Joseph M. Monks

Joseph M. Monks was born in Queens, New York on February 21st, 1968, and while he no longer lives in the state, he will always consider himself a New Yorker. His family upped and left for the 'burbs in 1977, and Joe rooted himself in Valley Stream, NY, where he began a pursuit of two rabid passions: hockey and writing. Joe began writing when he was nine and has not looked back, particularly in recent years. Undaunted by the loss of his eyesight in 2002 (the result of Monks' long-time battle with diabetes), the then-33 year old author completed his first anthology of original fiction, Stuff Out'a My Head, released in December of the same year, and illustrated by horror legend Bernie Wrightson. Joe and Bernie frequently team up on horror projects, and their previous collaborative efforts include COVEN, The Night Terrors (comic book), and in 2003 a unique story & art portfolio entitled Gardens of the Dead, which further expands the Zombieverse that Joe has frequently explored with Bernie.

Joe is currently working on his first novel, while continuing to write original short fiction. Another one of his stories, "Inside" will appear in Sex Crimes II, due out in Fall/Winter 2005, with Joe sharing editing duties with longtime friend and partner-in-crime Hart D. Fisher. Fisher, the rogue publisher behind the badness at Boneyard Press, was the best man at Joe's wedding in June, 2004.

Despite blindness and surprising many, Joe continues to work in the comic book field, where he got his start as co-creator of the cult phenomena horror title Cry For Dawn, which released 9 issues between 1989 and 1993, when the company broke up. Shrugging off the inertia of his ex-partner and continuing to be a driving force in independent horror, Joe released a spate of successful comic book titles in ensuing years including NightCry, Tales of the Dead and several one-shots.

Joe's latest comic endeavor is the horror anthology Zacherley's Midnite Terrors, featuring the television horror host of the same name. In addition to getting the opportunity to work with The Cool Ghoul, Joe has enjoyed his experiences working with such legendary talents as Basil Gogos, William Stout, fantasy artist Ken Kelly, and others.

In 2003, one of Joe's short stories, "Chance Meeting," was optioned for adaptation to the screen by Japanese publishing powerhouse Bunkasha in tandem with DK Publishing. Joe was offered the opportunity to take a stab at the script for the short, , which was to have been used as a television pilot in Japan. The script was green-lit and produced, though the producers decided to take the property, starring supermodel Matsuo Otani, and release it to the direct market in Japan, where it was a runaway success. The adaptation of the story (which appears in Stuff Out'a My Head), received critical acclaim in the Far East and has done so in the United States as well, notably after it screened at the New York Horror Film Festival. The experience of working in film (Joe not only wrote the script but has a slightly larger-than-cameo role in the pilot) has pushed Joe on a path towards fulfilling another long-time goal, that of directing his own short film. Monks is seeking to break new ground once again, this time becoming the first blind filmmaker to direct a picture. That project, The Bunker, is slated to begin shooting in Summer, 2005.

Joe lives in Miami with his wife, Pam, their dog, Luna, two black cats, Midnite and Shadow, and his trampoline, which is just another challenge the crazy blind guy has decided to tackle. Joe plans to release a second solo horror anthology in early 2006, and constantly debates running for public office in his adopted home state. You can catch up with Joe's political ambitions and current company projects in his column, The Monks Word, which can be found at:
http://www.chantingmonks.com

Alex McVey
Alex McVey is an internationally published illustrator whose detailed work ranges in subject matter from the horrific to the serene. His most recent work for Chanting Monks Press appears in the 2005 Goth Babes: Ladies of the Grave Calendar, and in addition to illustration work for Agony in Black, he is also scheduled to return for the 2006 edition of the Goth Babes Calendar. To view more examples of Alex's work, please visit his official web site, www.alexmcvey.com

Baugh currently writes and illustrates stories featuring his characters, Wulf and Batsy, for Chanting Monks. The popular duo, who Tony Isabella lauded after their initial appearance in Zacherley's Midnite Terrors #1, return in Zacherley's Midnite Terrors #2. Baugh has recently completed his first graphic novel featuring the characters, (due out in Spring, 2005) with a fully painted cover by popular Image Comics artist Joe Chiodo. Watch the Chanting Monks NEWS page for more information on the upcoming release of the much-anticipated graphic novel.

Bryan grew up in Fairborn, Ohio but now lives in Thousand Oaks, California with his green-eyed goth-queen wife Monica and two ferocious jungle cats, Lucy and Tiger. To see more of his artwork, visit his official website at: www.cryptlogic.net

In addition to his work in the first two issues of the Zacherley anthology, Bryan has illustrations appearing in the brutal anthology Sex Crimes, and a stunning Wulf & Batsy pin-up in the 2005 Goth Babes Calendar.

"If Edward Gorey did ZAP COMICS, what you'd get is Mike Koneful!"
     - William Laughlin, ComicZone

John has a bad habit of hardly taking anything seriously, which made him a bad candidate for the priesthood and military service. As an ex-zombie hunter John turned his talents to writing. His first works appeared nationally in Star Trek fanzines while he was still in high school, but he grew discouraged when he learned Captain Kirk never fought any zombies.

John’s professional work first appeared in the form of an article for Fantaco followed with an original horror story for Twilight Zone’s sister magazine, Night Cry. John has continued writing both fiction and articles for such publishers as Druktenis Publishing, Horror Biz, Chiller Theatre and with numerous websites featuring his work. John is a long-time Zacherley fan, and is the man responsible for the classic Zacherley Scrapbook. John enjoys poking fun at sacred cows and drinking herbal tea. Once upon a time John crawled into the spacious halls of Chanting Monks Studios where he imbedded himself into a wall and refuses to leave. Chanting Monks Publisher Joe Monks became an inspiration to him with one simple remark: “Any day you haven’t written is a day you’ve written off.”

John's stories currently appear in the first two issues of Zacherley's Midnite Terrors, and will be appearing in issue 3 of that title, due out in May 2005.

During the 1970's
Harry Roland contributed cover paintings for Warren Publications' Famous Monsters of Filmland, cover paintings and line illustrations for Amazing and Fantastic and other similar projects. Since then, Harry has been involved in non-comic corporate and agency art assignments. In 2001 Harry joined the gang of creators at Insight Studios, where he and four other artists contributed to the 9-11 Emergency Relief book. The original art for that story, "Letters From a Broken Apple", written by Neil Kleid, is on permanent display at the Library of Congress.

Harry is currently producing an online strip of his own called " Trying Times." His renditions of Edgar Rice Burroughs' characters for the Panthans Journal (a group of the Burroughs Bibliophiles), led to a special commission of Burroughs illustrations for a portfolio entitled Roland's Wonders. A number of Harry's ERB illustrations have also been published in Heavy Metal Magazine.

In comics, Harry has completed a 7-page story for J. Vaughn's McCandless & Company : Crime Scenes, Sean Dulaney's Kendar, the Jungle Lord and Blood and Gold, two stories for Digital Webbing Presents. Blood and Gold is being created in full color for publication in 2005. In late 2004, Harry collaborated with writer Joe Monks on the story TAGS, which appeared in the digest-sized charity comic For The Troops; a comic distributed free to U.S. servicemen and women serving overseas in the Middle East. That story will appear in the third issue of Chanting Monks Press' horror anthology, Zacherley's Midnite Terrors, and another story for the next issue of For The Troops is also a Monks scripted tale, this one an 8 pager, which will be printed in Zacherley's Midnite Terrors No. IV. Harry's phenomenal cover art can currently be seen on several issues of Moonstone's new comic series:
Kolchak: The Night Stalker, based on the popular supernatural television program of the 1970s starring Darren McGavin. Harry currently lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and we're happy to report, working like a fiend.
http://www.harryroland.com/

Rudy started his art career in the Philippines before coming over to the U.S. to work for Marvel Comics in 1975 on Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, Savage Sword of Conan, John Carter Warlord of Mars and Dr Strange. Along the way he has worked on projects featuring nearly ever well known character inhabiting the marvel universe.

Rudy has also worked as the artist on the now-classic Warren Publications' creepy, Eerie and Vampirella magazines.

In 1985 Rudy went to work for Marvel Entertainment Studios in Hollywood, California. As a presentation artist. He soon returned to the east coast, to work at Neal Adams legendary Continuity Studios. After 10 great years at continuity, Rudy is back to doing freelance art. In recent years he has worked on Vampirella and for Crossgen Comics as well as a new story that is featured in Heavy Metal.

Naser is a comic book artist who began his comic career at the early age of 16 at Visage Studios in New York. He has since worked on numerous projects including Shadow Flame for JGM Comics, Luxura from Brainstorm Comics, Desiree for Millennium Publications as well as doing work for the old CFD Productions and now Chanting Monks Press. He has recently worked on a story for SSS Comics' Eclipse & Vega.

Naser is currently working on a story entitled Modern Tales of Horror and also several pin-ups for various publications. You can check out his website (which features many never-before-seen pieces of art as well as published work and previews of several upcoming projects.
Visit: http://www.nsubashi.com/

Joanna Estep

In the days following her graduation from Art school in 2004, Joanna Estep didn't have much time to ponder career options before she was swept into the world of comics. Teaming up with writer Allan Gross, she immediately began work as full time artist and co-creator of ROADSONG, a forthcoming series from Tokyopop Inc, which is scheduled to hit the streets in January 2006.

When she isn't working her fingers to the bone on ROADSONG, Joanna often contributes short comics to a variety of anthologies. She wrote and illustrated the comic JUNGLE LOVE for the Fractured Kisses romance anthologies, and has also collaborated with writer Andrew Sand to produce the comics OCTOBER COLLECTION, and SIGNAGE, which appeared in Zacherley's Midnite Terrors #2 and #3. In addition to their horror stories, Joanna and Andrew also contributed the short comic ALL MY EX-BOYFRIENDS ARE MONSTERS. REALLY!, to the Twenty First Century Romances anthology.

As if comics weren't enough, Joanna also wrote and designed the book, TIMING: EXPRESSIONS OF TIME IN SEQUENTIAL ART AND DESIGN, which received the Charles Logan Smith award for excellence in design. This passion for design led Joanna to team up with Designer Carolyn Dew, and to lend her illustrative talents to their 2005 calendar, LONESOME COWBOY. Joanna and Carolyn have plans to create other calendars as well, including a robot-themed calendar for 2006.

In between all the gazillions of pages of comics she draws, Joanna enjoys hiking, camping, bug-collecting, and blogging. To learn more about Joanna and her work, visit her website at: http://www.joannaestep.com, or visit her blog at http://www.livejournal.com/users/jouu

Stay tuned, 'cause this web site, along with many long-term and horrific projects are coming your way.