2022 - A book containing old photos of film footage and notes is unearthed in a private lockup, forgotten for over twenty years.
As the reader turns the pages, a story soon becomes apparent. A young boy, confined to his bedroom, bearing witness to a horrific haunting in an adjacent city block.
The boy's only means of recording the supernatural occurrences, his camcorder and photographs. But the medium is far too basic to record the incidents clearly. The horror lying almost concealed between the shadows and the scanlines
Now, after 20 years you're invited to bear witness to these cursed frames too.
Over twenty years ago and following a life-changing injury, 15-year-old Jay, is tasked with recording his rehabilitation, whilst mostly confined to his room, high above the city street in his mother's cramped apartment.
As Jay immerses himself in the daily life of his neighbours, he soon becomes engrossed by the adjacent block and the wide variety of residents who dwell within it.
When one night Jay witnesses a horrific attack on one of the blocks residents he sets to work attempting to record the movements of the attacker. A monstrous, shadowy figure he dubs - MISTER HOWL. A resident who seemingly doesn't belong to the block.
Jay’s only record, the photos from his handheld camera and tapes from his camcorder. Any footage seems to distort and warp as he attempts to record the horror he witnesses.
But as new tenants move into the block, Jay observes Howl preparing himself to strike once more. With Jay confined to his apartment and with little hope of being able to convince any adults of what he’s witnessing, it’s up to Jay to try and stop the terror before MISTER HOWL feeds again.
MISTER HOWL will be a 100 (+) page Found Footage illustrated novel / art book, following a transcript of Jay's documenting of the haunting as observed from his bedroom window. As a huge fan of both found footage and ergodic literature I want you to feel like you're in the center of this haunting mystery, giving a whole new angle to following a traditional ghost story.
I'm T.W. Burgess, a writer specialising in horror and the supernatural predominantly within comics and video games.
Back in 2016 I published Malevolents, a ghost story set in the most haunted house in London. Malevolents was an indie hit, earning great reviews and a foreword from manga legend Junji Ito.
Since then I've published 5 other graphic novels - The Eyrie, Hallows Fell, Nyctophobias, Early Haunts and most recently Photoghasts. The world's first augmented reality haunted photo game which I released in 2022 alongside an accompanying book of thirty found footage ghost stories, giving some further depth to the ghosts in question.
Each ghost was created by me as a tribute to my love of analogue horror and that unsettling aesthetic.
Following publishing my book of found footage horrors 'Photoghasts' I fell in love all over again with the first-person approach to telling a ghost story and it made me dig out a project I started back in 2020 when the world was locking itself down in the hope of keeping away the horror outside the door.
MISTER HOWL was written as a part-time project amidst lockdown 2020. A ghost story set around being 'locked in,' playing on themes of isolation and a lurking horror outside. I've long loved ghost stories that focused around a confined protagonist such as Susan Hill's 'The Woman in Black' and Henry James' 'The Turn of the Screw.' Or in film form 'J. A. Bayona's 'The Orphanage', 'Alejandro Amenábar's 'The Others' and Andy Muschietti's 'Mama.' That added element of isolation always adds brilliantly to the horror.
I'm of course a huge fan of the Found Footage genre too and faux documentary style features like the haunting 'Lake Mungo' which blend the boundaries in what appears to be real and what isn't. Something I was keen to explore in book form.
The project was also a good exercise in working on another passion of mine, creating grainy, analogue images - an aesthetic that I also feel perfectly compliments the ghost story genre. After months of work it was wrapped, but...(like many of my other projects) Mister Howl was subsequently put to one side amidst a busy workload. There it remained, fittingly lying dormant in the dark recesses of a folder of analogue horror on my hard drive.
Having now had a chance to revisit the project over recent months, I've made significant headway and feel like now is a great opportunity to show this horror the light of day.
With Mister Howl, the art is composed of grainy found footage stills, taken from Jay's camcorder after being recorded by his camera off of his CRT TV. Each of these composite stills have been digitally designed by myself, capturing the analogue look of the era.
Accompanied with short-hand diary entries, research papers and other materials which allow a first-hand glimpse into Jay's world and how he investigates the 'haunting' he witnesses.
Told from the perspective of Jay in the first-hand, Mister Howl offers a different approach to the traditional ghost story in the style of horror classics such as
Bram Stoker's Dracula, Brian Selznick ' Hugo Cabaret' and illustrated ghost stories like Pam Smy's brilliant 'Thornhill'. Literally throwing you into the heart of the story.
As Jay delves deeper into the history of the adjacent building, in an attempt to unravel the mystery of the haunting, you'll see snapshots of reference books and everyday life, throwing you further into the haunting and hopefully adding to the unease.
Now with the time needed to finish Howl, I finally have the chance of publishing this one of a kind of horror and I want to do so in the most effective way possible. With a stunning paperback print with a premium finish. Proving more economic for postage, without compromising on the quality.
** The book is pretty much finished and just requires some minor edits and polishing of imagery to make it something truly special.**
I've a host of exclusive rewards for MISTER HOWL including a specially designed print created by my long term collaborator, the legendary horror artist 'Trevor Henderson'.
MR HOWL - Trevor Henderson Variant Exclusive Print
The book itself will be printed in paperback with a high-quality Anti scuff Matt finish. I want to make the book easily shippable without being costly, but at the same time with a premium finish. I'll also be offering just a couple of additional physical rewards to ensure you won't be paying over the odds to get your hands on this incredibly special book.
Alongside the hardcopy, I do appreciate times are tough right now out there, (especially in the UK) which is why postage will be kept low, respectively and also why I'm offering a high-resolution digital version as an alternative to a hardcopy.
