John Persons Ghetto Monster Comic -

In 2021, a Reddit user in r/lostmedia posted scans of a complete Ghetto Monster collection, sparking renewed interest. A small publisher, Obscura Comics, announced a reprint omnibus for 2025, complete with Persons’ unpublished notes and a foreword by a prominent graphic novelist (name withheld for legal reasons). In an era of polished, corporate-owned IP and algorithm-driven storytelling, the raw, bleeding-heart-on-a-photocopier approach of John Persons feels almost revolutionary. Ghetto Monster asks uncomfortable questions: What does horror look like when the monster is already a victim? How do you tell a story about systemic decay without being voyeuristic? Can a comic be ugly on purpose and still be art?

“You don’t become a monster in one night,” reads the tagline from Issue #1. “You become a monster one shut door at a time.” john persons ghetto monster comic

He began self-publishing Ghetto Monster in 1996, printing black-and-white issues on cheap newsprint using a photocopier at a local Kinko’s. The distribution was equally lo-fi: laundromats, barbershops, record stores, and backpacks sold on street corners. The comic’s logline, as written on the cover of Issue #1, is both simple and jarring: In 2021, a Reddit user in r/lostmedia posted