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The Residents: Freak Show
This cutting-edge comic is based upon concepts and characters found on the popular Freak Show album by the Residents available in record shops across the country. Each features story and art based on one of the songs. Included are: Herman and the Human Mole by Richard Sala, Wanda the Worm Woman by John Bolton, Jello Jack by Matt Howarth, Mickey the Mumbling Midget by Savage Pencil, Bouncing Benny the Bump by Pore No Graphics, Lillie by Dave McKean and Tex the Barker by Kyle Baker. This 80-page trade paperback includes both black-and-white and full-color art and features a full-color cover by Charles Burns.
117 pages, Paperback
First published April 14, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 17, 2025
A curious anthology of comics about freak show people. With a pretty fantastic line up of creators. Brian Bolland, John Bolton, Richard Sala, Dave McKean and a cover by Charles Burns. Presented by the musical act The Residents.
The Bolland story is the best about a freak show resident who is literally just a head. He's quite abusive to his partner who eventually gets her revenge.
The Bolland story is the best about a freak show resident who is literally just a head. He's quite abusive to his partner who eventually gets her revenge.
March 25, 2018
I came across this collection of FREAKS searching for Charles Burns books. I'm a sucker for Freak Show genre but only certain artwork caught my eye the stories were a little dead for me.
March 12, 2021
I’m currently reviewing the latest pREServed reissue of the Freak Show album for a friend and thought I should order the book to give it a new perspective. The Residents have always been at some level thwarted film makers but they have successfully transformed those thwarted ideals into other visual and multi media areas. As such this book basically aims as less a libretto for the album - which is basically an opera - and more a visual explanation or rumination on the characters within. It’s really made me appreciate the record a lot more (it’s one of their less immediately loveable midi efforts) and gives a whole new dimension to the songs.
It helps that the Residents/ Cryptic Corporation have asked a really diverse bunch of artists to contribute: Bolland brings realism, Sala absurdity, Savage Pencil his usual grotesques and John Bolton and Dave McKean a really heavily artistic vision of weirdness. Matt Howarth has a far more cartoony style but that really works for the saddest song on the album. Pourneaux Graphics, which is basically Homer Flynn of the Cryptics and possibly the singing Resident (not that it matters), also contributes and although his style is more slapdash it really works well as an insight from the shadowy inner universe of the Residents. Kyle Baker works really well at bringing all the stories together, which are rejigged from the order on the album probably so that the styles are suitably spaced apart throughout the book. Of course Charles Burns does the cover
Freak Show may not be the most beloved of Residents albums but it’s still a fascinating creation, and you have to hand it to them when they create media like this to flesh out and reposition their work. They truly commit to their universe and this really helps to do that. It’s a shame there are no women artists here, because the band have used women’s voices since the very beginning, but I suspect this says more about the alternative comics scene of 1992 than anything else. I’d love them to do something like this again (and I can dream of submitting something!)
It helps that the Residents/ Cryptic Corporation have asked a really diverse bunch of artists to contribute: Bolland brings realism, Sala absurdity, Savage Pencil his usual grotesques and John Bolton and Dave McKean a really heavily artistic vision of weirdness. Matt Howarth has a far more cartoony style but that really works for the saddest song on the album. Pourneaux Graphics, which is basically Homer Flynn of the Cryptics and possibly the singing Resident (not that it matters), also contributes and although his style is more slapdash it really works well as an insight from the shadowy inner universe of the Residents. Kyle Baker works really well at bringing all the stories together, which are rejigged from the order on the album probably so that the styles are suitably spaced apart throughout the book. Of course Charles Burns does the cover
Freak Show may not be the most beloved of Residents albums but it’s still a fascinating creation, and you have to hand it to them when they create media like this to flesh out and reposition their work. They truly commit to their universe and this really helps to do that. It’s a shame there are no women artists here, because the band have used women’s voices since the very beginning, but I suspect this says more about the alternative comics scene of 1992 than anything else. I’d love them to do something like this again (and I can dream of submitting something!)
September 30, 2012
No two ways about it: I own this because of the collection of artists in it. I'd only heard of The Residents before this, and knew enough about them to convince me I didn't need to hear them. This book at least moved me to pick up the Freak Show CD used cheap...and prove myself right.
All that aside, this is not a great book, but not an awful one. I got it chiefly for Kyle Baker ('Everyone Comes...'), Dave McKean ('Lilly') and Brian Bolland ('Herman the Head') being included, and none of them disappoint (though Baker's framing pieces seem a little too off-the-cuff). Richard Sala's ('Herman the Human Mole') always dependable for creepy fun, and he delivers perhaps better than the rest (it is, after all, what he does). Savage Pencil ('Mickey the Mumbling Midget'), like Dave McKean, takes his assignment less literally than to just create a sensible story to go with the song, but anyone who's familiar with either creators wouldn't be surprised. Matt Howarth ('Jello Jack') also puts in a typical turn, and uses the title character to depict a kind of warped dichotomy of behaviours, to a fairly unsatisfying end. John Bolton ('Wanda the Worm Woman') took the easy way out, and turned in what are basically full-page illustrations to go with the song lyrics. Still, his usual top-notch work all the same. Residents' art department Pourneaux (or perhaps 'Pore No,' depending where you're looking) Graphics ('Benny the Bouncing Bump') do a nice job blending the tone of the music to a kind-of story, but I'm not crazy about the art. The front cover is, obviously, by long-time comic creep Charles Burns.
There's an introduction explaining how the album and the book happened, a one-page bio of The Residents by their 'career manager' Rich Shupe with a page of band photos, two pages of creator bios and pages to order Residents stuff.
As said above, this is not a great book, and all the creators have done better work. This is not, I suspect, anything any of them are ashamed of, though. Nor should it be. And I'm not ashamed to have it in my library. Any fan of any of the involved artists would likely enjoy it at least that much.
All that aside, this is not a great book, but not an awful one. I got it chiefly for Kyle Baker ('Everyone Comes...'), Dave McKean ('Lilly') and Brian Bolland ('Herman the Head') being included, and none of them disappoint (though Baker's framing pieces seem a little too off-the-cuff). Richard Sala's ('Herman the Human Mole') always dependable for creepy fun, and he delivers perhaps better than the rest (it is, after all, what he does). Savage Pencil ('Mickey the Mumbling Midget'), like Dave McKean, takes his assignment less literally than to just create a sensible story to go with the song, but anyone who's familiar with either creators wouldn't be surprised. Matt Howarth ('Jello Jack') also puts in a typical turn, and uses the title character to depict a kind of warped dichotomy of behaviours, to a fairly unsatisfying end. John Bolton ('Wanda the Worm Woman') took the easy way out, and turned in what are basically full-page illustrations to go with the song lyrics. Still, his usual top-notch work all the same. Residents' art department Pourneaux (or perhaps 'Pore No,' depending where you're looking) Graphics ('Benny the Bouncing Bump') do a nice job blending the tone of the music to a kind-of story, but I'm not crazy about the art. The front cover is, obviously, by long-time comic creep Charles Burns.
There's an introduction explaining how the album and the book happened, a one-page bio of The Residents by their 'career manager' Rich Shupe with a page of band photos, two pages of creator bios and pages to order Residents stuff.
As said above, this is not a great book, and all the creators have done better work. This is not, I suspect, anything any of them are ashamed of, though. Nor should it be. And I'm not ashamed to have it in my library. Any fan of any of the involved artists would likely enjoy it at least that much.
June 16, 2022
Oddly, the whole is something less than the sum of its parts here. I avidly love the work of every creator involved here (except Sala, whom I can take or leave), but even the work of a slew of my faves can't save this from feeling oddly half-baked. I'll reread it at some point accompanying a close listen to the album at some point and see if that affects my opinion.
December 13, 2019
A whole gallery of graphic artists present vignettes of Residents' imagined "freaks" separated out into chapter through an introducing ringmaster. These are gritty, earthy tales with backstories and tragedy. The comic came packaged in a Freak Show Special Edition.
May 31, 2008
Fun little collection of short stories based on The Residents's album "Freak Show", featuring several talented artists. Recommended primarily for fans of the band; secondarily for comics fans.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews