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The Furry Trap
Graphic novelist Josh Simmons (House) returns with a harrowing and genre-bending collection of modern horror short stories that could curl the toes of a corpse in a state of rigor mortis. Simmons disturbing, uncomfortable and even confrontational stories often work on multiple levels: straight, uncompromising horror; blackly humorous, satirical riffs on the genre; or as vicious assaults against the political correctness that rules so much of our popular culture. His artwork excels in conveying a feeling of dread and claustrophobia, and the stories herein all share an unmistakably and uncompromising commitment to exploring the crossroads of abomination and hilarity.
The Furry Trap contains 11 short stories, varying in length from one to 30 pages, as well as a number of extras that will flesh out the reader s experience. From the title creatures in Night of the Jibblers, to the witches and ogres of Cockbone, to the Godzilla-sized, centaur-bodied depiction of the title character in Jesus Christ, to the disarmingly cute yet terrifying demons of Demonwood, to the depraved, caped crusading antihero in Mark of the Bat, Simmons is a master of creating terrifying beasties that inspire and inflict nightmarish horrors, usually taken to unforgettable extremes.
The individual stories in The Furry Trap stand on their own as mini-masterpieces of skin-crawling terror, but collectively complement each other in a way that only heightens the anxiety and dread pouring from page to page. Just remember: You've been warned.
The Furry Trap contains 11 short stories, varying in length from one to 30 pages, as well as a number of extras that will flesh out the reader s experience. From the title creatures in Night of the Jibblers, to the witches and ogres of Cockbone, to the Godzilla-sized, centaur-bodied depiction of the title character in Jesus Christ, to the disarmingly cute yet terrifying demons of Demonwood, to the depraved, caped crusading antihero in Mark of the Bat, Simmons is a master of creating terrifying beasties that inspire and inflict nightmarish horrors, usually taken to unforgettable extremes.
The individual stories in The Furry Trap stand on their own as mini-masterpieces of skin-crawling terror, but collectively complement each other in a way that only heightens the anxiety and dread pouring from page to page. Just remember: You've been warned.
164 pages, Hardcover
First published July 2, 2012
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352 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
July 22, 2021
this book's first story brought back a childhood experience long since forgotten. it was of coming across my older brother's mad magazines when i was five or so. until then, you know, i had lived in a little girl world of soft-rounded wuzzles and my little ponies and rainbow brite.
so to unexpectedly encounter a style of art that was more violent and seedy, and greasy-looking - it felt dangerous, like i was looking at something i shouldn't have been.
since then i have certainly come a long way and been exposed to so many different forms of artistic expression (SO much monster porn), and i no longer live in that child-safe world, but this was a reminder of that first time, this opening story which is all cutesy until it all goes horribly wrong in a violent way.
and i read other reviews of this book, because i was trying to see what other people were getting out of it that i wasn't. but most of the reviewers are, frankly, horrified by the amount of violence, particularly sexual violence. and it's true, there is a ton of it. the sexual violence doesn't really bother me - i am able to separate real-world sexual violence from this brand of sexual violence, where a male elf slices the soft underbelly of a wizard's jaw and rapes him, coming out the wizard's mouth. i mean, the wizard was planning on killing him, so fair play, i say. but it is so ludicrous and part of a cartoon-only scenario, that it doesn't make me feel uncomfortable. (please do not send me news stories proving me wrong in my beliefs.)
so it wasn't this element that made me low-rate this collection of graphic novel horror stories.
my objection is that after a while, it is just boring. same kind of gags, different tale: incest, magic jizz, fecal matter, masturbation, cat-boiling....overall, the story is sacrificed for the shock - they only exist to showcase the violence. and, yawn. i'm not really shocked by it, so there really isn't much for me as a reader. and whisper whisper, there are several i don't even understand. but violence isn't compelling enough on its own to entertain me, is the problem.
i have to admit, i did laugh at the wizard-rape, because i have a fairly diseased sense of humor, and nothing is funnier than raping a wizard in his wizard-throat. but apart from that, there isn't really a need for any of these stories.
it is mostly just splatter horror with cartoons and a shock value edge. it's okay, but pretty same-y after a while, although the style of the art does change dramatically, showing me he could really have something, if he broadened his subject matter a bit.
i read this because i trusted some dude who said, "oh my god, that book is so fucking sick, you have to read it"
but he meant it in a positive way.
so i gave it a try, because i am the resident "bad influence" on goodreads.
and it is sick, but it is just sick. it isn't awesome-sick.
i think i prefer something like kochalka's Fancy Froglin's Sexy Forest, where the artwork is cutesy pie, but with serious adult content. that juxtaposition makes me giggle, and i really like the way he draws frogs. and most other things.
but this one, not so much.
yeah, i have said enough for one night.
come to my blog!
so to unexpectedly encounter a style of art that was more violent and seedy, and greasy-looking - it felt dangerous, like i was looking at something i shouldn't have been.
since then i have certainly come a long way and been exposed to so many different forms of artistic expression (SO much monster porn), and i no longer live in that child-safe world, but this was a reminder of that first time, this opening story which is all cutesy until it all goes horribly wrong in a violent way.
and i read other reviews of this book, because i was trying to see what other people were getting out of it that i wasn't. but most of the reviewers are, frankly, horrified by the amount of violence, particularly sexual violence. and it's true, there is a ton of it. the sexual violence doesn't really bother me - i am able to separate real-world sexual violence from this brand of sexual violence, where a male elf slices the soft underbelly of a wizard's jaw and rapes him, coming out the wizard's mouth. i mean, the wizard was planning on killing him, so fair play, i say. but it is so ludicrous and part of a cartoon-only scenario, that it doesn't make me feel uncomfortable. (please do not send me news stories proving me wrong in my beliefs.)
so it wasn't this element that made me low-rate this collection of graphic novel horror stories.
my objection is that after a while, it is just boring. same kind of gags, different tale: incest, magic jizz, fecal matter, masturbation, cat-boiling....overall, the story is sacrificed for the shock - they only exist to showcase the violence. and, yawn. i'm not really shocked by it, so there really isn't much for me as a reader. and whisper whisper, there are several i don't even understand. but violence isn't compelling enough on its own to entertain me, is the problem.
i have to admit, i did laugh at the wizard-rape, because i have a fairly diseased sense of humor, and nothing is funnier than raping a wizard in his wizard-throat. but apart from that, there isn't really a need for any of these stories.
it is mostly just splatter horror with cartoons and a shock value edge. it's okay, but pretty same-y after a while, although the style of the art does change dramatically, showing me he could really have something, if he broadened his subject matter a bit.
i read this because i trusted some dude who said, "oh my god, that book is so fucking sick, you have to read it"
but he meant it in a positive way.
so i gave it a try, because i am the resident "bad influence" on goodreads.
and it is sick, but it is just sick. it isn't awesome-sick.
i think i prefer something like kochalka's Fancy Froglin's Sexy Forest, where the artwork is cutesy pie, but with serious adult content. that juxtaposition makes me giggle, and i really like the way he draws frogs. and most other things.
but this one, not so much.
yeah, i have said enough for one night.
come to my blog! 
May 13, 2016
Simmons is certainly a talented artist able to render both crude and sinuous stylings of the horrific in this collection of explorations of a reader's gag reflex. This book has the appearance of being a collection of nihilistic horror stories but is really a formal exercise in obscenity. At you leisure, thumb through these pages of graphically depicted rape, mutilation, incest, masturbation, ejaculation, sacrilege, cannibalism, animal cruelty, coprophagia and probably a few other taboos I am glossing over. Let the record stand, my momma didn't raise no prude (although she would probably wish she had if she knew what I get up to between the covers of a book), but this mélange of the explicit doesn't add up to much. I suppose there is a certain level of juvenile glee underpinning Simmons's devotion to uncompromisingly representing our culture's lust for the variegated palette of simulated violence and then proceeding to rub our face in this less-than-titillating pile of cartoon excrement, but it ultimately feels like an empty undertaking. But like John Cage's "4'33" or, more fitting, Michael Haneke's Funny Games, I guess these thing just have to exist.
June 21, 2015
Deliberately shocking and offensive "horror" comics in the tradition of "splatter" porn, I guess. Disturbing. I think of Crumb, who was asked why he did some of his most shocking stuff, and he said he didn't know where it came from, didn't really want his daughter to see it, was also kind of disturbed by it. Okay, so I experienced it, and will wash my hands of it. This is about violence, sexual violence, Johnny Ryan territory, and I don't quite get it, am not cool enough to say I think it is so awesome, dude, as some hipster artists would, and Simmons doesn't give a damn whether I like it or not. If he were to get popular he would hate himself and all his fans. It has that Dead Kennedy hate your audience punk feel to it. Good, I hate you, too, Josh.
I also just today read Al Columbia's Pim and Francie, which is also disturbing, and could be seen in the same category as Simmons, as horror comics, but Columbia's work is amazing to me, more ambitious. Still disturbing, and deliberately disturbing, but somehow impressive, and more thoughtful, complex, layered. See my review of that if you care enough about these kinds of comics. I might just not be a horror guy. I mean, you hardcore Saw types will just snicker when I tell you my kind of horror is this soft core literary variety, Neil Gaiman Sandman stuff. SO tame, dude. So it's a matter of taste, and literary tastes, finally, I suppose.
So the point of this stuff is not to gain wide recognition, it is to be transgressive, to shock, and it fulfilled its purpose. Maybe horror is just meant to horrify, to cross lines so you are shocked. Simmons is technically proficient and he can tell a story, and a variety of stories, and they're not ALL disturbing. And thank god they are short stories, because to sustain the level of disgust for longer within any given story would be doubly brutal. But the hell with it, I am still not going to give this two stars just because he has some "talent" in a particular form. So there.
I also just today read Al Columbia's Pim and Francie, which is also disturbing, and could be seen in the same category as Simmons, as horror comics, but Columbia's work is amazing to me, more ambitious. Still disturbing, and deliberately disturbing, but somehow impressive, and more thoughtful, complex, layered. See my review of that if you care enough about these kinds of comics. I might just not be a horror guy. I mean, you hardcore Saw types will just snicker when I tell you my kind of horror is this soft core literary variety, Neil Gaiman Sandman stuff. SO tame, dude. So it's a matter of taste, and literary tastes, finally, I suppose.
So the point of this stuff is not to gain wide recognition, it is to be transgressive, to shock, and it fulfilled its purpose. Maybe horror is just meant to horrify, to cross lines so you are shocked. Simmons is technically proficient and he can tell a story, and a variety of stories, and they're not ALL disturbing. And thank god they are short stories, because to sustain the level of disgust for longer within any given story would be doubly brutal. But the hell with it, I am still not going to give this two stars just because he has some "talent" in a particular form. So there.
June 16, 2017
Very strange stories with high gore and perversion. I found myself simultaneously disgusted and intrigued throughout the book.
April 11, 2016
Ugly, Disturbing, Sickening!
Josh Simmons’ The Furry Trap is marketed as horror, but the short stories collected between its covers do not feel like your typical horror fare. Sure, they are chock-full of horrific acts of violence, but the thing is: these acts of violence do not add up to any kind of entertaining or potentially cathartic spectacle.
Instead, they are one thing and one thing only: extremely disturbing. They do not play by any rules of genre or taste. In fact, they appear to be little more than the logical extension of the very real world we have created for ourselves - a world shaped by greed, selfishness, short-sightedness and exploitation, not by holistic or even moral considerations.
Much like Michael Haneke’s 1997 film Funny Games, Simmons’ The Furry Trap holds a mirror up to a society that, bent on self-destruction, treats violence as just another form of entertainment. Like Funny Games, it presents even the most extreme acts of violence in calm, seemingly detached and uncaring fashion, forcing the reader to rediscover their own moral agency and shout: enough of this ugly, sickening mess!
Make no mistake, The Furry Trap kicks you in the gut – real hard. It is the perfect antidote to torture porn, as it will spoil anybody's appetite for fictional violence. I highly recommend the book to fans of the darker, more radical (as well as painful, I'm afraid) kind of alternative comic… but not to anybody else, really. Not even to horror fans.
Josh Simmons’ The Furry Trap is marketed as horror, but the short stories collected between its covers do not feel like your typical horror fare. Sure, they are chock-full of horrific acts of violence, but the thing is: these acts of violence do not add up to any kind of entertaining or potentially cathartic spectacle.
Instead, they are one thing and one thing only: extremely disturbing. They do not play by any rules of genre or taste. In fact, they appear to be little more than the logical extension of the very real world we have created for ourselves - a world shaped by greed, selfishness, short-sightedness and exploitation, not by holistic or even moral considerations.
Much like Michael Haneke’s 1997 film Funny Games, Simmons’ The Furry Trap holds a mirror up to a society that, bent on self-destruction, treats violence as just another form of entertainment. Like Funny Games, it presents even the most extreme acts of violence in calm, seemingly detached and uncaring fashion, forcing the reader to rediscover their own moral agency and shout: enough of this ugly, sickening mess!
Make no mistake, The Furry Trap kicks you in the gut – real hard. It is the perfect antidote to torture porn, as it will spoil anybody's appetite for fictional violence. I highly recommend the book to fans of the darker, more radical (as well as painful, I'm afraid) kind of alternative comic… but not to anybody else, really. Not even to horror fans.
September 26, 2012
This is a collection of short stories by Josh Simmons, the artist behind the brilliant silent-horror book “House” a few years ago. The various stories show Simmons’ range as an artist while the stories’ quality is at times manically brilliant to half-thought out and fizzle out into nothing.
The best of these is “Demonwood”, the final story, featuring a construction worker down on his luck who after working on a site all day, stubbornly refuses to admit his car is broken and ends up staying on the site after dark despite being told the woods are haunted. Sure enough a cherub-like demon shows up and the story subtly and horrifically gets darker and darker…
I also liked his take on Batman even if I wasn’t 100% sure what he was trying to say about him. I felt this way about a lot of the stories here: the Jesus monster story, the hick/witch story set in an apocalyptic landscape, and the girl who mutilates her pet. The stories start strong, they’re intriguing, but they end in the kind of pretentious arty way that believes non-explanation is better than explicit resolution, so in the end they’re quite frustrating.
And the worst of these stories feature extreme sexual violence throughout that are the sole purpose of the story. It feels like reading a story by a kid who’s looking only to shock – they’re simply immature and empty.
But on the whole the book is an interesting read with imaginative stories and a few gems that make reading this worthwhile. Simmons has talent and is a compelling storyteller when he is focused; “The Furry Trap” hints at better books to come and I will definitely read them when they appear. For now, this book shows the interesting evolution of an artist.
The best of these is “Demonwood”, the final story, featuring a construction worker down on his luck who after working on a site all day, stubbornly refuses to admit his car is broken and ends up staying on the site after dark despite being told the woods are haunted. Sure enough a cherub-like demon shows up and the story subtly and horrifically gets darker and darker…
I also liked his take on Batman even if I wasn’t 100% sure what he was trying to say about him. I felt this way about a lot of the stories here: the Jesus monster story, the hick/witch story set in an apocalyptic landscape, and the girl who mutilates her pet. The stories start strong, they’re intriguing, but they end in the kind of pretentious arty way that believes non-explanation is better than explicit resolution, so in the end they’re quite frustrating.
And the worst of these stories feature extreme sexual violence throughout that are the sole purpose of the story. It feels like reading a story by a kid who’s looking only to shock – they’re simply immature and empty.
But on the whole the book is an interesting read with imaginative stories and a few gems that make reading this worthwhile. Simmons has talent and is a compelling storyteller when he is focused; “The Furry Trap” hints at better books to come and I will definitely read them when they appear. For now, this book shows the interesting evolution of an artist.
March 4, 2013
Okay...
I found this at the Library and skimmed the first few pages. I was almost immediately offended to the point where I put it back on the shelf and prayed that no little kid would ever pick this up.
Then I went back minutes later to read the whole thing cover to cover. There was no way I was going to bring this into my house, but I felt compelled to read it. Fortunately most of the stories after the first were (ever so slightly)less horrifying.
I can handle quite a lot of dark, morose, morbid content before it affects me to the point where I dislike it. Furry Trap broke that threshold though (in fact, I think this may be the first time ever).
This would have been a solid 1 star rating, except for the last story: Demonwood was so incredibly terrifying. It had a "Less is more" approach whereas the previous stories had a philosophy of "The most possible is more." The difference between Demonwood and the others is this: The earlier stories left me in shock and horror only as long as the page was open to them. Demonwood is still haunting me now.
I would almost go so far to say (almost) that this would be worth the buy JUST for Demonwood.
I found this at the Library and skimmed the first few pages. I was almost immediately offended to the point where I put it back on the shelf and prayed that no little kid would ever pick this up.
Then I went back minutes later to read the whole thing cover to cover. There was no way I was going to bring this into my house, but I felt compelled to read it. Fortunately most of the stories after the first were (ever so slightly)less horrifying.
I can handle quite a lot of dark, morose, morbid content before it affects me to the point where I dislike it. Furry Trap broke that threshold though (in fact, I think this may be the first time ever).
This would have been a solid 1 star rating, except for the last story: Demonwood was so incredibly terrifying. It had a "Less is more" approach whereas the previous stories had a philosophy of "The most possible is more." The difference between Demonwood and the others is this: The earlier stories left me in shock and horror only as long as the page was open to them. Demonwood is still haunting me now.
I would almost go so far to say (almost) that this would be worth the buy JUST for Demonwood.
April 11, 2018
The most disturbing thing I've ever read. Horror on a whole new level. The tales in this collection will give anyone nightmares and, at the very least, a scarred psyche. Be warned.
January 29, 2015
This graphic novel has won several awards, and I’d heard it was controversial, so I decided to give it a read. I can’t understand what people see in it. It’s a horror comic, in a way, in a sort of splatterish tradition. I’ve looked up some interviews with the author, and he says that one of his points is that horror which leaves the victim their dignity isn’t horror. This means his characters need to be demeaned for what he’s trying to portray. The book is filled with sexual violence, generally not depicted, merely described in extreme detail.
Although I accept his point that horror in which the victim scores a moral victory by keeping their principles intact is less horrible than stories in which people are corroded away at every level, he also wants to mix the horrific and the humorous, so that you are never quite sure where you are, emotionally. I can’t get that, because I don’t find Schadenfreude funny. Reading some of the reviews in his work, it’s clear that many of his readers do not identify with the victim anyway: they identify with the monsters dong the demeaning and destroying, which I think reduces the work to little more than voyeurism.
In a way, I respect the work, even though its, for me, neither particularly interesting nor even particularly readable. I read horror, and a lot of horror is really action-adventure with the tropes of horror over the top. I think Simmons is trying to recapture the shock that saw a nurse on duty at the first showings of Dracula, because a corpse that dragged itself into your daughter’s bedroom and sucked the blood from her neck, was not just terrifying but disgusting as well, on a physical and (because he was a nobleman) societal level. When EC comics were banned, their zombies were not just terrifying, but disgusting. They were stories about rotting corpses which could make telephone calls and send letters to real people, to suck them into the darkness and pollute them with their filth. Although I can’t find the humor in The Furry Trap, I do see that what Simmons is trying to do here is a similar sort of thing to the EC comics: he’s trying to go further than the reader can handle, by mixing horror and humor in a book. The target for his horror, though, is the ego, the indomitable right to have an opinion and to count as a person, which everyone feels they have.
Drawing on Foucault’s insight that people complain about things in literature primarily as a pose, and that transgression exists because people enjoy it too much to ban, I recommend this for people who enjoy very bleak horror, and are not shocked by descriptions of sexualized violence. In this I note that this is seriously transgressive literature, not the sort of shock-horror fun transgression literature like Fifty Shades where everyone gets to titter behind their hands at others reading mommy-porn bondage. This is bleak and nasty stuff, designed to repel and disgust.
This review originally posted on book coasters.
Although I accept his point that horror in which the victim scores a moral victory by keeping their principles intact is less horrible than stories in which people are corroded away at every level, he also wants to mix the horrific and the humorous, so that you are never quite sure where you are, emotionally. I can’t get that, because I don’t find Schadenfreude funny. Reading some of the reviews in his work, it’s clear that many of his readers do not identify with the victim anyway: they identify with the monsters dong the demeaning and destroying, which I think reduces the work to little more than voyeurism.
In a way, I respect the work, even though its, for me, neither particularly interesting nor even particularly readable. I read horror, and a lot of horror is really action-adventure with the tropes of horror over the top. I think Simmons is trying to recapture the shock that saw a nurse on duty at the first showings of Dracula, because a corpse that dragged itself into your daughter’s bedroom and sucked the blood from her neck, was not just terrifying but disgusting as well, on a physical and (because he was a nobleman) societal level. When EC comics were banned, their zombies were not just terrifying, but disgusting. They were stories about rotting corpses which could make telephone calls and send letters to real people, to suck them into the darkness and pollute them with their filth. Although I can’t find the humor in The Furry Trap, I do see that what Simmons is trying to do here is a similar sort of thing to the EC comics: he’s trying to go further than the reader can handle, by mixing horror and humor in a book. The target for his horror, though, is the ego, the indomitable right to have an opinion and to count as a person, which everyone feels they have.
Drawing on Foucault’s insight that people complain about things in literature primarily as a pose, and that transgression exists because people enjoy it too much to ban, I recommend this for people who enjoy very bleak horror, and are not shocked by descriptions of sexualized violence. In this I note that this is seriously transgressive literature, not the sort of shock-horror fun transgression literature like Fifty Shades where everyone gets to titter behind their hands at others reading mommy-porn bondage. This is bleak and nasty stuff, designed to repel and disgust.
This review originally posted on book coasters.
January 7, 2020
Jeśli chciałbyś sobie wyobrazić najobrzydliwszą rzecz, jaką można pokazać w komiksie (a tutaj można naprawdę więcej niż w innych mediach), to "The Furry Trap" z pewnością cię do tego punktu przybliży. Mimo wszystko jest to lektura na swój sposób fascynująca. Simmons pięknie gra skrajnościami. Cudna bajkowa kraina z wróżkami i jednorożcami przeradza się w miejsce rzezi, jakiej chyba jeszcze w popkulturze nie widziałem, Batman - symbol walki ze złem - wymyśla sposób, by znakować złoczyńców i - uwierzcie - jest on daleki od niewinności. Takich historii i konwencji jest więcej i nawet jeśli nie jest to komiks, który bym komukolwiek polecił, to sugeruję, by "na własną odpowiedzialność" sprawdzić i nigdy nie pokazywać dzieciom (nawet, gdy będą dorosłe).
PS. Ocena neutralna, żeby wypośrodkować - tego się nie da ocenić
PS. Ocena neutralna, żeby wypośrodkować - tego się nie da ocenić
November 26, 2019
This is to everyone screaming that they're looking for 'real horror'. Get stoned and grab this.
You'll find yourself opening the book and thinking 'ah it's just rape again, such a boring trope' and a turn of a page later you're grimacing because Simmons shows you that he knows exactly where to poke you to make it hurt.
I hated it. Hated how he doesn't hold back on suffering. Humans and animals mutilated with the same indifference. Men and women raped and killed equally. He creates nightmarish settings that in itself unnerved me more than the suffering.
Never again will I read this, but I say this with great respect for the artist. He is truly a master at what he does and I thank fate for making him a graphic artist. What would these dark thoughts make in the mind of someone who doesn't have a pencil to drain them out?
You'll find yourself opening the book and thinking 'ah it's just rape again, such a boring trope' and a turn of a page later you're grimacing because Simmons shows you that he knows exactly where to poke you to make it hurt.
I hated it. Hated how he doesn't hold back on suffering. Humans and animals mutilated with the same indifference. Men and women raped and killed equally. He creates nightmarish settings that in itself unnerved me more than the suffering.
Never again will I read this, but I say this with great respect for the artist. He is truly a master at what he does and I thank fate for making him a graphic artist. What would these dark thoughts make in the mind of someone who doesn't have a pencil to drain them out?
March 29, 2018
Well that was weird!
This is a collection of short bizarro comics centred around some truly messed up characters doing depraved things to one another. I liked Josh's art, he has a way of conveying the disgusting in a simple yet effective way, however I wasn't much a fan of the writing. There didn't seem to be a point to most of the comics and after a while the depravity got repetitive.
That said, the last comic in the book was actually pretty good and stepped it up in both writing and art, to the point that I'm interested to read his newer stuff to see if his style evolves into something more coherent.
This is a collection of short bizarro comics centred around some truly messed up characters doing depraved things to one another. I liked Josh's art, he has a way of conveying the disgusting in a simple yet effective way, however I wasn't much a fan of the writing. There didn't seem to be a point to most of the comics and after a while the depravity got repetitive.
That said, the last comic in the book was actually pretty good and stepped it up in both writing and art, to the point that I'm interested to read his newer stuff to see if his style evolves into something more coherent.
April 19, 2017
Still don't get it.
September 8, 2018
I regret I was reading this. I seriously want to lay my head on railroad track and wait for the train to come.
May 5, 2025
Oké, niet mijn ding. Wel qua tekening en kleur. Maar onderwerp helemaal niet. Ranzig en naar.
September 27, 2018
Pulling from the Johnny Ryan feel of insanely offensive material..
December 26, 2020
Tempted to give this 5 stars, but for that it needed a bit more content and a little more shocks.
So, how is this book? Well, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. This is not normal horror, which is mostly just dramas with a scary layer or action-adventure with a scarier than normal villain. This is shock the fuck out of you horror and the first story is the greatest testament to that.
To be honest, I enjoyed this. A lot. A horror book which makes me physically check my dick at 3 am out of sheer repulsion is a great one imo. It does it's job fabulously. Along the way, it challenges a lot of social conventions. It's very dark, bleak and you're never sure if the author wants you to laugh at a page or be repulsed by it. The almost childish simplistic art beautifully contrasts with what is actually happening on-screen. It's a 5 star experiment in the very least.
Yeah, I love this book. I love things like these which unabashedly own their edginess while not making it their only shtick. I know it's repulsive and gory and in ways unreadable but, what's the fun in the world if stuff like that never gets to exist. I feel kinda bad for liking something with as much rape as this, but hey, this genuinely managed to repulse the fuck out of me. And if the horror doesn't make you uncomfortable and if a book doesn't challenge your ideas, well, how long are you gonna live in that bubble?
I know this stuff is unhinged and batshit crazy but hey, it never pretends to not be. It was meant to shock you and bitch I'm fucking scarred.
Good book.
So, how is this book? Well, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. This is not normal horror, which is mostly just dramas with a scary layer or action-adventure with a scarier than normal villain. This is shock the fuck out of you horror and the first story is the greatest testament to that.
To be honest, I enjoyed this. A lot. A horror book which makes me physically check my dick at 3 am out of sheer repulsion is a great one imo. It does it's job fabulously. Along the way, it challenges a lot of social conventions. It's very dark, bleak and you're never sure if the author wants you to laugh at a page or be repulsed by it. The almost childish simplistic art beautifully contrasts with what is actually happening on-screen. It's a 5 star experiment in the very least.
Yeah, I love this book. I love things like these which unabashedly own their edginess while not making it their only shtick. I know it's repulsive and gory and in ways unreadable but, what's the fun in the world if stuff like that never gets to exist. I feel kinda bad for liking something with as much rape as this, but hey, this genuinely managed to repulse the fuck out of me. And if the horror doesn't make you uncomfortable and if a book doesn't challenge your ideas, well, how long are you gonna live in that bubble?
I know this stuff is unhinged and batshit crazy but hey, it never pretends to not be. It was meant to shock you and bitch I'm fucking scarred.
Good book.
April 19, 2015
A collection of horror comics, some of which make for genuinely disturbing and deeply uncomfortable reading. Josh Simmons is a very talented and very twisted cartoonist with a viciously dark sense of humor. Best stories: the creepy "Mutant," a funny little toss-off called "Asshole Roommate," the relentless monster tale "Night of the Jibblers," the long & brutal post-apocalyptic nightmare of "Cock Bone," and the truly horrible "Demonwood," the ending of which made my blood run cold. Warning: there is much extreme sexual violence and violence-violence here. I'm a seasoned horror reader and I was still taken aback at times.
December 19, 2012
I just finished this comic and I am so scandalized that I cannot rate it right now. I'll need to think about it a bit to decide whether I liked it or hated it. However, I'd rather not think about it at all - I wish I could unread it - I think I might be traumatized.
Ok, a few days have passed. I am settling on 3 stars because I hated it and I think Simmons wanted me to hate it which means he did a really, really great job here. I am still traumatized. This collection is fucking gross.
Ok, a few days have passed. I am settling on 3 stars because I hated it and I think Simmons wanted me to hate it which means he did a really, really great job here. I am still traumatized. This collection is fucking gross.
June 7, 2016
I'd read several of these stories before, mostly in Mome, but it's been a very long time since I did so. Reading these early short comics altogether was a fascinating experience. I love this collection! I interviewed Josh for The Comics Alternative podcast, http://comicsalternative.com/comics-a..., and much of our conversation was on these stories.
November 8, 2018
Meh. Feels like it’s reaching to be some sort of suehiro maruo type nightmare fever dream abjection shit but is mostly too listless and repetitive to feel visceral. His art style isn’t really up to the task either and dialogue is weak. The Batman strip comes closest to working, and actually properly nails the tone of bleak humor and dreamlike horror the rest of the book fails to achieve, tho.
July 10, 2012
Almost feel ashamed for admitting I read this. And liked it.
July 4, 2016
Impresionante. Un must.
July 31, 2021
Second time around, I still appreciate Simmons' technique and ideas. But I don't see why this needs to stay on my shelf.
December 4, 2024
The Furry Trap is a non-chronological collection of various short comics by Josh Simmons published between 2004-2011. There isn't a thematic connection between any of the stories, so the order in which the stories are presented has little bearing on the reading experience. Indeed, reading this collection in segments might be for the best, because taken together might be a little too much derangement for one sitting. Though it's early Simmons work, the comics are no less depraved than some of the more famous later works. The opening story, "In a Land of Magic", sets the stage well. What initially seems like a whimsical story featuring an elf and fairy in love, soon devolves into one of the most graphic rape scenes ever depicted in a comic. The other comics that follow are not much easier to get through, but I would argue the first story was perhaps the most egregious of the bunch.
In terms of actual horror though, it is the "Cockbone" story that resonates most. A twisted, insular, redneck family living in the countryside as the rest of the world has fallen due to some unspoken apocalyptic event routinely abuse one of their own family members. Bonecock, a gentle giant of sorts, gives into the whims of his brothers and mother, who all fellate him for a chance to get some of his semen that seems to contain hallucinogenic and/or euphoric effects. But a sexually transmitted disease leads to Bonecock's penis requiring treatment, and so he and his mother embark on a journey through the nightmarish landscape to find a remedy. The story has a real Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe to it, and remains the most chilling of the bunch.
As a collection, this serves as a nice sampling of Simmons' body of work. There isn't a ton of variety in terms of stories (they're all varying degrees of degenerate and gross), but Simmons' artwork gets experimental at times. Color is used in roughly half the stories, and is nicely applied to provide some differentiation from the more stark black-and-white artwork that he usually uses.
Contents:
- "In a Land of Magic"
- "Christmas Eve"
- "Mark of the Bat"
- "Asshole Roommate"
- "Night of the Jibblers"
- "Head of a Dog"
- "Jesus Christ"
- "Mutant"
- "Cockbone"
- "The Furry Trap"
- "Demonwood"
In terms of actual horror though, it is the "Cockbone" story that resonates most. A twisted, insular, redneck family living in the countryside as the rest of the world has fallen due to some unspoken apocalyptic event routinely abuse one of their own family members. Bonecock, a gentle giant of sorts, gives into the whims of his brothers and mother, who all fellate him for a chance to get some of his semen that seems to contain hallucinogenic and/or euphoric effects. But a sexually transmitted disease leads to Bonecock's penis requiring treatment, and so he and his mother embark on a journey through the nightmarish landscape to find a remedy. The story has a real Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe to it, and remains the most chilling of the bunch.
As a collection, this serves as a nice sampling of Simmons' body of work. There isn't a ton of variety in terms of stories (they're all varying degrees of degenerate and gross), but Simmons' artwork gets experimental at times. Color is used in roughly half the stories, and is nicely applied to provide some differentiation from the more stark black-and-white artwork that he usually uses.
Contents:
- "In a Land of Magic"
- "Christmas Eve"
- "Mark of the Bat"
- "Asshole Roommate"
- "Night of the Jibblers"
- "Head of a Dog"
- "Jesus Christ"
- "Mutant"
- "Cockbone"
- "The Furry Trap"
- "Demonwood"
July 25, 2024
First off, this book has plenty of gory horror, some proper psychological horror, and additional adult content. It is not for children, and not for a lot of adults. I strongly recommend it, but not for everyone.
I love this grotesque little tome inside and out, and I can't really say why. It grabbed me and when I finished it I wished it was ten times longer. It's nasty, and paradoxically lyrical and beautiful. To me.
Seriously, I might be steering you wrong. The appeal is so personal to me that I can't name it. Somehow this book latches into my family, my childhood, my whole life, though I can't give an example . . .
I don't know why. This hit me like a hammer and when I read it again, I still get that sweet old feeling. I'm not generally a horror guy, I hate gore, yet, here we are.
No retcons, no soft edges, no forgiveness, no takesie-backsies. Perhaps I was simply overjoyed to see someone tell their messed-up story exactly the way they wanted to, without any regard for what mom might think.
If you're looking for something different . . .
I love this grotesque little tome inside and out, and I can't really say why. It grabbed me and when I finished it I wished it was ten times longer. It's nasty, and paradoxically lyrical and beautiful. To me.
Seriously, I might be steering you wrong. The appeal is so personal to me that I can't name it. Somehow this book latches into my family, my childhood, my whole life, though I can't give an example . . .
I don't know why. This hit me like a hammer and when I read it again, I still get that sweet old feeling. I'm not generally a horror guy, I hate gore, yet, here we are.
No retcons, no soft edges, no forgiveness, no takesie-backsies. Perhaps I was simply overjoyed to see someone tell their messed-up story exactly the way they wanted to, without any regard for what mom might think.
If you're looking for something different . . .
November 29, 2019
Okay....so. I found out about this book on a list while looking for some great graphic novels to read. I heard that this one had a bunch of short horror stories that were grotesque and vile and I was totally down for that. I expected sex and nudity, and the worst of them all, sexual assault, because it is a grotesque HORROR collection. What I did not expect is a man to rape someone through a hole he created by cutting his throat and going out through his mouth....and that was the first story. Despite all the rape and masturbation, which I wasn't too fazed by (horrific topic but I have a strong stomach), the majority of the stories didn't do anything for me. No chills, no goose bumps, no gasps...well except for the weird ass first story and maybe that really short one with the cat because I love cats.
January 18, 2018
Incredibly violent, disturbing horror comics from Josh Simmons. In a grotesque panorama of blood, sex, and death, the artist depicts nihilistic suffering and evil with astounding efficacy. The artwork is consistently beautiful, juxtaposed with the extremely morbid content of the stories. One in particular, "Cockbone", is literally unbelievable, and features an ending that has haunted me since I read it last summer. Highly recommended, but be warned: Simmons isn't pulling any punches, and not everybody will be comfortable with the boundaries he breaches.
May 3, 2025
Some of the most disgusting, disturbing, fucked up comics I've ever read. Intentionally shocking and perverted to the extreme as if Simmons wanted to go out of his way to offend every living human being. If that was indeed his objective he succeeded with flying colors. Which is commendable in the same way Naked Lunch or Un Chien Andalou or The Garden of Earthly Delights is commendable. What did Pauline Kael say about appreciating great trash? Don't read this on a full stomach or you'll throw up all over it.
April 24, 2018
Perhaps I'm just getting older, but this felt more like a dream comic than a horror one. Shocking, disturbing, offensive subject matter and goings-on do not automatically a horror make. There's disturbing stuff, sure, but for what, ultimately? I've read some of Simmons' previous work like House and Jessica Farm and some of the Top Shelf stuff but I just don't know who these stories are really for. It's a shame because he can pull off different styles.
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