Gloomcookie
Encyclopedia
Gloomcookie is a goth comic series created and written by Serena Valentino
(Nightmares & Fairy Tales
) and co-created by Ted Naifeh
, who also illustrated the comic’s first 6 issues. The series functions both as a social satire on real-life Gothic subculture and as a supernatural fantasy.
Gloomcookie is irregularly published by Slave Labor Graphics
. As of July 2008, 28 issues have been published, as well as a one shot
special, Gloomcookie: A Monster's Christmas Color Special. Five volumes of reprints have been published, each of the first four including six issues of the series in trade paperback form, and the last one including five issues of the series.
, followed by Jon Gebbia, Breehn Burns
, Harley Sparx and currently Vincent Batignole
.
Recently it was revealed on Serena Valentino
's LiveJournal
page that she intended to end the individual issue release of the series, in favour of releasing a series of complete graphic novels at an undisclosed time. Serena, and Gloomcookie's current artist Vincent Batignole
, have chosen to focus their efforts on a new comic project instead, titled Enchanted.
Serena Valentino
Serena Valentino is a comic book writer, based in San Francisco, who is responsible for such comics as Gloomcookie and Nightmares & Fairy Tales....
(Nightmares & Fairy Tales
Nightmares & Fairy Tales
Nightmares and Fairy Tales is an American comic book, written by Serena Valentino and published by Slave Labor Graphics. It's about a strange little doll called Annabelle. Nightmares and Fairy Tales chronicles the events that happen, good or bad, as she comes into the possession of many people...
) and co-created by Ted Naifeh
Ted Naifeh
Edward "Ted" Naifeh is an American comic book writer and artist who gained notoriety for his illustrations in the goth romance comic Gloomcookie...
, who also illustrated the comic’s first 6 issues. The series functions both as a social satire on real-life Gothic subculture and as a supernatural fantasy.
Gloomcookie is irregularly published by Slave Labor Graphics
Slave Labor Graphics
Slave Labor Graphics is an independent American comic book publisher, well-known for publishing darkly humorous, offbeat comics.-Company history:...
. As of July 2008, 28 issues have been published, as well as a one shot
One shot (comic)
A one-shot is a comic book that is a pilot or a stand-alone story created as a single issue, rather than the more typical series format.-United States:...
special, Gloomcookie: A Monster's Christmas Color Special. Five volumes of reprints have been published, each of the first four including six issues of the series in trade paperback form, and the last one including five issues of the series.
Main characters
- Lex: The primary female protagonist, Lex is a novelty-shop employee and avid goth clubgoer. Lex eventually discovers that she and Damion are star-crossed lovers.
- Sebastian: A lonely boy who sometimes suspects that he is confusing his dreams with reality. In truth, Sebastian has the ability to manipulate reality at will, either deliberately or accidentally. However, his powers often create unpredictable and dangerous side-effects. Sebastian also has true sight, which allows him to see monsters for what they are and to have prophetic dreamsPrecognitionIn parapsychology, precognition , also called future sight, and second sight, is a type of extrasensory perception that would involve the acquisition or effect of future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired sense-based information or laws of physics...
.
- Chrys: Sebastian's girlfriend. Chrys was originally an inanimate waxen sculpture, brought to life accidentally by Sebastian's powers. Chrys was, for a time, possessed by the Monster, who made her bring boys home and eat them. She eventually coughed up the Monster and went back to her normal self.
- Damion: Lex's curseCurseA curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...
d lover, Damion is doomed to fall in love with incarnation after incarnation of Lex, and to watch her die. Damion was originally a gargoyleGargoyleIn architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque, usually made of granite, with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building thereby preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls and eroding the mortar between...
, brought to life by Isabella to keep her company. He has the ability to take on the form of either a normal human being or that of a winged gargoyle, allowing him to fly among other things.
- Isabella: The main villain of the series, Isabella is perceived as selfish, cold and manipulativePsychological manipulationPsychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...
. It is revealed that she in fact feels very lonely and miserable because she is actually a monster. Isabella used to be a part of the Carnival MacabreFreak showA freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with both male and female secondary sexual characteristics, people with other extraordinary diseases and...
. She is also responsible for Lex and Damion's curse. Like Damion, she can either take the form of a human being, or that of a winged monster.
- The Monster: Sebastian's fearsome-looking guardian who lives beneath his bed. For some time, the Monster ate all the girls Sebastian brought home, until Chrys, in turn, ate him. The Monster used to be part of the Carnival Macabre.
Secondary characters
- Max: Another staple at the club, Max shares an on-again, off-again relationship with Lex, to which he refuses to commit himself. Lex and Max drift apart as Lex pursues a relationship with Damion.
- Vermillion: A wealthy, spoiled, socially awkward young man with a tenuous grip on reality. Vermillion enjoys reading his terrible poetry in goth clubs and is obsessed with a roleplaying game called 'Nosferatu: The Charade' (an obvious parody of Vampire: The MasqueradeVampire: The MasqueradeVampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game. Created by Mark Rein·Hagen, it was the first of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness role-playing games, based on the Storyteller System and centered around vampires in a modern gothic-punk world....
)
- Lyndi: A mutual friend of Chrys and Lex, with whom they often commiserate over coffee.
- Moonraven: Self proclaimed "Queen of San Francisco", who pines for Vermillion's love and affection so much that she deceives him into believing she possesses 'Nosferatu' powers.
- Vincent: Sebastian's father. Vincent is the ringleader of the Carnival Macabre, and looks strikingly like Vincent PriceVincent PriceVincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
, which leads Sebastian (who always wished Vincent Price were his father) to wonder whether Vincent is another product of his imagination.
- Lucy: Lucy is Sebastian's mother. She ran away from the Carnival with Sebastian shortly after his birth, causing the Carnival's partial dismantling.
- Jezebel and Gretchen: the conjoined twinsConjoined twinsConjoined twins are identical twins whose bodies are joined in utero. A rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 100,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa. Approximately half are stillborn, and a smaller fraction of...
Jezebel and Gretchen were members of the Carnival Macabre until Isabella left with them and employed them as her servants. Isabella later returned them to the Carnival.
- Artemus: Artemus is Isabella's lover, he is a werewolf, he was a member of the Carnival Macabre until Isabella left, upon his return he helped Isabella break the curse.
- Sarah: Sarah is a mutual friend of Lex and Lyndi, she was also Sebastian's Exgirlfriend, she was eaten by the monster, but Sebastian brought her from another dimension from which she was not eaten by the monster, in that dimension she was going out with Max.
Development
Each 6-issue run has featured a different artist, beginning with Ted NaifehTed Naifeh
Edward "Ted" Naifeh is an American comic book writer and artist who gained notoriety for his illustrations in the goth romance comic Gloomcookie...
, followed by Jon Gebbia, Breehn Burns
Breehn Burns
Breehn Burns is an American writer, director, voice artist and animator.He co-created the popular Dr. Tran franchise which has aired on G4TV, is staple of the Spike & Mike Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation and has become a popular internet meme...
, Harley Sparx and currently Vincent Batignole
Vincent Batignole
Vincent Batignole is a French comic-book artist who has provided the artwork for the popular indie comic Gloomcookie, written by Serena Valentino, and published by Slave Labour Graphics....
.
Recently it was revealed on Serena Valentino
Serena Valentino
Serena Valentino is a comic book writer, based in San Francisco, who is responsible for such comics as Gloomcookie and Nightmares & Fairy Tales....
's LiveJournal
LiveJournal
LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....
page that she intended to end the individual issue release of the series, in favour of releasing a series of complete graphic novels at an undisclosed time. Serena, and Gloomcookie's current artist Vincent Batignole
Vincent Batignole
Vincent Batignole is a French comic-book artist who has provided the artwork for the popular indie comic Gloomcookie, written by Serena Valentino, and published by Slave Labour Graphics....
, have chosen to focus their efforts on a new comic project instead, titled Enchanted.