Josh Simmons is the artist of Fantagraphics’ new worldless horror graphic novel, House. Fantagraphics describes the 80-page, black-and-white trade paperback as “In the thick of a dense wood, a young man comes upon a decrepit house and two teen-aged girls, who quickly decide to explore the abandoned house together. Simmons captures the aloof ennui and deep curiosity of being a teenager—that is, until events force them to confront their own mortality. This adventurous, silent graphic novel demonstrates the solid strength of this young cartoonist’s storytelling ability. Whether plunging into the watery depths of a sinkhole that has obviously swallowed part of a town or entering the uncertain hidden corridors of the house, every turn is captured with intensity by Simmons’ scratchy pen. Page composition and panel arrangements are masterfully coordinated to reflect the characters’ increasingly claustrophobic panic as the story reaches its crescendo, and to cause a similar and palpable reaction in the reader. House is Josh Simmons’ first full-length graphic novel after years of honing his craft on the humorous, underground comic series Happy, and it is a visual and formal tour de force that proclaims Simmons a major cartooning talent of the new century.”
The 29-year-old Simmons recently told Publishers Weekly that he’s been drawing comics since he was 14. Explaining his jump to a full-length graphic novel, he said “Originally, House was going to be a 32-page comic, but after penciling it all out, I realized it needed to be longer if it was going to be effective at all. It was such a thrill to create a world that you can get immersed in for a spell that all my work since House has been lengthy.” He said this work took him three years.
When talking about the title character, he says “There is a building which served as the basis for the structure in House, although I added much to it. It’s a deserted, boarded-up, late-1800s sanitarium in Northampton, Massachusetts. I explored it about ten years ago with some friends and just loved the building, and knew I had to do something with or about it at some point.”
In answer to PW’s question: “Is there a deeper meaning to House past what is on the page? Is it a commentary on lost American youth, just a scary story or something else entirely?” Simmons replied “I hope it can work first as a horror story, albeit a somewhat sideways one. There was plenty I was chewing over as I worked on this book: great bizarre horror movies from the 1970s—The Brood, Deathdream, and Black Christmas, to name a few. I like the feel of these where it’s almost an impressionistic approach to telling a horror story. There aren’t a lot of easy victims or explanations like a lot of shitty horror wherein Jason comes back from hell because Satan wills it or whatever. [Also on my mind were] taking risks, going on adventures, friends who died young or in a spectacularly melodramatic fashion; depressive tendencies; the bit with the half-submerged houses I was inking when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans—this image was no doubt planted in my brainscape from having lived in New Orleans for five years previous to the storm, and hearing about the likelihood of such a scenario every time a large storm rolled through town.”