The latest collaboration from novelist and comics writer Alisa Kwitney (The Sandman Presents, G.I.L.T.) and artist Mauricet (Star Wars Adventures, G.I.L.T.) is HOWL, a witty bohemian sci-fi that can best be described as Mrs. Maisel meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The five-issue series is set in Greenwich Village in the late ‘50s, home of poets, artists, musicians, sci-fi writers, their put-upon partners — and the extraterrestrial spores that are secretly taking them over. HOWL is the latest series from AHOY Comics, the Syracuse-based independent publisher known for its acclaimed creators, witty satires, and commitment to risk-taking storytelling. Issue #1 will feature an A cover by Mauricet as well as a B cover by renowned illustrator and painter Bill Koeb and land in stores on January 15, 2025.
“I wrote this series for anyone who loved the 1959 Roger Corman movie Bucket of Blood and thought, When is someone going to do a feminist version of the ‘frustrated beatniks on a rampage’ trope?” said writer Alisa Kwitney. “This may be my most personal work yet, as it is loosely based on my mother’s stories and letters about the period when she lived in the Village with my father, the science fiction writer Robert Sheckley (former Omni editor, author of The Tenth Victim and unacknowledged influence on Douglas Adams). Mixed in with all this family lore is my lifelong love of pod-people stories, especially all versions of Body Snatchers, Starman and The Thing.”
In most of late 1950s America, Senator McCarthy is hunting down communists and teenagers are making out at the drive-in while B-movies warn about flying saucers and alien invasions — but in the bohemian Greenwich Village, it’s a different story. It is there, amongst the turtlenecked, sandal-wearing, reefer-smoking free-thinkers, intellectuals and artists, that we find the members of Scylla, a boys’ club of brilliant science fiction writers and editors. Yet even as these futurists sip their cocktails and spin tales of life on other planets, they do not suspect that the real aliens are already here among us, planting the seeds — or rather, the spores — of their empire.
Aliens are the last thing on 23-year-old beatnik and proto-feminist Ziva Rodblatt’s mind — she’s too busy trying to keep her mother from discovering that she is living out of wedlock with her boyfriend. But when said boyfriend falls under the sway of celebrity therapist Myrtle Morel, she begins to grow suspicious. Why is Bert sneaking out before dawn to meet with strangers? Why does he have a sudden taste for cream of mushroom soup? And Ziva is not the only one who believes that she is living with someone who looks familiar, but is unmistakably and disturbingly different. All of a sudden, there seem to be a lot of writers, artists and musicians falling under Myrtle’s spell. But what can one feisty college-drop-out do to fend off the alien invasion?
“This is not my first collaboration with Alisa, but it’s certainly our most accomplished and ambitious work so far,” said artist Mauricet. “As an artist, I love to be dragged out of my comfort zone and be challenged — but boy, was I in for a real adventure here! Trying to be accurate and nail this weird time period between 1950s conservatism and the beginning of the swinging 60s without falling into clichés was really something. HOWL is science fiction horror, a genre I wasn’t at ease with at first — but Alisa convinced me I was capable and turns out she was right. I do have this genre in me and, without even knowing it, my main influence was probably John Carpenter’s The Thing. How convenient, as you’ll see if you give our book a try!”
“The Fifties have this reputation, probably from sitcoms, as staid, conformist, prosperous — oh, man, it’s definitely from sitcoms, because you couldn’t write Naked Lunch in the Leave It to Beaver house,” says editor Tom Peyer. “In HOWL, Kwitney and Mauricet reveal the essential truth about this fascinating time: that it was as much a bubbling cauldron of change and fear and danger and weirdness as any other moment in American history.”
“You might say I’ve repurposed the ‘alien hidden among us’ trope to reflect my own concerns,” added Kwitney. “Back in the fifties, the prevalent fear was of a fifth column of nefarious outsiders pretending to be one of us. After spending years dealing with a family member’s dementia, I wanted to explore the psychological horror that comes from watching someone change so profoundly that they seem like a stranger. Since I can’t take horror straight up, I like to serve it with humor — the jello shot method.”
“This series sums up without a doubt for me the beauty and magic of what a real collaboration should always be,” added Mauricet. “Alisa and I — we ‘click!’ It all seems like a dance where each of the dancers knows the steps the other one is going to take. And working together under the AHOY banner again makes me feel like this is the best part of my 30-something years long career so far. I hope you as a reader will enjoy the ride too. I sure do.”
HOWL will be published by AHOY Comics, the independent publisher perhaps best known for SECOND COMING, a controversial satire by Mark Russell, Richard Pace and Leonard Kirk in which Jesus Christ resumes his holy mission; JUSTICE WARRIORS, the acclaimed political satire by Matt Bors and Ben Clarkson; and BABS, the profane sword-and-sorcery satire by Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows. The company is the brainchild of journalist and satirist Hart Seely (publisher), an award-winning reporter whose humor and satire has appeared in The New York Times and on National Public Radio; comics writer Tom Peyer (editor-in-chief); and cartoonist Frank Cammuso (chief creative officer). AHOY Comics launched five years ago with four acclaimed comic book magazine titles featuring full length comic book stories, poetry, prose fiction, and cartoons.
HOWL #1 will be on sale in comic shops everywhere on January 15, 2025.
Author Profile
- I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!
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