, a house-burglar who uses a magic watch that stops time, and a werewolf circus performer. The "Scooby-Doo"-ness of the series is played up in the special, entitled "Rage Against the Mystery Machine".
External links[]
Press[]
- 2003 issue 1 reviewed at Small Scrutinies
- 2004 issue 1 reviewed at Mania
- Review at Step Up To The Mike
- Review at DowntheTubes
Online reference[]
Freakshow at the Comic Book DB
