Thai Horror Comics - Cartoon Phi

With Halloween right around the corner in the West I felt it was time to take a look at an often overlooked intersection of pop culture and the spookier side of Thai life.

Thailand has a rich oral tradition of ghost stories. Spirits can live in nature with some of the most powerful ones living in the largest oldest trees. House or possessions of the recently deceased may also be suitable places for spirits to dwell, especially when the owner’s life may have come to an unexpected or gruesome end. Many Thai tales of spirits and ghosts serve as warnings and conveyors of social morality. No good deed goes unnoticed so by that same logic no bad deed goes unpunished. These classic ghost stories surface in very entertaining places: stage plays, big budget films, magazines, and my personal favorite pulp comics.

For a mere five baht (about fifteen cents) at the closest 7-11 you can pick up ghastly ghost tales in pulp comic form. Penned by a rotating cast of artist and authors the craftsmanship of these comics can vary to a great degree.

There are artists with obvious manga influences, while some work is so spotty it appears the artist worked quickly to meet the deadline and possibly catch an easy paycheck. Some of the illustrations for lack of a better term impart a strong “outsider artist” sensibility--proportions will vary wildly, the human form becomes squashed or grotesque.

I find this large face strangely hypnotic and soothing.

This artist has a weird hybrid 70s type style.

Still, the earnest intensity of these drawings easily subsides any prejudice towards the seemingly uneducated nature of the artists; it makes them so stylistically different that the comics become even more interesting to foreign eyes.

With his creepy minimal style and drug references I can only image the
warm reception this artist would get from stateside art school kids.

Spending some time with these publications it is apparent that there are a few authors who take great pride in the tales they illustrate; relishing the chance to bring readers all the gory and melodramatic action.

This artist is one of my personal favorites.
Such strong composition with a very concrete and straight forward style.

He begins each story with a movie poster style splash page.

Why aren't these illustrations on hipster t-shirts and all over print hoodies yet?

In about fourteen pages a complete story is told: set up, act of terrible violence, moral. Most issues have two complete stories and a few extra pages of short funny comics or page long text based stories.

The covers are full color while the contents are simple black and white on newsprint. I’ve been actively collecting current issues and searching flea markets and dusty news stands for older examples. Most of the older issues I have found seem to lack the current craftsmanship. Since all the text is in Thai it has been hard to figure out where to obtain more info on these comics and the artists behind them. Aside from a small logo on the front covers there is no other info about the publishers.

A few sample covers:

Recently Mud Magazine, a Thai quarterly of independent comics, did an entire issue themed “Scary.” The issue ran some of these pulp stories alongside more arty alternative fare. Sadly, it too is entirely in Thai.

Nice cover, there is even spot varnish on it.

This issue cost me 180 baht (around $5.50). Cheap!

Well designed table of contents!

Arty indy comics too! Looks a lot like CF's work.

Did I mention the interviews and articles too?

And the tasteful use of different colors and paper stocks?

This artist also has a nice full length graphic novel.
Though Typhoon Books hasn't updated the English portion of
their website to mention it or this issue of Mud?

In the future I hope to present you with an complete story translated in English. Until then you will just have to look over these exciting images from my growing collection of comics.