An Introduction to the Comics of Emily Carroll

Emily Carroll is an Ignatz and Eisner-winning creator from Ontario, Canada, best known for her horror-themed webcomics and for the graphic novels “When I Arrived at the Castle” and “A Guest in the House” as well as the graphic horror anthology “Through the Woods.” 1/9

Alex Dueben of CBR refers to Carroll as “a master of atmosphere and mood.” Her work is dark, surreal, and densely psychological, inviting comparisons to horror greats such as Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and Shirley Jackson. Carroll describes her own approach as follows: 2/9

“To be honest though, a large part of why I am so interested in making horror comics myself is that it is fairly rare for me to find horror that really creeps under my skin, really scares me, and I want to try and explore what it is I find scary then…” 3/9

“…and what about it makes it so unsettling or so difficult for me to find (and it is usually less a nebulous fear-of-death and instead more a fear-of-rejection, guilt, or envy based fear, something very much based in everyday experience).” 4/9

Her work is also notable for its commitment to irresolution – providing spaces for the reader’s imagination to fester and brood independent of the author’s perceived obligation to resolve the story into a linear, didactic moral. Simply put, her stories tend to haunt. 5/9

Additionally, Carroll’s cultivation of the rhetorical strategies of webcomics horror can be seen to be particularly foundational. Translating the mechanics of scrolling and clicking toward increased sense of dread and anxiety shows a deft understanding of the medium. 6/9

At the same time, Carroll’s illustrations place emphasis on body horror with grotesque renderings that emphasize the general alienation of being an embodied entity that is both vulnerable and monstrous at the same time. 7/9

In terms of adaptations, Carroll’s 2016 webcomic, “Some Other Animal’s Meat” was adapted into an episode of Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities series for Netflix. 8/9

In the weeks ahead, Sequential Scholars will seek to unpack the spooky of Emily Carroll with in-depth analysis of key works and relevant theories to an emerging talent within the long and storied tradition of comics horror! 9/9

For reference, much of Carroll’s work is freely available on her website: https://www.emcarroll.com/