Night Terror

by John Kenn Mortensen

Reminiscent of Edward Gorey and Bernie Wrightson, a collection of spine-chilling line drawings of the creatures that haunt our dreams when night falls. When the sun goes down, our minds invent all manner of horrors that may lurk in the darkness. Danish cult illustrator John Kenn Mortensen draws inspiration from this shadowy realm, and his pen skillfully conjures these eerie visions on paper. Open this book (if you dare) to encounter a frightful horde of sepia-toned spooks ― witches, wraiths, goblins, giant spiders, wild boars, evil clowns ― and countless other unspeakable creatures. Hairy, hooded, or horned, they peer at you ominously through dead eyes, their fangs bared. By turns playful, wicked, stunningly imaginative, and masterfully rendered, the compositions in Night Terror are like a combination of Edward Gorey and Bernie Wrightson ― and the monsters themselves are as formidable and menacing as those that a Witcher might hunt down. A deliciously creepy collection of pen-and-ink drawings for those who find themselves beguiled by the things that go bump in the night. Full-color illustration throughout

Genres: Horror, Art, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

104 pages, Hardcover

First published April 11, 2023

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those looking for a eye-popping dose of pure nightmare fuel this spooky season, look no further than the nightmarish artwork of Danish illustrator John Kenn Mortensen. Night Terror presents a collection of frightening yet frightfully impressive artistic depictions of monsters and ghouls run amok through gnarled forests, dark rivers and childhood bedrooms. These hair-raising images, often depicting a child beleaguered by such beasts, are so full of eerie whimsicality and is perfect for fans of artists such as Edward Gorey. Look at these:

Its pages and pages of terror and delight, from haunted houses:

To haunted bridges:

And perhaps haunted dreams as these images linger in the mind late into the evening:

These are both chilling and charming and packed with wild imagination and wonder with many of the images depicting a sort of travel with both children and creatures marching headlong into the growing dark.

Over the Garden Wall, anyone?

I really enjoyed the artwork and this makes for a perfect halloween excursion of art. There isn’t a plot but you’ll pick up on overarching themes and it is certainly worth checking out.

So take a look into Night Terror if you dare and have yourself a wonderful spooky season!

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pure nightmare fuel. Images of children accompanied by horrific creatures. All with looks of ennui on their faces.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering how little actual text there is in this book, it sure took me a while to get through it. Partly, that was a deliberate decision. I wanted to take my time poring over every macabre detail of Mortensen's drawings. It also doesn't help that it's a fairly large book, making it too awkward to hold in one hand while eating a bowl of cereal in the morning, or while scarfing down a sandwich on one of my too-short breaks at work. This is a book that deserves, that demands, my complete attention.

I still remember the shock of discovering Mortensen's art for the first time, creepy vignettes full of terrifying detail done on Post It notes, the yellow background adding an unhealthy pallor to the work. Facebook dropped a few into my feed, and I immediately became a fan.

It's tempting to imagine narratives. The children in his drawings sometimes seem to be going on quests, their attitude towards the evil clowns and hairy, worm-like creatures that they inevitably encounter more trusting than terrified. Or at least they seem resigned to whatever their fate may be. His children never seem to feel fear. Unease, curiosity, anxiety, sure. But never outright terror.

There's certainly a bit of Edward Gorey in Mortensen's style. Both have almost an obsession with contrasting textures and dense thickets of line work. But Mortensen seems to lean more toward horror; Gorey, toward surrealism. Both have a knack for dreamlike imagery.

This is a book for aficionados of the darker things in life, for fans of artists like Charles Addams, Junji Ito, Edward Gorey, Gahan Wilson, Bernie Wrightson, H.R. Giger … you know who you are. John Kenn Mortensen is the real deal. Highly recommended!

[Light Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of picturing nightmares and other unsettling situation children have to live through in their dreams. I loved how realistic the scenarios are of the monsters and bogey men that never actually hurt the children. In a lot of pictures, it seemed like the monsters were more harmless than humans. Some did not even seem to be a dream but a situation from real life, where a specific person is depicted as a monster.

[Kat P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who suffered from nightmares nightly for almost 25 years his drawings are excellent, brilliant and stunning. I found myself putting words to the pictures (like the poet I am). I could feel the darkness and nightmares in these pages. I definitely wouldn't mind owning this book as I borrowed it from the library.

[Erikka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well. That was good old fashioned nightmare fuel. While the images were creepy as anything, the worst parts were the clowns (bc ugh, clowns) and the passivity on the face of the children. There was no fear, just a resigned ennui. That’s a level of acceptance of horrible things I think we can all get behind in 2022. A few stars off bc it was very short and I wish the images had had names.

[OmniBen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 3.25/5
A beautifully put together collection of slightly twisted and disturbing artwork, which unfortunately suffers due to the lack of prose to go with it. Some images have an abstract sentence attached. Most have nothing. A very short story, an excerpt, hell, even the name of the drawing would have given this darkly compelling work much greater substance and made for a more engrossing read. Had to mark it down due to the repeated motifs within the artwork, too. As inventive and upsetting as some of these images could be, there were probably half a dozen ideas, slightly tweaked a dozen or more times each. It all gets a little samey by the end.
Whatever you do though, don't make the mistake of bringing this one along for children's story time at the local library. Good for what it is, but not really anything exceptional. 3.25/5


OmniBen.

[Halina Hetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Не варто було читати це перед сном :)
Збірка красивезних і страшезних ілюстрацій, які автору наснилися в кошмарах. Дуже цікавий стиль і кріпова фантазія. Деякі сторінки запам'яталися назавжди.

[b (tobias forge's version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this while listening to the Hereditary soundtrack, and it was a lovely experience.

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's no question I enjoy Mortensen's art. His technique is often breathtaking. But how much of it do I really need?

[Nick G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

If ever there was a celebration of fine art celebrating the pulse of horror, this book is it! The images in this book are the stuff of wonderful, beautiful nightmares hidden deep within the crevices of a hidden imagination. Horrific and fun, Night Terror offers a delectable array of monsters too good to be true. But the best part is, they are all here in this book. I can’t wait until the hard copy of this book! Thanks to Edelweiss for the advanced copy.

[Jemmy Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I’ve come up with a way to describe John Kenn Mortensen’s work, and it’s “hauntingly whimsical.” This is another fantastic book of his monster illustrations. If you’ve seen his work and loved it before, then this is a wonderful collection.

If you’ve never seen his work before, I envy you. I wish I could go back to the first time I came across his Post-It Monsters. They were skin-crawling, spooky, mesmerising and often humorous. I remember how morbidly fascinated I was. I still get that feeling when I look at his work, but nothing beats that first trip down the horror pit. It made me feel like a little kid again, peeking over my quilt at night, thinking I saw something in the corner of my room…

He builds these intricate little worlds in his drawings where you can just see, hear and feel the atmosphere, whether it’s a 15 ft hairy monstrosity looming over an unsuspecting child, or a tentacled creature lurking beneath a boat, waiting to strike. I love how he captures the irrational fears of childhood in such an authentic and terrifying way.

I keep coming back to his work, and will continue to do so as he keeps churning them out! If you love creepy crawlies and long-limbed hags, you’ll love this collection.

[Victoria Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rather than this being a comic it's more of an art gallery showing the nightmares of John Mortensen.

Call me crazy but there is something comforting about his characters. The children don't seem terrified, uneasy maybe, but not terrified. I love creatures like these because they seem misunderstood rather than dangerous and I find it comforting.

John has an amazing talent for art and his penmanship is phenomenal. I would love to see these characters again and maybe even a series or mini-series of their backstories.

I highly recommend checking this out, especially if you enjoy visual horror.

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bunch of creepy pictures with lots of details. Very 'what the heck'. This is a 'comic' but not in the way you might expect- it's more on the readers to interpret a story from each image, building up a world or vibe with each image. Which is cool! Some great detail in this, with the horrified expressions of children everywhere. My favourites were the buildings with winding overgrown plants or creatures surrounding them.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get the Edward Gorey reference - it does have a bit of that feel, although without some of the gothic and period feel. There's no story here, just a lot of art that will leave you with questions and possibly concerns for the artist's mental health. Some of the detail is impressive, but a lot of it didn't do much for me. Your mileage may vary, and even if it doesn't disturb you, it's maybe 10 minutes to scan through the images.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super creepy vibe here! From the land of nightmares - creatures that remind you of all the monsters that were just waiting to get you when the lights went out! Some truly disturbing images; strong 'fairy tale' feel to the images - that makes them even more disturbing. Will definitely keep an eye out for more books by JKM!

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful book filled with horrifying illustrations of kids with ghouls and other bizarre entities. The individual pieces aren't really tied together by a central narrative, though they are thematically connected visually. It's not really something I found particularly scary, though the artistry was excellent overall.

[Adam Schmersal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another rule-breaker...4.6 rounded down. It's just not a 5. The drawings were exceptionally interesting and well-done, but without any narrative, it was just an art gallery after awhile--albeit a good one. I just found myself being done like halfway through, but that probably says more for my attention span than anything else. Still worth a look.

[Lisa Frankenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of me wished that every image had a caption or title, but letting my brain create a story while lingering on the creepy, untitled scenes is how personalized nightmares are born. I stumbled across the artist’s work years ago in their sticky note days, so it was neat to see their pen & ink style bloom across larger canvases.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3+

An enjoyable collection of dream-conjured monsters, though many seem based on things I've seen before (Spirited Away, It, Where the Wild Things Are, etc). There isn't a strong narrative holding the images together, although it is terrible to think that these are depictions of what the author experiences when he dreams.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. The macabre drawings from the artist and author are so intriguing that you cannot help but turn the pages ever so slowly. This gives you time to appreciate the twisted tales of the dreams portrayed in the pictures. The last pages of the book are a compilation of yellow sticky note drawings. This is where I recall seeing this artists work many years ago.

[r. fay · Rating 5 out of 5]

[advanced digital copy courtesy of Edelweiss for booksellers:)] ICONIC!!! Like Ed Gorey for girls who like swords. Can't wait to get my grubby little hands on a physical copy of this so I can trace every single drawing.

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super fuckin' weird and intricate. Loved looking at the linework Mortensen penned, and loved the sticky note illustrations even more. Such an intense and intricate style. Not for everyone, but for those who are interested, they'll surely enjoy the strange scenes he's invented.

[Andy Hickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Night Terror, by John Kenn Mortensen
Not ghastly, more like skilled detailed black & white, or sepia, sketches of claustrophobic dream scenes – as if Edgar Allan Poe was describing ‘Labyrinth’ movie and ‘Lord of the Rings’ to someone like Bernie Wrightson. ****

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immaculately rendered nightmares, but paradoxically prone to a sense of sameness when taken altogether; best to parse this one out if you can...and if you're into children menaced by horrifying beings.

[Facundo Aqua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brillante. Las pesadillas de Mortensen a menudo persiguen, acechan y capturan la inocencia y la vida de niños inocentes pero a veces los acompañan, como fantasmas de una futura angustia, dan tanto miedo como imaginar todo lo que habita en las sombras de nuestra habitación.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

More Junji Ito than Edward Gorey. Every drawing could be the centrepiece of the scariest folk horror film you’ve ever seen. I’m actually annoyed that these films haven’t been made yet. A24 needs to get on this, asap.

[Jenny Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you looking for the creepiest drawings ever? Congratulations. You found it.

[Leslie Carnahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy Shit. Not what I expected. What INCREDIBLE UNSETTLING ART! I LOVED this imagery. So creative. So different. Not for everyone but this lover of the macabre LOVED it :)

[Candace Horne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great art