I hate to break the string of Lovecraft, but in the spirit of horror, at least, here is a drawing that I did for a Kickstarter backer! I always like drawing rotten, hideous faces, so it was a lot of fun.

I’ve never read Gaston Leroux’s original “The Phantom of the Opera,” so like most people, my idea of the character is based mostly on the subsequent film adaptations (and Wikipedia). My ideal of early 20th-century Parisian horror is Guy Endore’s The Werewolf of Paris, a really excellent 1933 horror/romance novel set during the French Revolution. It’s mostly about human cruelty and sadism (and sadomasochism… the author obviously knew his DeSade, although unlike DeSade, he forward-thinkingly goes for Nine Inch Nails-style emo angst rather than sheer nihilistic pornography) rather than outright supernaturalism. In fact, what Wikipedia doesn’t say (SPOILERS) is that “Werewolf of Paris” maintains a certain plausible-deniability about the character’s ‘werewolfism’, never ACTUALLY showing/proving the title character transforming into a wolf. Is he really just a crazed maniac? Or is he a werewolf? The novel does *sort* of answer the question in the end, but… well. You’ll have to read it for yourself.