by Clyde Hall. The media outlets are calling it The Wedding of the Century, but they’ve a penchant for hyperbole. The century has a long way to go, after all. Still, considering who’s taking the vows, they may not be wrong. Ship your two favorite mega-celebs, let your imagination do the rest. Now add a ceremony held in a nearly unreachable locale, and to ensure privacy, there’s no wi-fi, no cell signal. But there’s a murderer. The guests become the prey, and as the body count rises, the elusive killer leaves behind corpses branded with a hashtag.
A Fyre Festival of Doom is the premise of AfterShock Comics’ Bad Reception. It’s not just a horrific skewering of the rich and infamous, our dependence on tech and social media also gets a sardonic twist of the blade from writer and artist Juan Doe. Fans know his visual stylings from titles like American Monster with Brian Azzarello and Cullen Bunn’s Dark Ark. This time around, Doe’s writing as well as providing art duties, and he’s offering a bit more of both for this debut issue: Bad Reception #1 includes a bonus six pages, for the same price as a standard book.
Doe’s excitement for the project is evidenced in his comments accompanying AfterShock’s announcement. He describes the book’s unease, which builds to horror as a host of media darlings find themselves first isolated in every way, then hunted. “It sets off a scenario where our main characters are all suffering separation anxiety and severe Nomophobia (fear of no-mobile-phone) from the start of the wedding. Throw in a mysterious killer who savagely hunts each guest and brands them with a hashtag and now you’ve got some serious primal fear going on, a return to zero. It’s in this chaos that the story takes shape and we learn if these characters have the Darwinian grit to survive or just fall victim to the hunt.”
Doe adds, “If you’re a fan of campy, slasher flicks in remote locations, cooked with some heady, social commentary on smartphone addiction, dashed with a wink of dark humor and a vast amount of pretty pictures, you might really enjoy this book.”
Juan Doe and AfterShock think you will, and they’ve provided some preview material from Bad Reception to prove it.
$3.99 | 32 pages | Full Color | AUGUST 21
BAD RECEPTION #1
Written by Juan Doe.
Art by Juan Doe.
Cover by Juan Doe.
Retailer Incentive Cover by Paul Azaceta.
From AfterShock Comics: It’s the celebrity wedding of the century, set in an undisclosed, remote location, with no access to wifi, cell phone reception or the outside world. But the dream wedding becomes a nightmare when, one by one, the guests are brutally slaughtered by a mysterious killer who brands his victims with a hashtag.
BAD RECEPTION is a searing horror story that doubles as a topical, satirical critique on society’s obsession with technology, social media and the cult of celebrity. Written and drawn by AfterShock’s very own Juan Doe (DARK ARK, AMERICAN MONSTER, WORLD READER)!
