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| The Nightmare Factory | 
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| Authors: Joe Harris, Stuart Moore, Thomas Ligotti
Creators: Colleen Doran, Ben Templesmith
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $5.45
You Save: $12.54 (70%)
New (33) Used (24) from $4.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 115870
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 112
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 10 x 6.4 x 0.4
ISBN: 0061243531
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9780061243530
ASIN: 0061243531
Publication Date: September 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"A fractured mind is often the way into a world not suspected by those of an innocent normality." Enter the universe of renowned horror master Thomas Ligotti—a universe where clowns take part in a sinister winter festival, a scheming girlfriend makes reality itself come unraveled, a crumbling asylum's destruction unleashes a greater horror, and a mysterious Teatro comes and goes, leaving only shattered dreams in its wake. In the tradition of Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft, Ligotti's sophisticated tales of terror take us to places few would suspect exist, where madness is only a thought away. The Nightmare Factory adapts four of Ligotti's most chilling tales into fine graphic literature by famed writers and artists Stuart Moore, Joe Harris, Colleen Doran (The Sandman), Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night), Ted McKeever (Batman), and Michael Gaydos (Alias). Featuring all-new introductions to each story by Thomas Ligotti.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 FANTASTIC LIGOTTI ADAPTATIONS November 9, 2007
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Thomas Ligotti is really one of the best-kept secrets in the horror field. He's almost a throwback to supernatural writers of days gone by who could scare you without having to resort to blood & guts. Besides that, Ligotti is a fellow Detroiter and I've recently found we attended the same college, Wayne State University. He must be a great guy! Fox Atomic Comics has released an original graphic novel based on several of Ligotti's short stories featuring art by some of the best in the business: Ben Templesmith, Ted Mckeever, Michael Gaydos, and Colleen Doran. Ligotti's stories are adapted by writers Stuart Moore and Joe Harris and Ligotti provides and introduction to each of the four stories in this volume.
"The Last Feast of Harlequin" is a Lovecraft-inspired story very much in the same vein as "The Shadow Over Innsmouth". Here we have another strange old small town with creepy and rather unfriendly inhabitants who harbor a dark lineage. An anthropologist, who serves as the story's narrator, comes to the town of Mirocaw for their annual winter festival. The man has a rather unsettling fetish with clowns and wants to participate in the festivities by dressing in his own clown costume. He finds himself shunned by the townspeople despite his best efforts to fit in with the festivities. He'll soon find he has a dark connection to the others dressed in their bizarre clown make-up. Best story of the book by far I thought. Lovecraft influenced but with Ligotti's own flair and possibly a central character even more off balance than those love ol' Lovecraft.
"Dream of a Mannikin" features the best art in the book, courtesy of 30 Days of Night artist, Ben Templesmith. Weird dreams of manikins haunt the sleep of a therapist and his patient that soon have you questioning their sanity and their very existence. Templesmith is a genius in the use of colors and shading to evoke feelings and create an air of terror.
"Dr. Locrian's Asylum" is almost as good as "The Last Feast of Harlequin" as the curse of an old, abandoned mental hospital is released on the residents of a town when they finally tear down the old building. Horrifying images soon begin to appear throughout the town in windows where there should be no people. McKeever's caricaturist style is well-suited to the story. You get the feeling right from the beginning that there is something just not right about the town and McKeever manages to capture that sensation in his artwork.
Only the last story, "Teatro Grottesco" left me a little flat. This is an extremely odd take about the appearance of something called the Teatro and those artists that seek it out, or are themselves, sought out by the Teatro. It was all a little too existential for me but the painted artwork by Michael Gaydos was superb.
The horror scene in comics keeps getting better and better all the time and if Fox Comics and continue to put out fantastic titles like "The Nightmare Factory" they will be a force to be reckoned with...
REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON
excellent graphic comic September 9, 2007
4 out of 13 found this review helpful
"The Last Feast of Harlequin" by Stuart Moore (writer) and Colleen Doran (art). The anthropologist hid behind the clown's mask to attend pre-Lenten rituals and festivals. At a winter carnival in Miracaw he will witness and participate in sacrifice to wormy beasts that would give Lovecraft nightmares.
"Dream of a Mannikin" by Stuart Moore (writer) and Ben Templesmith (art). At her first visit to the psychiatrist, Amy Locher tells him about her nightmare that brings the doc into her horrific "realm".
"Doctor Locrian's Asylum" by Joe Harris (writer) and Ted McKeever (art). The Shire County Asylum looms over everything in the town though it has been closed for years. Everyone remains haunted by the largest gloomiest edifice not just due to its ghastly shape and size; friends and family spent time there and though shut some might still stalk its halls.
"Teatro Grottesco" by Joe Harris (writer) and Michael Gaydos (art). No one knows exactly why or when the Teatro Grottesco will show up in a town although there is a link to underground artists disconnected with the locals. However, when this theater of the absurd arrives, it sucks away the inspirations and aspirations of artists before continuing its macabre tour.
These four Thomas Ligotti's tales are converted into graphic comics that do justice to the horror writer, who provides introductions to each. The obvious link to Lovecraft is throughout each work, but fans will recognize Mr. Ligotti has his own spin to the Lovecraftian tale. The art by four different artists is well done, but there are distinct differences in style, which add freshness to the overall book. However, in the end it is the adaptations by Stuart Moore and Joe Harris that pay homage to Mr. Ligotti.
Harriet Klausner
Long overdue exposure for this dark light January 3, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Ligotti has long been my favorite "horror writer." I was shocked to actually find this on the bookshelves of BOTH the big chain stores here in town. I hope this does well, because I would love to see another adaptation.
The only quibble I have with the whole package is the McKeever art for "Dr. Locrian's Asylum," but I've never been partial to his work. Still, that did not effect my enjoyment of the adaptation.
My favorite two Ligotti stories, "Dream of a Manniken" (the story that introduced me to Ligotti, I read in in an anthology and was instantly hooked and immediately bought the hardcover of "songs of a dead dreamer", and "Teatro Grotesco" are in this collection. Both are excellently adapted and rendered. "The Last Feast of Harlequin" is the first story in this collection, and the art is wonderful in it as well. Overall, the artists brought their A game, and the whole package is very atmospheric. AND Ligotti writes brand-new introductions to each story.
The price tag, $17.99, was a bit steep for my taste (I'm a full time student) but it's Ligotti-related, so I was bound and determined to buy it. FOX Atomic is supposedly watching the sales of this to see if maybe they might look into other Ligotti ventures. While I know it's a pipe dream, a Ligotti-scripted movie (there already is one, the wonderful "Crampton" co-written with Brandon Trenz, an expanded version of a script they wrote for the X Files years ago (and it would have made for the best episode of any of that show's last four seasons)) maybe in my lifetime???
If you like this, and Ligotti, I suggest also hunting down a copy of "In a Foreign Town, In a Foreign Land," which is a series of short short stories he wrote and which David Tibet of Current 93 composed suitably chilly music to listen to while reading it.
 Good for new fans, slightly offensive to old fans October 14, 2007
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
When I heard some of Ligotti's stories were being given the graphic novel treatment, I was extremely excited. When I saw the cover for the collection, I was even more excited.
I guess this was a lesson not to judge a book by its cover.
Being a diehard Ligotti fan, I have high expectations for his work; this may or may not be a good thing. "The Last Feast of Harlequin" and "Teatro Grottesco" were both pulled off nicely with the latter of the two featuring the best illustrations out of any in the whole collection. The two middle stories, "Dream of a Mannequin" and "Doctor Locrian's Asylum" are horribly cut short from their original full length form. This takes away a lot of the power and atmosphere, especially in "Doctor Locrian's Asylum".
I was let down, but perhaps I'm just being harsh. If it gets people interested in Ligotti's works, I'm all for it. However, if you're at all familiar with the stories featured in this collection, you're not missing much, and you'd be better off trying to track down a copy of the Teatro Grottesco collection (or even The Shadow at the Bottom of the World collection)
Awesome horror graphic novel November 2, 2007
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Due lack of time I will be short. It's the very first time when I bought and read a horror graphic novel. After reading I immediately run to book store and bought random Lovecraft stories volume! And that's despite I am no fan of horror genre and of Lovecraft never even heard of before !
Awesome and intriguing.
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