Twisted Tales
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Twisted Tales was a horror anthology comic book edited by Bruce Jones and April Campbell. The title was published on a bi-monthly schedule by Pacific Comics from November 1982 to May 1984 (eight issues). After Pacific went bankrupt, two final issues were published by Eclipse Comics in November and December 1984.
With three exceptions (William F. Nolan’s “The Party” in Issue # 8, Dennis Etchison’s “Wet Season” in Issue #9, and David Carren's “If She Dies” in issue #10), all of the stories in the entire run of Twisted Tales were written by Jones, who had shown a knack for horror a decade before when he was employed as a scripter for Warren Publishing, writing for their Creepy and Eerie titles. Jones, a self-proclaimed child of the 50’s, was heavily influenced by the horror and science fiction movies of that decade. But his chief inspiration was undoubtedly the bloody and ironically moralistic tales in the EC Comics horror tradition. His work in Twisted Tales added huge dollops of graphic violence and sexuality to the EC formula, complete with copious female nudity, making the title a definite “adults only” item; several issues sported a “Recommended For Mature Readers” warning on the cover.
Probably the most gruesome and controversial story to appear in the comic was “Banjo Lessons” in the April 1983 issue (#5), with artwork by former underground comics illustrator Rand Holmes. A story about the murderous violence that ensues one summery day when a repressed memory is innocently triggered, it was a shocking mix of extreme gore, cannibalism, homosexuality, and borderline racism. The tale was prefaced by a special editorial by Campbell apologizing in advance for any accusations of bigotry the story might spark, but readers’ emotional response to the story still filled the next issue’s letters page.
Front covers for the comic were by, among others, Richard Corben, John Bolton, and Bernie Wrightson, who provided such a “tasteless” cover for Issue # 2 that some stores refused to display it. Contributing interior artists included Corben, Bolton, Wrightson, Mike Ploog, Val Mayerik, Bill Wray, Tim Conrad, Alfredo Alcala, and Rick Geary, as well as one story written and illustrated by editor Jones himself.
In January of 2005, Todd McFarlane announced that he was set to produce a half hour anthology television series for Fox called Twisted Tales, based on the comic book to which McFarlane had purchased the rights.[1] It is unknown if any of Jones’ stories from the comic will be adapted for the TV series.
