Red Room: The Antisocial Network

Cartoonist and podcaster Piskor (Ed Piskor: The Fantagraphics Studio Edition) presents a series of interconnected stories exploring the creators, fans, and victims of a series of websites devoted to livestreaming murder and torture videos. In the volume’s longest tale, Davis Fairfield, a seemingly mild-mannered, recently widowed courthouse clerk with a penchant for voyeurism, is courted by the producers of Pentagram Pictures; he’s eventually reborn as the Decimator, the studio’s most creatively brutal star. When Davis’s teenage daughter becomes concerned about his behavior, she embarks on an ill-fated investigation that brings her face to face with an evil beyond her imagination. Meanwhile, the creator of a powerful encryption software searches his own soul after discovering that the technology responsible for his vast wealth has also allowed the Red Rooms (the site of the torture) to flourish. Piskor pays homage to classic horror titles like William Gaines and Al Feldstein’s Tales from the Crypt in the best and most narratively satisfying story here, in which a garishly clad figure narrates a young tattoo artist’s journey to track down the creators of a video depicting her father’s murder.