Fantastic Frights is open for submissions! 2

From the publisher of Bones of the Coast and The Witching Hours comes a fantastically spooky new comics anthology!

The Cloudscape Comics Society is proud to announce that FANTASTIC FRIGHTS, the all-ages fantasy/horror comics anthology, is now open for submissions!

Fantastic Frights is a modern day love letter to the retro-pulpy horror of the 90s and early 2000s but with a fantasy twist. Think fantasy Goosebumps, but in comic book form.

Submissions are now closed. Thanks to all who applied!

Why Fantastic Frights?

Despite the rising demand for more kid friendly graphic novels, we’ve observed a great deficiency in content, ESPECIALLY in the horror genre. Fantastic Frights seeks to fill that gap, providing kids with a safe and engaging way to jump into the genre by literally transitioning them into it!

Stories will be ordered by least to most spooky (as judged by the editors), culminating in the most horrific (but still safe) stories we have to offer. The book will challenge readers by posing the question of how far into the book are they willing to get, and warning them that it only gets scarier from here!

What we’re looking for

The main theme of the anthology is the Fantasy/Horror cross. While stories can lean more heavily towards one genre, they must contain elements of both. Stories that can come up with unique and creative ways to weave the genres together are more likely to catch our attention.

Some examples of what we’re looking for are Are You Afraid of the Dark, Goosebumps, and Tales from the Cryptkeeper (the cartoon), but leaning slightly more heavily on the fantasy element.

By “Fantasy” we mean it in the broad sense of the world. You’re welcome to create a high fantasy setting with mystical creatures and locations, but a low/urban fantasy story set in the modern day with light paranormal elements is equally acceptable.

A secondary theme is the arrangement of the book, with stories being ordered from least, to most scary. Because of this, we’re looking for a diverse range of spookiness in your submitted stories. From light horror to cosmic horror, all tales have a place here. That said…

The book will be all ages friendly, with a main target audience of 8-13 year olds. That means stories should avoid excessive violence, gore, swearing, and other adult themes. Implied death is okay, but the content should never be traumatizing for readers. It also means stories don’t need to be absolutely terrifying to get accepted. Keep in mind that this book will be a lot of readers’ first experiences with the horror genre. Scares are definitely allowed, but ultimately we want readers to be able to say they had fun reading our stories.

Stories should be self contained, and between 1 and 12 pages long. You’re welcome to allude to a bigger world in your story, but it should still have a clear beginning and end. The sweet spot for stories is between 4 and 8 pages.

Because Cloudscape is a Vancouver based organization, preference will be given to creative teams and individuals local to British Columbia (but don’t let that deter you from submitting).

How to Submit

Apply to the anthology here: – submissions are now closed –

We are accepting submissions in the form of pitches of at most 500 words from individual artists/writers and creative teams.

You’re welcome to fill our the form multiple times (max 3) if you have more than one story idea, or would like to also apply as an unpaired artist.

Some things to consider for your pitch:

• Adding a logline sentence which summarizes your story in a compelling way and allows us as editors to quickly see how your story will hook the reader in.

• Show us what makes your story stand out. How does it play with the theme of the anthology in a unique/interesting way?

• Your story does not need to be fully scripted before submitting, but all the characters, main story beats (including the ending), and the overall tone you’re going for should be clearly laid out. Vagueness won’t help us grasp your story so please be as concrete as possible. To reiterate: You must spoil the ending to us!

Preference will be given to pre-assembled teams and individuals aiming to both write and draw their own stories but you may also apply as an individual writer or artist and we’ll do our best to pair you with a creative partner.

Submissions are open until November 20th, 2020 at 10PM PST.

Project Details

Payment and Ownership

Creative teams will be paid $100 (Canadian) per page of their story, with the potential for a pay increase depending on the success of the Kickstarter campaign. Each contributor will also receive one complimentary copy of the book, and will be able to purchase additional copies of the book at cost.

Cloudscape reserves the right of exclusive publication and printing of stories in their collected form for two years after publishing of the anthology. Creators retain rights to their stories and can repurpose them as desired after this publishing period has expired.

For all accepted stories, completed art will be due early August 2021. A more in depth timeline will be sent to all contributors upon acceptance.

Book specs

Dimensions: 6 by 9 inches
Length: 100-125 pages
Colour: Black and White with spot colour (see our other anthology The Witching Hours for an example of what we’re looking for)
Paper Type: Recycled paper (for that classic pulpy feel)

About Us

The Cloudscape Comics Society, a non-profit comics organization based in British Columbia, has been publishing award winning graphic novels for over 13 years. Dedicated to fostering a local comics community, Cloudscape has spearheaded comic book classes and talks on the medium, yearly anthologies, public artworks and events, and numerous other activities that engage the public with the fascinating world of comics.

The Fantastic Frights anthology is proudly headed by a team of industry professionals:

Casey O’Ceallaigh is a comic book researcher and writer who currently resides in Milwaukee. Her past comic creating work includes D.S. al Fine Issues #1 (2017) and #2 (2018). She is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, where she studies comic book theory. Her papers include Signs of Change: Visualizing Deafness in Fraction & Aja’s ‘Hawkeye’ And With Great Para Comes Great Responsibility: Analyzing Paratext in Comics. She has presented several conferences in 2018-2019 and is due to present her work at MPCA/ACA in October of 2019.

Evan Waterman is a Vancouver born comic and children’s book writer and letterer, as well as Director of Promotions at Cloudscape Comics. He’s most known for his online comic making guide “Taking A Comic From Start To Finish”. When he’s not making comics or teaching comics workshops, he can be found DMing crazy D&D adventures and obsessing over cats.

Jacob Bouvet is a writer based in Springfield, Illinois. He has had work published in several comics’ anthologies, including the sci-fi romance anthology, Speculative Relationships, and Stache Publishing’s giant monster anthology, Colossal Chaos.  Jacob, along with collaborator Amanda Johnson, has also self-published the first issue of the kung fu, science fantasy mini-series Ko Gaine. Jacob’s current project is the ongoing romance, drama webcomic BURN.

For more details about the anthology, feel free to email us at fantasticfrightsanthology [at] gmail [dot] com.