Albatross Funnybooks have announced a biographical graphic novel, “Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?,” by true crime writer Harold Schechter (Deviant), and writer/artist Eric Powell (“The Goon”).
The graphic novel will chronicle the life of serial killer Ed Gein, who was the inspiration for multiple murderers in popular culture, such as Norman Bates in Psycho, and Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The creative team will use a “fact-based” approach to separate Gein from his fictional counterparts, and navigate through his childhood and family life to reveal the impact they had on the formation of his psyche. “Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?” will also explore the shock that his crimes caused due their disparity with his appearance as an ordinary individual.
In a press release, Schechter said that while “Ed Gein’s story has been fictionalized many times in the movies,” these visual representations have never depicted “the bizarre inner workings of his mind,” something that will be done throughout the graphic novel: it “will not only bring the factual details of Gein’s crimes to vivid, compelling life but draw the reader into the phantasmagoric realm of his uniquely deranged psyche.” Powell said that “the after effect [“the idea that the quiet neighbor next door could be a real life bogeyman”] had on our culture, especially pop-culture, cannot be overstated.”
The 200-page black and white graphic novel is scheduled for release in comic shops on July 14, following by a bookshop release on July 27. The OGN will also be available via Kickstarter.
