Publisher AHOY Comics is unique in offering short prose pieces and poems in its comics. While the practice has precedent, AHOY’s prose and poetry pieces are noteworthy for their excellence.

In the 1940s and 50s, comic books contained prose stories, as comics were required to have at least two pages of pure text in order to qualify for discounted magazine postage rates— in fact, Stan Lee’s first published comics work was a Captain America prose story. However, publishers understood that readers purchased comic books for the comics features, not the prose; the prose stories were only meant to satisfy the post office. Prose stories eventually disappeared from comics and are not remembered for their quality.

Unlike earlier comics prose, AHOY’s offerings are artistically ambitious — sophisticated, literary, and artfully illustrated. AHOY’s prose and poetry pieces range from the humorous to the poignant to the informative, and match the excellence of AHOY’s comics features.

Prose story illustration by Phil Hester

Celebrated comics writer Grant Morrison is a prominent prose contributor to AHOY’s publications. Morrison’s prose stories are surreal and humorous, satirizing American visions of the past and future. AHOY’s debut comic book, The Wrong Earth #1, features Morrison’s “‘Hud’ Hornet’s Holiday in Hell!”; illustrated by Rob Steen, the pastiche celebrates past pulp adventure stories while accelerating the pace and action of such stories to absurd levels.

Morrison’s deliberate purple prose is brilliantly comedic:

“The formerly-dormant tourist attraction had chosen this very moment to erupt in the manner of some vast geological pimple, burst by the figurative ‘fingers’ of Gaia, the Earth Goddess, as if to relieve the pressure on her plate tectonics just long enough to do her make-up for a night out and a date with Jupiter, the handsome, monocular King of Planets. Now, oozing torrents of searing hot pus made of smelted rock, what was undoubtedly a minor zit-pop for Mother Nature, began to look like a potential extinction event for ‘Hud’ Hornet — and the men and women he’d vowed to protect!”

Morrison’s “Festive Funtimes at the New World’s Fair!” (published in High Heaven #1) explores an exposition in New York celebrating America’s future. Morrison — along with artist Rick Geary’s grotesque style of illustration — suggests that this celebration may not be warranted, and in “The Electric Sky Bear that Inspired Ben Franklin!” (Captain Ginger #1, illustrated by Phil Hester), Morrison documents the surreal adventure behind Benjamin Franklin’s discovery that lightning is electricity.

Prose story illustration by Joe Orsak

The prose stories of writer Mark Russell poke fun at capitalist practices and commercial products. In “Microwave Directions for Your Chicken-Fried Steak Entrée” (The Wrong Earth #2, illustrated by Joe Orsak), written in the form of food-preparation directions, Russell prepares consumers for bizarre product risks:

“4. Return chicken-fried steak to plate. Stir mashed potatoes. If mashed potatoes are not stirred, overheating may occur. Overheating may result in a pocket of boiling steam forming underneath mashed potatoes which might explode when pieced by a fork. Said explosion has been known to be so violent in nature that it has expelled potato matter like volcanic ash, burning the flesh of all who stood near. We believe that this is an acceptable risk in order to enjoy the best microwaveable mashed potatoes the industry has to offer. Microwave on HIGH for 4–5 minutes.”

In “Company Policy Regarding Eels” (Captain Ginger #3, illustrated by Ryan Kelly), Russell has fun detailing eel-etiquette in the workplace. And in “Miniature Cattle” (High Heaven #4, illustrated by Danny Schwartz), a pension fund is put at risk due to the shady practices and questionable sanity of an investor.

Prose story illustration by Peter Gross

AHOY’s prose pieces are often humorous: writer Kek-W and illustrator Geary turn the historic assassination of Leon Trotsky by Ramón Mercader into a funny chase adventure (“The Death of Leon Trotsky”; High Heaven #2); “Lackey Luck” (The Wrong Earth #2) by writer Bryce Ingman and illustrator Alan Robinson explores the misadventures of a supervillain’s henchman; “X-Mas Files” (Captain Ginger #3) by writers Frank Cammuso and Hart Seely, with illustration by Peter Gross, depicts two iconic FBI occult investigators looking into a strange holiday phenomenon.

Prose story illustration by Fred Harper

However, AHOY’s prose can also be intensely poignant. In “Death” (High Heaven #3, illustrated by Fred Harper), Matthew Sharpe crafts a moving story about the struggles of a mother and son after the death of a loved one:

“A year ago her husband had been drunk and got into his car and drove it at full speed into another car, killing himself and the driver of the car and that driver’s wife and two children. At least Dorothy was not still receiving phone calls from the parents of the man and woman her husband had killed, four people in their seventies saying horrible things into her phone, or sometimes just crying. Dorothy didn’t drink at all, she took her lumps sober.”

Prose story illustration by Carol Lay

Writer/artist Carol Lay illustrates her prose works, which have one-word titles like “Transformation” (High Heaven #4), “Meat” (The Wrong Earth #3), and “Rich” (The Wrong Earth #4); Lay’s artwork is eye-catching, while her prose stories deliver impactful and surprising endings.

Not all of AHOY’s prose pieces are fiction; writer Matt Brady and illustrator Orsak explore the factual science behind various science fiction concepts (the multiverse, clone armies, super-soldiers) in the regular feature ‘Not Required Reading.’ In “Eraserhead” (High Heaven #3, illustrated by J. P. Crangle), writer David Schmader reflects on his experience watching a particular movie for the first time, and how our opinions of an artist can shape our perception of that artist’s work.

Illustration for “The Putin” by Dan Schoeneck

AHOY offers fun poetry in its anthology humor title Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror. In “The Scallop and the Barnacle” (Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror #1, illustrated by Carly Wright), Cienna Madrid pens a humorous narrative poem chronicling the seduction of a scallop. In “The Putin” (Edgar Allan Poe’s Snifter of Terror #2, illustrated by Dan Schoeneck), author Seely takes inspiration from Poe’s “The Raven” in crafting a timely political satire:

“Once upon a midnight dryly, while I pondered Bill O’Reilly,

Raging at the media’s crimes, the failing Times, with rhymes, unsure,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a slapping,

Like Jake Tapper, crudely rapping, tapping towards my chamber door.

‘Some reporter,’ muttered I, ‘a loser we should deplore,

‘Only that, and nothing more.’”

In addition to the examples above, AHOY Comics has published many more excellent prose pieces — along with great comics features — that may be of interest. Although readers are accustomed to buying comic books solely for their comics features, AHOY offers high-quality prose and poetry pieces that deserve appreciation.