Last year, Gaynor sent invitations to about 40 alternative-comics artists, asking them to watch cult-classic film Night of the Living Dead and its sequels as the inspiration for a brief comic to be included in a compilation. His "rules" for the artists to follow: "1) All dead humans return from dead; 2) They desperately crave the flesh of the living; 3) They can only be stopped by destroying their brains; 4) We are doomed." With only a promise of five copies of the finished comic book as payment, Gaynor managed to squeeze new work out of dozens of comics creators. The result is Bogus Dead, a 140-page jamboree of brain-eating zombies and those who dare to defy them.
As he did a few years back with his compliation Flying Saucer Attack, Gaynor has coaxed work from a rash of talents, yielding 40 different interpretations in the same genre. Jeff Wilson imagines zombies trying to kick the brain habit, Alcoholics Anonymous-style. Tom Hart's wordless comic is a valentine from an undead fella to his newly zombified gal. Jake Austen imagines a diner where zombies dine on "brains 'n' eggs." Gaynor's own well-written tale imagines how his real-life family's flight from the unrelenting attack of the undead would go down. Also included are comics by St. Louis natives Jim Mahfood, Ezra Claverie, Kevin Huizenga, Ted May and RFT contributor Matthew Shultz, with a cover designed by St. Louis resident and graphic-design honcho Art Chantry.
Gaynor and his creepy cohorts celebrate the publication of the collection with a "Halloween in March" concert party at the Way Out Club featuring the Spiders, Crypt 33 and Misfits tribute band the Skulls.
We are doomed.
