Torturer – Story One: A Castle in Canada

Featuring some of the most extreme artwork John ever produced

TORTURER was a book I did with John Hicklenton for German publishers EEE.

It features some of the most extreme artwork John ever produced, so fans of his art are in for a treat!

It was only published in German and I’m not sure John’s art has sufficient mainstream appeal to produce it in English, certainly at this time.

So here, on Substack, is your exclusive look at the ultimate in John’s horror artwork with my story to match!

And probably the ONLY place you will ever see TORTURER!

But first, to set the scene: EEE was a publishing company owned by Bela B, the drummer and singer in top German punk band Die Ärzte (The Doctors). Bela B was the owner of the Leipzig comic book publisher Extrem Erfolgreich Enterprises (Extremely Successful Enterprises), which published horror comic books, including German versions of independent series such as "Faust" and "Satanika". Their titles also included their own publications such as "Schweinevogel" and a comic about Die Ärzte.

EEE loved the work of Simon Bisley, Duke Mighten, John Hicklenton and myself. They wanted comics to be truly kick-ass, and commissioned John and I to do Torturer. They were great fun to work with. They believed in comic signings being performance events, so at one convention all the creators were signing behind prison bars and taking it in turns to be seated in an electric chair. At another event, we were in the padded cell of a lunatic asylum and wearing straitjackets. It was brilliant and it’s something European comic fans seem to be into. Thus, I once did a signing at a Goth club in Paris for Requiem Vampire Knight, where Olivier and I emerged from coffins, while an actress playing Claudia Vampire Knight patrolled the audience, baring her vampire fangs and cracking a whip.

I love this approach to the comic business and it is so very different to the depressing, coldly sober world of British comics where such ‘exhibitionism’ would be frowned upon. British comic publishing is more like working for a bank – which, in a sense it is, because it’s just about making money, exploiting the talent, and it’s not about putting anything back into the business and inspiring creators and everyone having a good time. Whenever I describe the penal conditions in British comics to European creatives they look at me disbelieving and think I must be exaggerating. Anyone who has read my book, Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave! The Secret History of 2000AD and Judge Dredd, and Kiss My Axe! will know I’m not.

Actually I would describe it as more like working in a funeral parlour, which is why I had to, reluctantly, move on.

EEE were very different and they treated me John as VIP guests. Nothing was too much trouble. They wanted us to feel really welcome in their country and their comic world. We went go-cart racing and sight-seeing with them. We did a signing in Nuremberg, and visited the vast concrete arena where Hitler held his infamous rallies. We stood on the neglected, deserted location where Hitler had his podium and ranted to his Nazi audience. Then watched as a teenage boy skateboarded past the hallowed spot. He seemed totally indifferent and unaware of its historic significance and I thought how appropriate that was – that the Führer should not be remembered by a new generation of German youth.

Yet several members of the EEE team – born long after WW2 – seemed weighed down by the legacy of the past. In fact I found many of my other German friends seemed guilt-tripped by the weight and awfulness of events which had absolutely nothing to do with them. In this, they are not helped by Perfidious Albion who, as recently as the centenary years, blamed WW1 on the German nation, too, whereas in fact Britain was primarily responsible for the war that led to WW2. Not to mention constantly reliving their glorious victories in WW2 in film and inappropriately comparing them to events happening today. But slowly, ever so slowly, we are beginning to recognise ‘We are not the good guys’, despite the best patriotic efforts of the Daily Mail and Express, but we still have a long way to go. Other countries, too, have ensured that the post-war German generation wears an unfair and unrelenting yoke for their forefathers’ crimes. This is a subject that can only be spoken about within agreed and narrow tramlines of debate. I believe all this influenced some of the EEE team to have their counter-culture attitude and a relish for fantasy horror as a form of escapism from tragic subjects that are simply taboo to discuss, except in a subservient and head-bowed manner.

Thus this background of real life horror would have inspired EEE to greenlight a story as dark as Torturer.

The Protagonist is a medieval Torturer, whose victims are even worse than he is. It’s the Dirty Harry and Judge Dredd principle, tried and tested, but Torturer is certainly at the extreme end of that spectrum of ‘heroes’.

The Castle in Canada is a true story I’ve outlined in Pageturners, and also given talks on in the past at London’s Psychic Questing Conference. It’s a great and spooky story which I should really do more with. I decided to fictionalise it here, give the female protagonist – a heavy smoker – a deathwish, as she is possessed by a demonic spirit, and add the Torturer into the mix.

John’s storytelling is easier to follow than in his Nemesis. I’m not 100% sold on his colour work – his ubiquitous red which actually diminishes and obscures some of the horror.

If I’d been the editor, I would have pulled him up on this. But everyone was in such awe of John as the ‘Jimi Hendrix of Comics’, I don’t think they had the courage. It’s a thankless task pointing out defects on artwork to established artists and has never made me popular, but it’s absolutely essential.

I was reminded of its importance yesterday at a Zoom meeting to adapt Requiem Vampire Knight to Manga. We were all bowled over by the brilliant and extremely clear art by Bolivian Manga artist Seban. But it was politely suggested to him that one or two figures could have a very subtle, almost invisible, ‘white aura around them, so they would stand out from the complex backgrounds. To this, Seban, a thorough-going young professional, readily agreed. I remember being taught the same editorial ‘tricks of the trade’ when I started in comics at D.C. Thomson.

If you’re an artist or an editor, it’s worth making a note of.

But John’s demons are always unique and special and make up for his storytelling. Such as the creature the Torturer introduces with the words, ‘See Priestess of the Demiurge’. The Demiurge is the Satanic master of the Earth, according to Gnostic beliefs, but rarely features in horror fiction, where writers and horror fans seem to prefer Lovecraftian monsters.

A black and white sequence follows where the Torturer’s victim is pulled apart by four wild horses. This was a sequence actually suggested to me by John and he renders it perfectly. Not something most artists would volunteer to draw! It’s very clear and quite horrific. His black line is shown off here to great advantage. With 2000AD, there always seemed to be problems with reproducing his work, possibly due to his complex use of photocopies, but never here. I can’t recall who the victim was, but I’m sure they deserved their fate.

The Priestess of the Demiurge is beheaded by the Torturer in the final sequence. ‘It’s not over yet, Torturer!’ declares her decapitated head as it goes flying through the air.

But it most certainly is over as we see her head in the foreground in the final picture, staring sightlessly out at us, with a government health warning about the dangers of smoking alongside her!

A Castle in Canada was certainly a classic horror by John, but it was about to be surpassed by our next Torturer story – A Madhouse in London, reflecting both John and my deep loathing of psychiatry as a pseudo-science. Neither the story or the art take any prisoners!

As you will see, it is a major artistic event for John, possibly his greatest work.

See what you think.

More about it next week.