Curses

by George Wylesol

“Sometimes I think I see things. Out of the corner of my eye, behind a door, I catch a glimpse of something. It’s like a curtain caught in the wind, and then it’s gone.”

From hospitals to hell to the wilderness, George Wylesol’s short stories take place in liminal spaces where nothing is as it seems; the surreal becomes real; and something is lying in wait around every corner. As our main characters navigate through corridors, passageways, and highways, they sink deeper and deeper into everyday strangeness that slips into peculiarity, creating an internal journey from normalcy to the supernatural.

With surprising twists and turns, cleverly combining the strange and realism, smart, surprising, and sometimes terrifying – these stories make it clear that George Wylesol is like no one else in short comics-format fiction.

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Short Stories, Art, Thriller

Kindle Edition

First published November 15, 2023

About the author

George Wylesol is an American illustrator, designer, cartoonist and educator from Philadelphia, best known for his abstract alternative comics.
Wylesol currently lives in Baltimore and teaches illustration at Towson University and the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Reviews

[Alice Oseman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely unsettling and nightmarish! Excellent!!

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite organ is the hemogoblin.

[Nate Portnoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short fun comic vignettes. Great art style

[aqilahreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

a collection of short stories (2016-2023) using surreal and avant garde techniques to show the horrors in everything from a hospital to the wilderness to hell itself. 🏥🌳🔥⁣
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. i rlly rlly enjoyed 2120 by wylesol and i have to be honest, this somehow have similar vibes where the main characters would navigate through corridors, passageways & highways and they sink deeper and deeper into everyday strangeness that slips into peculiarity, creating an internal journey from normalcy to the supernatural. 🕳️⁣
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i love how wylesol is open to experiments when it comes to his drawing techniques and this collection really shows an eclectic range of his abstract vibrant art. 😍😍😍 while there were some parts where i dont rlly understand what was going on, i believe that sometimes you just dont need to understand a work of art in order to enjoy it.
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its something about his graphic storyteling, which is really weird and oddly captivating - i have never encountered a graphic novel like this like EVER, its rlly THAT unique!!!! 🤯⁣
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i guess this is more for ppl who are generally into art in the first place, would like to get inspired + open to exploring an unusual take when it comes to graphic novel. ⁣
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⁣THANK U GEORGE WYLESOL FOR BEING U AND SHARING UR BEAUTIFUL ART 🖼️
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#shortstories #artist #curses #georgewylesol #illustration #georgewylesolillustration #drawings #drawing #graphic #storytelling #horror #comic #booknerd #bookvibes #bookworm #bookshelf #reading #happyreader #bookclub #booklovers #bookoftheday #bookishvibes #bookstorelover #readingtime #book #books #bookrecommendations #bookish #bookstagram #bookishlove⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣⁣

[Joaquim Albert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es peligroso dejarte un comic abierto, nunca sabes que puede salir de el cuando no miras.

[Aaron Esthelm · Rating 5 out of 5]

So fun. the set is so stylized and has so much character and personality. the stories are fun engaging and quite the ride. this book has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience really fantastic stuff

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leer a George Wylesol es como entrar a un espacio liminal, a un rincón turbio de esos de la dark web, o teletransportarse a la escena de Mulholland Drive cuando Dan se lleva el susto de su vida saliendo del Winkies. Un elige tu propia aventura sabiendo que cualquiera de las puertas que te dan a elegir son malas mientras el horror y la indefensión te asfixian a plena luz del día y full tecnicolor.

[Raven Black · Rating 1 out of 5]

I try to find something nice to say about everything I read. Sometimes I cannot. In this case, I really cannot even say I appreciate the hard work and effort that went into it. As, in my opinion, it had no effort. Just lines and colors tossed onto a page to see what the creator could get away with. Side views of women's breasts, red and dangerously sore looking, with the nip as a light switch flicker. The Male Venus statue with one missing arm, a disproportionate member, and the other arm wiggling away. Giant yellow circles. These and other similar imagery vomit onto the pages. Things started off well (a story about a man who sees literal or figurative ghosts at his dead end job at the hospital), but after that things were grotesque; too extreme and lacking any depth.  If you enjoyed it, FANTASTIC! I'm very glad Wylesol found an appreciative audience. I am just not that audience.

[Jason Pollard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Couple of great standout stories and always haunting to look at, but coming to this from his longer stuff maybe spoiled me. Not much meat on the bone for a lot of the shorter/especially abstract pieces.

[Joseph Hamm · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather interesting amalgamation of George Wylesol’s short comic fiction. The illustrations are amazing and the symbolism at times is magnificent. I do believe this works more as a collection of ideas, as the end result is not completely cohesive (at least not in the same way as Internet Crusader or 2120). Still, it’s definitely worth checking out!

[eenayde · Rating 4 out of 5]

cool stuff!! :) really loved this!!!!

[🐴 🍖]

as a series of flash animations this would have KILLED in period 5A study hall ca 2004

[Campbell Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

i adore wylesol’s artstyle + i love love the eerie/unsettling atmosphere of each comic ugh love

[Giovanni Spadolini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alcune storie molto carine, altre incomprensibili. Tre stelle è un po’ avido come voto, ma mi aspettavo di più.

[Katrina B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sparse comics that will make your brain fizz like a shaken coke can, but if a coke can could be haunted also

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The entire first half of George Wylesol's newest comic is a reprint of "Ghosts, Etc.", a collection of some of short comics that capably utilize his sparse and minimalistic cartooning to craft a truly unique sense of dread. The previously uncollected short comics that make up the back half of Curses is no different.

Two standouts for me in this collection (and not previously collected in Ghosts, Etc.) were "Open House" and "The Cursed Lover". "Open House" is about a realtor trying to sell a house that may have been the location of some truly horrifying events, but the banal tone of Wylesol's prose gives the reader pause into considering whether or not the narrator is really the one to fear. It's a humorous take on the real estate business, and it's carried by the jarring sequence of images that Wylesol uses to compose the narrative.

"The Cursed Lover" is probably the closest thing to a feature in this book since it comprises much of the back half of the book. It follows the adventures of the hapless child known simply as "Ghoul" who goes about his day of school and an after-school job while also navigating a tricky love triangle with Mercy and Luke. Ghoul is accosted on the street by a mysterious man who tries to introduce Ghoul to a "spirit" of sorts, which kicks off a bizarre tale involving some grotesque entities and brutal levels of violence. The narrative is delightfully perplexing, but its the pared down sense to it that really adds to the horror of it all. Some of Wylesol's designs are cursed (pun intended, I guess) and makes for one of the most jarring reading experiences I've gone through in a while.

This is a nice sample of Wylesol's considerable talents as both illustrator and storyteller, but if you're craving something more long form, I'd recommend checking out "Internet Crusader" or his more recent, innovatively designed "choose your own adventure" styled graphic novel, "2120".

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

CursesCurses is a collection of highly unusual short comic stories. The first of these stories is Ghosts, a foreboding tour through a liminal space. The last of these stories is The Cursed Lover, a creepypasta-esque tale of 90s Nicktoon-esque children triggering the apocalypse in a Welcome to Night Vale-esque world.
Both of these two stories are excellent; the rest of the vignettes in-between them in the book are not.

[Yvette · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Wylesol 的一部短篇作品集，依旧是诡异的情节，creepy的画风，鲜艳的配色。第一个故事Ghosts 有作者那本2120的感觉。篇幅比较长故事是the cursed lover， 中间还插播了两则广告，有的搞笑。 Worthless 那篇感觉是bad trip 之后的作品, lol. 个人比较喜欢的其实是两篇很短的作品，castle maker 和Untitled，都是恰到好处留出很多给读者想象的空间。

[Isabel Carrero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raro, rarito, raro este libro. Algunas historias son muy cortas y nunca te queda del todo claro si una página continúa o has llegado al final. Wylesol es brillante y he disfrutado el libro como una adolescente.

[Isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The colors, the art + the eeriness? Incredible. Wylesol's art highly reminds me of Chris Ware's work and the vignette style glimpses into the surreal also reminded me of PTSD radio. It was an incredibly fun read!

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinatingly designed! This is one to revisit.

[Lucy Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

super disturbing and gripping liminal horror. loved it! think I’ve found a new fave

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, unnerving, minimal, sad.

[sachi · Rating 5 out of 5]

my brain chemistry changed after reading this if the backrooms were a graphic novel

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not what I expected but I flew through it! I think my favorite story was ghosts, as it was easily the most unsettling.

[Hilary]

Some of the stories were wow five stars and some felt like atmospheric filler. Assigning a star rating is hard for that reason but I am really liking this author and hope to find more by them.

[Madeline Warning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oddly comforting ❤️

[Randi · Rating 4 out of 5]

i don't understand what i just read but like. i get it.

[Jennifer Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not even sure what I just read..... WTF???

[Emily Posthumus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very surreal.