Wine and Comics: PLAGUE HOUSE (2025) - Cosmic Horror Meets Sfumato and Sonoma

One of the best comics we've read in a while. Dallas especially! A twist on the classic Haunted House subgenre that doubles as a catuonary tale for our times. Written by Micchael W. Conrad and art and letters by Dave Chisholm.

The collected graphic novel can be pre-ordered here!

The Wines:

AMARO SFUMATO RABARBARO

2018 Red Car Syrah, Sonoma Coast, California

Chapters

• 1:28 Wine Trivia Question of the Week
• 2:41 The Comic
• 4:54 Dallas' Wine Pairing
• 9:09 Dave's Wine Pairing
• 15:38 Plague House Creative Team
• 23:53 Unreliable Narrators and Sneakily Simple Setups
• 36:06 Chisholm's Art
• 41:35 Wrap-Up!
• 46:25 Outtake

Transcript

0:05

Are you not entertained? Yes sir! We'll have a real good time! He's Dave and I'm Dallas and this is Ventertainment. We have opinions on just about everything. Sometimes those opinions are spot on. Sometimes they go down easier with a glass of wine. This is entertainment, the wine and entertainment pairing podcast. Welcome back to another wine and entertainment pairing for Yorv Entertainment. This is the podcast where we pair wine with entertainment. It's as simple as that. We always know what we like or dislike, but we rarely know why. So what better way to learn about that than by comparing different wines to different types of entertainment and compare and contrast how they both hit us and affect us the way they do. I'm Dallas, a professional writer and world builder. And I'm Dave, your WCET level 3 certified wine professional. And so I will introduce everyone to the wine trivia question of the week. 2020, during our own most recent pandemic or quote unquote plague known as COVID, which wine variety overtook Chardonnay in both volume and sales in the US for the first time? Is it a Sauvignon Blanc? B, Cabernet Sauvignon, C, Pinot Noir, or D, Riesling. Which of these wines overtook Chardonnay for the first time in both volume and sales in the US during the plague known as COVID? Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, or Riesling. To answer this question and then also find out the answer, head over to our sub stack, theentertainmentstudios.com, find this post on Plague House. and cast your vote in the poll, then scroll to the bottom of the post to see if you got it right. There will be an answer down there with even a little bit of extra information on why which one is the right answer. Like how much did it surpass Chardonnay? We'll let you know right there. So head over to Vin-Entertainment Studios dot com. And now, let's get on with our focus today. In an interview, the creator of today's four-issue comic book series is quoted as saying, I swear I saw a ghost as a child floating in the living room of my family home. I wasn't dreaming. The man bobbed in the corner staring at me wordlessly pleading for help. Plague House is about answering that call and discovering the true nature of hauntings, imprinted memories, and the demands places can make of the living. And I personally, Dallas, the co-host of this podcast, couldn't fucking agree anymore if I tried. That's right. Today's pairing is with the Oni Lion Forge Publishing Group or OLFPG title, Plague House, written by Michael W. Conrad and illustrated and lettered by Dave Chisholm. Released in April 2025, so it's been recent. It's just this year. In fact, it just wrapped up not too long ago because it was four issues, four months. Plague House issue one began the four issue limited series that's been electrifying readers with its horror genre mashup style. On top of reviving their EC Comics line, Oni Press had intentionally fostered a slate of genre colliding projects from acclaimed creators to hit the market in 2025. And Plague House. from Conrad and Shishom is one of these titles. The story is as follows. Get ready for a dramatic trailer style reading here, guys. It's been 13 years since Orin McCabe was accused of killing his family in a gruesome hammer-centric scene. As he sits on Death Row, an intrepid yet motley crew of ghost hunters take up the task of investigating the house where the murders happened to determine if some otherworldly force could have fueled McCabe's rage. Soon. Something much more insidious makes itself known and must quickly be contained before it spreads and capitalizes on America's thirst for violence, which would undoubtedly spread like a plague across the land. All right, before we wait into this piece, let's get to the one pairings. What you got Dallas kick us off. What are you pairing with plague house? Okay, this one was a difficult one for me. I eventually settled on something spicy, right? This ah usually I like to take that um contrasting route to pairing sometimes. um But I wanted something that was spicy. When I was reading this, it was and by the way, guys, Dave recommended this. um this for this pairing this time. And I think it has a lot to do with the fact that it kind of lines up with this type of stuff I write personally in the kind of world I'm really immersed in at the moment. um So kudos to that. And, ah you know, when I think of this kind of mashup, this kind of genre, mashup, we'll call it, um it leaves me a little spicy, it feels so spicy when I'm reading it. And that's the kind of thing even with food, if there's a little spice in something, it kind of implores you to keep eating and keep reading and keep ingesting it. And I wanted a wine that kind of did that as well, because it is a very brief series. I mean, again, four issues, as Dave said, which just concluded last month, Dave, I think. Last month feels right, yeah. No, it's longer ago than that, but it would have been what? March, April, May, June. So June. June, July at the latest. Yeah. Okay. Right. Yeah. And, uh you know, so it is a tidy bite. It is a mouthful. um I originally thought I was going to go with uh a Merlot, but I did not. uh I wanted but mostly because and I hate to say it, but I'm How to How to smooth. Merlot is way too smooth. Smooth, there you go, thank you. That's why you're here, dammit. ah Merlot. I'll say it the nice way. I'll say it the nice way. That's true. That's actually very true. We work well together. You can be my filter sometimes. That's um anyway, I wanted something that was kind of decadent, kind of dangerous, kind of spicy. um And I chose a 2018 Sarah. um It is the chocolate note in there is is very mysterious. You know, you get that strawberry and that plum and it just it complimented this fucking piece so well when it ended I was like, no, no, no, this is a problem. This can't end. I need more. I more. I need more of this. I need and that is a very rare statement for me. Yeah. Dave can attest to that. Anyhow, I chose the red car. uh Sonoma Coast, Sarrah 2018. ah It was uh only price or size, it was like 36 bucks. um I believe K &L has it here for anyone who's local, regional to California. um But you can find it just about anywhere. It's got, like I said, all the things you want from a solid Sarrah, just like this piece has everything you want from the horror genre, because you get a little bit of everything in this piece, even though it's very brief. This kind of genre mashup is just so satisfying, and it leaves me, it's a little spicy on my sort of reader's palette, and this wine is also a little spicy, and perfect, perfect match and pairing for me. So that's what I got. All right, sweet. Yeah, so I'm with you on like when you said Merlot, I mean, just internally, I was like shaking my head. I'm like, no, no, no. I like Merlot better than you, but I'm like, the no, completely not the right fit. It's not the right style. It's not the right. You need something spiky like Siraz got the pepperyness, right? And Siraz got a little bit of that. the florals and like the layers and like something that's gonna that's gonna poke you a bit and stand out. So yeah, you need something strong, something stronger than a Merlot and most Merlot I think they can be pleasant AF but the pleasantness is too pleasant. It's too round. It's too smooth. um So the strength of Merlot is not doesn't match the strengths of this story of this comic. um So for me, very similar. um logic to my pairing in one of our previous horror story pairings. In fact, our very first book pairing, we covered the novel benighted, right? know, aka the old dark house. And we covered that classic 1930s movie adaptation of the novel in that same episode for the most part. So everyone go check out the benighted episode to hear and that by the way, that is benighted without a K. That is B-N-I-G-H. uh T E D. So be night. The night befalls you be night ed. um Go check out that episode to hear our take on both the movie and the novel. But in that one, I paired the nighted with a coffee Amaro and Plague House gave me very similar vibes in certain ways. It needed something bitter and strong, yet exciting and balanced with a certain sweetness as well, because it's just a very exciting read. It's challenging, but not unpleasant just like a good Amaro. So I chose Amaro, Sfumaro, Rabarbaro. This is a hard one. is a hard one. Amaro, Sfumaro, Barbabaro. Barbaro. Barbarabaro. Rabarbaro. There we go. Rabarbaro. I'm getting it. I'm getting it. Amaro, Sfumaro, Barbarabaro. You sound like a lawnmower oh hard. Amaro, sfumaro, rabarbaro. you know, in this, in this Amaro, I've got the bottle here, I can kind of show it on screen for the social medias. But this bottle, Amaro means bitter, sfumaro means smoky, and specifically in reference to Renaissance painting, the transition between light and dark. And then uh rabarbaro is rhubarb. And this Amaro's main ingredient is an ancient Chinese rhubarb that has grown in Trentino Alto Adige in Northern Italy for generations now. So that is the primary thing they use for this Amaro and then a proprietary blend of alpine herbs and sweet alpine berries round out the ingredients list. you you got the flavors include candied orange peel, celery, flint, pickled herbs. green strawberries, not red strawberries, but like very underripe green strawberries and raspberry preserves. Remember, it's bitter. It's sweet and bitter. It's got, you know, it's rich, it's fruity, it cleans up nicely on the mid palate according to KNL and ah it has a dry, bitter long finish. And it also pairs, by the way, excellently with mezcal ah and can make incredible mezcal based Negronis. if you want to do that instead of drinking it straight. Me, I'm just one ice cube and this in a small aperitivo glass is my jam. And, you know, Plague House, is like it's hefty. It's pulpy, but it is hefty in its themes. It goes places that you're just like, oh, shit. um This is is dark. This is this is this needs something bitter. This needs something smoky. This needs something. that, sweet, because it's still a thrill ride and it's still very exciting. And you do just gobble the series up and you want more. And it's definitely also a series that I think even the writer in an interview, he mentioned that he's pretty like in his mind, he spelled out what the ending means, like where it all goes and what it all was. He's like, I'm pretty sure I spelled it out that everyone's going to get it. But it's kind of also open to interpretation. So as much as he's like, I'm pretty sure I spelled it out. But if a dozen, if 10 out of a dozen people have a different take, that was also kind of on purpose. Right. Is that there's going to be different, certainly in subtle ways, at the very least, like kind of the broad strokes you get what's going on. But then what does it all mean and how does it connect to certain characters? And what did every where did every single scene come from? It's a little. Lucy goosey. It's a little you got to think about this series even after you're done. It is definitely a thought provoking one. So sipping something slow long bitter slightly sweet and you're just nursing it. It's dark. It's rich. It's smoky. It's fruity. I mean it was perfect. So I'm going to assume model and I bought a bottle. That is what my But that is my parent. And by the way, this one, this is also I noted I did not get this from K &L wines, but it is listed on their website. You can get it to K &L wines. I got this in a place called Bar and Garden down in Venice Boulevard kind of Culver City ish here in LA. And it seems to be it seems to be out there and about there. So yeah, a great Amaro uh great balance of the bitter and the sweet highly recommended from Trentino Alto Adige. That's my parent. Cool. Sweet. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Kind want to taste that. right, so, oh yeah, well, I mean, it's gonna last me a while. We'll see if we... It's an Amuro, it's gonna be a while, yeah. It's gonna be in the fridge in small pours for a while, and it's a full 750 milliliter bottle. These things take some time. All right, so before we start to talk individually about what we thought of this comic, let's talk a little bit about the comic itself, just in terms of facts and where it came from and all that fun stuff and the creative team. So... The creative team behind Plague House is accomplished, to say the least. Both Michael Conrad, David Chisholm. They have diehard fans around the world. By the way, I picked up this comic series because I am a diehard fan of David Chisholm. um I've got his Enter the Blue graphic novel here, which is this is one that Chisholm even did. He wrote it. He did all the art on it. He's one man show. He did absolutely everything. in that one. And it's all about the history of jazz and a modern day trumpet player trying to make it as jazz musician. It's wonderful. So I followed him on blue sky and Twitter back in the days when I was on Twitter, and now just on blue sky. And, uh you know, I bought this site on scene and it blew me away. And so when plague house came out, I was like, he's gonna do horror. Son of a bitch. All right. Let me I bought it simply to I did not know who Michael Conrad was surprisingly because Michael Conrad is by far the more famous of the two in terms of the how big the books are that he has worked on like Chisholm is very much an independent creator small press creator um and Conrad is For the most part. I mean, I don't know if I'd quite call him an industry vet yet. He's he's very modern, but he has worked on the bigs. has worked for predominantly DC comics, but the books include Wonder Woman, Batgirls, Nightwing. He's even tackled classics like Godzilla, Dracula, and Boris Karloff. His creator-owned works, though, and he has done those as well, such as this one, Plague House. But creator-owned works uh include Tremor Dose, Double Walker, and Neptune, all of which cater to the tastes of discerning audiences who embrace the odd, as you will find out if you read Plague House. um Now, Dave Chisholm, he is graphic novelist graduate of the Eastman School of Music in 2013. ah He is a jazz trumpeter. ah And his creativity and improvisation skills blend seamlessly into his comic work, resulting in some critically acclaimed music center comics and graphic novels, including that Enter the Blue, which I just mentioned, and also Spectrum from Mad Cave Studios, Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound. and Chasing the Bird, Charlie Parker in California, which was released as a graphic novel plus an instrumental original soundtrack by Z2 Comics. Z2, by the way, does a lot of music based graphic novels. That's one of their big claims to fame, but that's not the only thing they do, but they predominantly do that. uh Variant covers of Plague House have been provided by Brian Level, Noah Bailey, who worked with Michael Conrad on Wonder Woman, Black and Gold and Tremor Dose. Nathan Ooten, two O's, T-E-N, Nathan Ooten, who worked with Conrad on Neptune, and Alex Ekman-Lahn, who some of you might know from, he's done a ton. He actually is an industry vet about like Mouse Guard, Legends of the Guard, and Art Brute, which I also, Art Brute is one. I haven't read it yet, but I actually bought, that's another 4-issue limited series from Image Comics, and I do own that as well, but I haven't read it yet. So you might see that on this podcast in the near future. All right, and by the way, other titles. in we mentioned Oni Press is doing this genre mashup slate. The slate includes Mine is a Long Lonesome Grave by Justin Jordan and Chris Sheehan, Free for All by Patrick Horvath, ah Out of Alcatraz by Christopher Cantwell and Tyler Crook, and The Goddamn Tragedy by Chris Condon and Sean. I'm gonna do another blablabla The goddamn tragedy by Chris Condon and Sean Karunaru Karunaru Karunaru Karunaru Karunaru Yeah you're right Karunaru Karunaru So Chris Condon and Sean Karunaru So sorry Sean So sorry, Sean. We're gonna have to slice you saying the Amaro word and Karunaru together and put that... about about a caroo in the room. We're about a caroo in the room. A warm up. Yes, it does. Fantastic. All right. So uh I was personally curious about the art as it walks this fine line between cartoonish and this fine line illustration, which is really evident in the gruesome moments, for me at least. The gruesomeness happens and the face scenes or profiles of the characters, uh they get a little... cartoonish when the focal point lands on them after something gruesome happens. And it was really arresting to me because it was a little cheeky. was a little cheeky. It's that cartoonish thing that always lands a little cheeky for me. anyway, I was curious if there was any info on this uh in terms of Chisholm's approach. And I found an interview. about Plague House when he stated that he read a ton of Alex Toth's work. That's T-O-T-H. I was familiar, of course, with the name, but like much of the info in my head, it sometimes floats around the back of my head until something engages it. But for those who don't know, Alex Toth was an illustrator and comic artist known as one of the greats. Toth's ability to master medium sets him apart in the world of art, and it's his ability to seamlessly blend the cartoony with realism that Chisholm seems to have responded to, especially in preparation for Plague House. know, in preparation with this episode, going back and looking at Toph's resume is man. Wow. Yeah. From Space Ghost to the, you know, mid days Batman. Just, it just, it's. oh It's impressive. He's up there with Wally Wood and Neil Adams and Jack Kirby, these names that are kind of legendary, just pure legendary in the comics world. And again, it was one of those things, like I said, you know this about me, Dave. There's a lot of information in my head and sometimes you have to put a quarter in to access it and to retrieve it. And this is one of those things when I went down that rabbit hole and I was like, holy shit. Yeah, this guy is kind of just, he is through and through one of the legends and he wasn't necessarily one of the guys out in front trying to. get all the fame and glory. He was just sort of working his ass off generation decade after decade after decade. um good on you Chisholm for taking that inspiration. uh Anyhow, reviews for this thing, Plague House uh are glowing with terms like new classic being thrown around. It resonates with me because I am always focused on I'm a new classic! I'm a new classic. Exactly. I am always focused on new mythos, new classics and writing future standards, especially now. Like now is the time where we should be getting that work that lasts for the next hundred years because shits just going left. And things are getting real Mad Max-y in the world. So I hope you guys are putting pen to paper and writing about the times we're in and, you know, thinking about the future and uh creating new myth and new mythos and, you know, just putting that sort of toil and strain artistically into something. If you are great, if you aren't, you suck. But go read someone's work who is doing that. Anyway, thanks for coming to my TED Talk. So thoughts on the story. um Actually, I want to start with something you said earlier. You called this a genre mashup. So I'm curious, because what do you think it's mashing up? What would those genres be for you? Well, I think specifically in terms of the horror ah elements. um Let's see. Where did I? Did I not put that in? uh You know, you get in this piece, you're getting monster in the house. If you guys are unfamiliar with that, that's the concept where, you know, a building or an entity has some sort of specter or ghost. So you're getting what? ostensibly is a ghost story. But you're also getting Yeah, yeah, you haunted house ghost story. um You are also getting this sort of motley crew of characters who are sort of intrepid in a way. The ghost hunters with their you know, with their own baggage on top of that you get this other layer which kind of uh stands in that plague zone where there's this evil that must be contained, right? There's this sort of thing that can't be let out. um And another layer for me is the kind of true crime element. So that's essentially what I mean in terms of the genre, the horror genre mashup of this. It is sort of weaving all those things together. And I will say, when I first read uh synopsis of what they were doing. kind of, I wasn't sold. I wasn't sold. I was like, oh. oh So I don't know what the synopsis sounded like when you read it. Was it the same synopsis that we read earlier? Um, no, no, that one I wrote. Uh, no. Okay, Kurt. Okay, cool. So I don't know what the synopsis was. I remember how I said I bought this comic series just because it was Dave that's right. I was like, yeah, okay, F it. I'm like, sure, I'll support him by buying an Oni comic series. Because I know like Enter the Blue is something, I think it's Z2 comics. And I mean, it was basically a passion project. It was all him, right? A one man show type of graphic novel. So this was one where it's like, I did not know who Michael Conrad was, shockingly. Mostly because I don't read the big two very much these days. So I'm like, I missed I missed your era, man. I'm sorry. But you're apparently kind of a big wig in the comics world. So cool. And after this series, I'm definitely curious at least to read his other creative own creator owned series for sure. um So I bought this kind of a sight on scene. And I will say, you know, reading issue number one, I did not read any synopsis. I try not to. It's just like I try not to watch it. In general. I tuck in for this one, Okay, so normally if something about the creative team or something about the title, the basic, basic premise, like the one liner, the log line, and then of course something in comics, I will have to gauge, is it ongoing or is it limited series? Because I'm, I'm, how much am I committing to here? So if it's going to be an ongoing series, I'm like, not unless it is just like, I cannot live without this, I'm pretty sure. Like I have to read it, especially if I'm buying it issue by issue. um Whereas mini series, I'm like, okay, look, four issues. Cool. I can just like the creative team and it's in a genre I like. And I do not, I literally did not read the log line. I refused. I just like bought the series and I didn't read the series until it had all come out. So I sat down with all four issues. Now I'm also very much, I comics especially, but generally in storytelling as well, I like to parcel shit out. So I, grew up with comics, trained my brain to parcel shit out, like one comic a month. Now I didn't do that, but I did do one comic a day. And I read all four issues in over the course of four nights. And I refuse to let myself read more than one every single night. And yeah. I did the exact same thing. was that was the kind of re that okay, we got to talk about this real quick. That was what was so interesting about the way this piece was written. You know, Dave knows for a while I've been on this kick about sort of reframing my life in sort of, you know, setting the dial back to more analog times, right to the way my consumption habits were when I was a little younger, and it wasn't inundated with overstimulation and, know, constant streams of everything. And I, you know, weeks ago, I would have gotten this and read it all in a day while sitting doing something else. But after I read, I happened to read the first issue in bed with my uh table light and ah I was like, oh wait, this is a proper little ghost story. Oh, I need to, okay, I'm gonna sit in this thing's arms here for a while and I'm not gonna just, you know, drink this thing in. So I did the exact same thing. It's almost like the piece itself required it to me. and for me reading that first issue, especially not even knowing the log line or anything like that. I started the first few pages and thankfully I read in an interview by Michael Conrad, the writer, that this was intentional. So this made me, this gave me even more respect for him as a writer when I found out this was intentional. the first half of issue one is very by the numbers. It's very Ghost Hunters. doing the thing. And in the interview, Michael, I wanted you to be like, yes, Michael Conrad was like, Yep, this is you've been here. You've done this. You know what it is. It's almost boring. You're like now you have expectations. You think everything's going to be dominoes falling. It's going to be a B then C no surprises. You've watched these ghost hunting stories so many times by 2025 that it's like there will be no surprises. And just by the end of the first issue, you realize, oh no, this isn't any of that. This is about something completely different. And we're going to be exploring other things through this very generic setup of ghost hunters going to haunted houses. But you quickly realize the main character is not who he thinks he is. By the end of issue one, you realize he's an unreliable narrator. but it's all through his POV. And that's intriguing right from the get-go. And the fact that he's our ostensible hero, and you quickly realize, you know, he's keeping secrets from the rest of the team that they should probably know. And, but he's like, I got this all under control. And every step of the way, this comic series is basically a journey into losing control. over things you think you have control over. And that means one of the journeys. It's not the only. Yeah. Your journeys. It's kind of uh a tale like one of the cautionary tales within this is hubris, right? Where it's like, I'm the smart one. I'm the one who can figure out these haunted houses. My team isn't quick enough to keep up with me. And so they're missing certain things and they might suffer for that. But I got this under I figured things out and I got this under control. even by the end of the first issue, you're like, that's loosey goosey. I don't know about this. There's already hints that that might not be true. And then as the series go, it gets dark. gets dark. I appreciated that through the roof. Yeah, I think uh one of the strong suits of the writing and character is the character development. They really do. He does a really good job of, you like we said, there's this motley crew of characters, these ghost hunters, they're all completely different. And in the space of the first 21 pages, you know, you walk away knowing precisely what you need to know. each of these characters is you know are for the most part for the most part. He does a great job of drawing these profiles and it's not forced but like you said, it's kind of by the numbers but it's through the action through the inter interplay between the characters that you find all this stuff out, you know like with the character Holland, you know who's trying to Okay, I can't get too deep into the character work here but um Yes, the characters are great and I took a couple of notes in terms of the character work here. You know, that's saying a lot because I know everything. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. I'm telling you, I read this series and I was like, fuck, I gotta give this to Dallas. Not just in a, I wonder what he'll think about it. knew it. There was something interesting about this where I don't always know your taste or your predilections in terms of narrative and storytelling and whatnot. I have some inkling, but I'm not gonna pretend that like I've got a clear view into it. But this one, I read it and I was like, I appreciated this. He's gonna love I'm like, there was something about this one, like it's even more his jam than mine and it's quite... Yeah, yeah, yeah. And let's talk about the variant covers real quick. um You know, I have you seen the variant covers? oh No, not really. I'm sure I did when I was But at this point I did not I did not go dig them up. So I okay worries, no worries, no worries. um Yeah, know, only press or sorry, only lion forage. It's fine, just call him only Fred. Companies combined folks, was Lion Forge and Oni Press and they merged together and now they're just this clusterfuck of a name. Just call them Oni Press. Yes, Oni Press. I have to applaud whoever's ever idea it was to do these sort of genre mashup quick, um you know, limited uh release limited series, because they are really satisfied. It this this has sold me. I'm waiting through the entire series because of this one. um And yeah, I really am. I really, really, really am. They're doing some They're doing the Lord's work as the kids say ah with this sort of genre mashup to get because it does it kind of knocks the dust off of the you know, like you said with this one's act one definitely is by the numbers but by the end of it you are you're like, okay, there's energy here going in places I'm not expecting and You're ready to yawn and then you're wide awake. Precisely. That's a quote of the night, by the way. That's a pull quote for this series. ah But yeah, the variant covers are fantastic. They are. They spent great time finding the right creators to flesh out the visuals and imagery for this. So all around, I'm saying this is probably the most satisfying little comic read I've had in a little while. uh Really is so good choice Dave I know, know. know I have to tell you. I know, I'm aware, trust me. I published it. I got it in your hand. I bought it. I'm the only one who bought it because I made it. one of those things. Only my friends and family. That's right. But they all bought it and they all loved it. And I'm a pretty princess. thoughts? Thoughts on the Chisholm's heart specifically. And I want to actually kick this one off because do you have an issue of Plague House? Because do you have them on hand? have one? Yeah, hold can hold a couple of pages up to the camera. OK. Hold it up, there's the cover. Let's go then do some interiors. And you can see the style of Chisholm's art here. page. Right, that's our opening landing image. You got the house in the background. You've got their van of goodies there. van. van, of course. It's always a van. You can base you can see based on posture another thing he does great job with posture in this. um You know we know this character is about already based on her posture. She is really not terribly interested. um Got some other stuff here look at the shadow were I mean these panels. Darkness. And note that there is a definite there's a lot of texture, you know some some scratchiness some a little bit of sketchiness to everything and that is because this is a very agitated a very dark shadowy Elements like even when it's colorful. There's a lot of texture to this line work and I'm gonna hold up by comparison some Into the blue pages and whatnot here, where hopefully you can see it's the same artist, right? And it's similar, but you can see how much he chose to make this much cleaner. The inking especially in Enter the Blue, the coloring much more cleaner, brighter, not as many shades, not as many like it's all there because this is not a horror story. it's like... uh So much of Chisholm's art changes as soon... And he colored, I believe he colored, actually, uh don't quote me on the coloring, let me make a hundred percent certain about that before I claim, but I'm pretty sure he is the soul. um Artistic. Anybody on this? panel here this panel right here this is the one yeah yeah oh man that yeah right This is mostly a podcast. So don't go too deep into this. Well, somebody's looking. If you're looking, look away. you're listening, go look. And they'll go away on YouTube. I'm trying to do these videos again on YouTube. So if you look on YouTube and don't listen to this on whatever podcast platform you're on, you can see the art pages. You can also just Google Plague House and enter and compare. There will be there will be pictures online and compare the two art styles. So just show them. I like how much range she has ah in these guys and that the art in this that he was able to be this evocative and that you and this is very kind of Alex Toth like like that. that texture and those shadow the play with shadows and whatnot. And I will also say that a spectrum from Mad Cave Comics, which is another Alex Chisholm one, that one's been getting I've not read it yet. I'm very eager to read it. I did not buy that one sight unseen, but I need to now because that one has been everyone's been writing about that one. Apparently, it's like like what it does with the medium to is apparently really, really interesting. So that's one to take a look at. ah as well. And any other thoughts on the art there, Yeah, I like you said it's It feels like that, you know, I generally respond to that. I want to called it's the shed line work the shadow work that kind of it feels like Scratch work. That's what I call it feels like scratch work as a matter of fact, mentioned the night it and the art in benighted Because it is mostly black and white um it has that you know, you used the line work to show dimension and It feels like that's at the core of what he's doing, even though his color palette is so dense and dynamic. It feels like he's using lots of line work to show dimension with the color. So the art is also creepy when it needs to be creepy. The colors of well saturated. uh Yeah, it walks that line between. I'm not gonna say that it feels like a labor of fucking love and I know it's probably not it's probably not a proper labor of love I'm sure they loved it, but it feels Intentioned and ah it's just good storytelling. Yeah So everybody, that is gonna be Plague House by Michael Conrad and David Shishom, which you can find from Oni Press. believe the graphic novel might be up for pre-order right now and will be coming out very, very soon, if not like in the next month or two. So look for the graphic novel soon, now that this series has already been done, because usually only a couple months later will they do the graphic novel. Yeah. January 2026 through Oni Press, are taking pre-order. I mean, sorry, through Simon Schuster. They are taking pre-orders now. All right, beautiful. And it's coming out in January. So there you go. uh Make sure to check that out. And uh once again, my wine, I would pair it with this beautiful Amoros Fumatora Barbaro. And also make sure to watch to read The Goddamn Tragedy by Chris Condon and Sean Coroneroo. And over to you, Dallas, once again, what do you have? uh Okay, I have a bad 2018 Sarah Sonoma Coast restart 2018 red cars Sonoma Coast Sarah or any lovely Sarah and Sean I'm so sorry if I ever meet you in real life, I'm going to say your name just like an Italian accent, a bad Italian accent. Kuru-naru! You see that is not an Italian you, kuru-naru! I'm just like this is it has to be from this point forward. That's classic. all I gotta say. All right, folks, go check all that stuff out. And thanks so much for listening. Once again, as always, make sure to hit that follow or subscribe button if you have listened to this and you have not subscribed or followed already, because that helps this podcast grow. It helps us reach new listeners. The algorithm loves it and will finally show us to new people. We hate our old people. We have to find new people. And so please do that and also find us on our sub stack entertainment studios dot com glorified URL vanity URL that takes you to our sub stack. And that's where you can interact with us. We do many additional articles on wine, on film, on comics, on books, on entertainment. um And you can also support us if you love what we do. You can support us. We don't have a Patreon. We have a Substack. And Substack is where for two bucks a month you can support this publication and podcast. We get that as price for modern day where everyone's hurting no one's doing that crazy Well, and we're all trying to support all the creators We want to support every month with our our measly disposable income dollars and so two bucks a month you can support us as well if you desire to and $19.60 a year don't ask weird price, but sub stack is like that. So $19.60 a year Or if you're a big time spender and you're not hurting as much as other people, hey, you know what? For $50 a year, one time per year, you can become a producer of this podcast and publication. And for that, you get to commission an episode. Tell us what you want us to cover and pair with wine. We will do that. And you also get a shout out every episode. So on that note, our first three producers. Shout out to Kate Rochelle of survives on wine dot sub stack dot com. has her own sub stack. She's a Portuguese wine expert knows more about Portuguese wine than me. I just hawk it here on the LA streets, but she actually studies the dumb things and she does amazing visual tasting notes. She just did one this past week and Tita cow Portuguese grape and they're amazing. If you go check her out just to see what those visual tasting notes are. They're one of my favorite things she does. Also, Jessica Mason of monster of the week dot sub stack dot com. Jessica is a graphic novelist herself. Mary Shelley School for Monsters. And she's also a novelist. Plastic Girl Trilogy. Go check her out. Her work is fantastic. And also, last but not least, Paul Kalmkearian of the podcast Wine Talks with Paul K. His podcast is better than ours. I guarantee he's been doing this for very long time. We are still new and young and upstart. um And full of it. are the like the main character in the comic. We are the what did I just call the the unreliable narrator we are podcasters I know I know but we are unreliable podcasters. He is a very reliable podcast Go check those three guys out and we will be back in one week with another one and one in comics Not necessarily with another one in entertainment pairing for your entertainment Ciao for now. and I did want to announce, by the way, we might start slowing down for a touch here and start to go every other week with the podcast because we are also trying to launch some TikTok channels and a lot of social media presence. We're starting to put a lot of time and effort into that. And this podcast might have to slow down just a teeny bit for a little while while we get our grip. on all these new projects and all these new activities and whatnot. So if that starts to happen, don't be surprised. But I believe we will be back next week with another one in entertainment pairing for Europe Entertainment. So we will check you then and ciao for now. Later guys. And yeah, the only thing I changed about the questions I took away Rose because it's not a variety. It's a category um and through and as a variety. Yeah. Smart. That's why you're here. That's only reason why I'm here. You're really good at it.