Fruiting Bodies

by Ashley Robin Franklin

A new spine-chilling horror comic from cartoonist Ashley Robin Franklin, author of One Million Tiny Fires .

All Frances wants is to start a new life with her new partner in the dreamy Pacific Northwest. To get there, she's forced to join a "bro's trip" with her brother, Charlie, and his annoying best friend, Trent. But their journey is abruptly altered when a wrong turn forces the trio to spend the night in the rain-soaked Oregon woods. As luck would have it, they come across a beautiful, friendly stranger, who is eager to help them--but is her convenient arrival their salvation, or something else entirely?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Horror, Comics, Queer, LGBT, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

48 pages, Paperback

Published October 12, 2022

About the author

Ashley Robin Franklin is an artist, cartoonist, and illustrator who currently resides in Austin, Texas. She was born in 1990 in the Rio Grande Valley, where she grew up and attended the University of Texas Pan-American. She majored in English literature with an emphasis in Creative writing, and minored in Studio Art.

She writes and illustrates comics, journals, draws, paints, and dabbles with various other artistic projects and mediums (including stamp carving, screen printing, acrylic painting, collage, etc.). Some of her greatest influences include her father, who is an art teacher and painter, manga, anime, films, indie comics, children's books, lowbrow art and tattoo culture, zine/diy culture, the occult, folklore/mythology and literature. She's also very interested in animation, children's book illustration, public art, printmaking and design. Things that make her happy include: travel, dogs, good beer, comics, cartoons, and ghost stories.

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally I think nothing says bad idea like camping in a mysteriously slurpy forest with no phone signal, but hey if your car is out of gas why not sit a spell and invite the equally mysterious stranger you find to join you. But what do I know. Fruiting Bodies by artist and author Ashley Robin Franklin is a thrilling little horror comic of queer desires, decaying damsels and fungal fun when Frances tags along on a road trip with her brother and his absolute shit of a friend named Trent so she can move across the country to live with the woman she met online. But when all the horror tropes of wrong turns and wicked wilderness suddenly befall them they are in for a lovely evening of heartfelt bonding. Haha just kidding, this crew is fucked. Plus we learn the important moral lesson: if you’re not a fun guy you end up as fungi. A bit too brief to really land any of its blows, this is still a good way to pass 15 minutes and give yourself some mental images to try and block out next time you are camping in the woods. GREAT FUN!

YEA invite her over, seems totally legit! It’s not like you are in literal horror trope conditions right now!

While Fruiting Bodies never feels fleshed out enough, at least the flesh we do get rots before our eyes and goes on a murder rampage. The seemingly normal woman lost in the woods trying to seduce everyone is…somehow part fungus and on a mission to rot everyone into her mycelium mates or…something? And it’s pretty entertaining and wildly creepy for what its worth. You don’t really have enough to bond with the characters to really root for them beyond like…yea I don’t want anyone to face a fungus finale but—scratch that, actually Trent has that shit coming. This isn’t a book to root for survival but one to root for Trent getting the nightmarish horror death that, lets face it, we watch or read horror for. Sorry not sorry Trent.

Oh look, pure body horror, who could have seen this coming?!

This is worth the quick read but isn’t much to write home about (I say as I write too much on a goodreads review) though I will definitely check out more of Ashley Robin Franklin’s works. Fans of media like The Last Of Us or anything zombie related will get a kick out of this and it is pretty exciting seeing nature take over some people in gross ways. Fuckin’ fungus.

2.5/5

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

So there are several books with this title. Fruiting bodies are fungal structures that contain spores. The title also reminds me of Jeanette Winterson, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit.

This one is about Frances, who crashes her brother Charlie's road trip to the Pacific Northwest with his friend Trent. Frances is going to move to Portland to be with her new girlfriend she met online. Frances is the mc, and Trent represents Toxic Masculinity. When they get lost (check) and run out of gas (check) in the woods (check) horror is going to happen. They meet a woman who either seems high or. . may be a zombie!? Or one of what appear over time to be "fruiting bodies" from all the rotting moisture in the woods?

An extra star for the artwork, though nothing in the book is as good as that cover.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

another sensational graphic horror short story from ashley robin franklin!! this one has similar dark mysterious vibes to one million tiny fires, which i adored.

franklin is skilled at evoking that slow creeping feeling that something is decidedly not right, then hitting the reader with fantastically disturbing imagery.

also, this pairs perfectly with one of my favorite x-files, "field trip." mycological horror!! i love the ending, how the events of the book remain mysterious and we are left hanging with a feeling of unresolved unease. good shit!!

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Big shoutout to Hoopla for recommending this to me. I had 3 more books I could check out for the month, which came up on a list for me to browse. The cover grabbed me, the PNW setting interested me, and the "Fruiting Bodies"/synopsis hooked me.
SO GOOD! The artwork is atmospheric with all the attention to native PNW flora and fauna. I enjoyed the banter between the characters, and the escalation is amazing as soon as the strange guest shows up! It's a perfect addition to any "sporror" reading list.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

This barely-there sketch of a horror tale has a pair of siblings and a friend running out of gas in rural Oregon and meeting a sexy, mysterious woman in the woods as they search for fuel. It's done well but is just too thin and unsurprising to satisfy.

[hope h. · Rating 3 out of 5]

now me personally if a strange woman emerged from the woods barefoot with mushrooms and worms coming out of her feet i would NOT let her stay at my campfire. actually that's a lie, i totally would, i would also die if this happened to me

[Stay Fetters · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Fungi are the interface organisms between life and death."

If you know me and I think you all do, I'm the Black Metal Queen of the Midwest. (Okay, that really doesn't exist but it would be pretty cool) The cover is metal! Like the deepest and darkest parts of the forest. Of f**king course I read something with this kind of cover. Oh, don't judge me. We all do it!

The title says it all. If you know, you know. I figured out pretty quickly where this was headed based on the title alone. It gave off Ito vibes without being as cool as he is. This was pretty good though and the art was great. I enjoyed it but wish it was longer.

[Diana Flores · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short story in graphic novel format. Quick read, but not my favorite. Needed a little more to make me care about the fate of the characters.

[thosemeddlingkids · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Nature horror! Quick graphic novel, not my favorite art ever seen, but a spooky story. 🍄

[Iben Frederiksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

★ 4.0 Stars ★

The artwork is very lovely and the story was pretty interesting as well. Wish it had been another fifty pages longer! It kind of ends on a cliffhanger, which I wish it didn't lol - this kind of makes it feel unfinished, because there's a lot left unresolved. But it was a great, short read. Loved the shiny artwork on the cover. Liked the characters - especially the siblings a lot, wish they had more pages fleshing out their relationship.

Good spooky october read!

[juliette]

the queer horror comic version of that one town in amphibia iykyk

[michelle]

i am an ashley robin franklin Stan

[William O’Pomegranate · Rating 2 out of 5]

A totally adequate horror comic that brings absolutely nothing new or particularly interesting to the table.

2.5 stars

[Sarah Stubbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy sporror a lot but this one needed just a bit more to it.

[kennsley willow ☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a creepy little graphic novel

[char · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very fun, short comic about a road trip gone bad. The artwork was great, and I especially loved that the fungal theme is established early on in the background when they first entered the forest. Like many others, I wish it were longer, both to flesh out and continue the story and of course to include more mushrooms haha.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So apparently fungi is cool now? Lol! This was suitably creepy and a very quick read.

[André Habet]

Neat concept and I dig her line. While the story builds to a climax, the stakes beyond life and death feel a bit thin. No one, including the pov character, gets much dimensionality or intrigue. Seems like just as the character does the author learned about fungi and decided that was cool. Could’ve been more to this story.

[Andrew Eder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now this needs more pages!!! This could’ve been a realllllllly awesome full length GN or a horror novel itself. Great symbolism of the mushroom ecosystem! Spooky and weird and has lot of potential to be realllly messy! Loved! Lots stars because I just wasn’t satisfied. I needed more!! Definitely recommend.

[Brenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too short!

[Sherri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very light on story and poor dialog. This one just needed to be longer. Like, with what we have here, why does the partner and move even matter?

[Chessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

#Summerween hoopla mini review!

This is a fun and creepy comic about a road trip that takes a dark turn in the PNW. I love a PNW setting, and I’ve definitely had my experience of being out of service in the dark woods (but never with this kind of catastrophic consequence, heeee). I got some definite queer X-Files mixed with Twilight Zone with some Junji Ito thrown in for good measure. If you like your spooky stories short, queer, and a bit humorous, pick up Fruiting Bodies! (Really, it’s so short, it’s only 55 pages!) I’ll be looking for more work from this author.

[Black Flamed Candle Books 🕯️📚 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the illustration style but unfortunately the story felt incredibly rushed and like a first volume. The ending felt unfinished and I was left wanting more. It had so much promise.

Reader’s note: I read the ebook version (52 pages).

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Kelsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and spooky!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's rare to come across a horror story like this one, I wish the story were longer!

[Laura Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

FANTASTIC. Very quick read, very creepy queer sporror! Perfect for spooky season or any time you want to be scared of the woods.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

a short little comic similar to The Last of Us

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, squishy read. Gross fun.

[Claudine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Ooooh this has really captured the squishy, squelchy PNW woods.