Cryptids have been reported across generations and cultures and have been the subject of many folktales and stories we share. The stories tend to follow a similar pattern: someone wanders off, sees a monster, it scares them, and they escape and live to tell the tale. For most, the story is shared at a campfire and dies with the flames. For cryptobiologists, it’s proof of the supernatural, a story that must be documented and analyzed to examine the cryptid further. They will ask questions such as where and how they live, their abilities, and whether the stories are factual or not.
Ewin Greener and Gelella Müller are cryptobiologists and star as the characters of Vizual Shogun’s newest media series, one that blends horror, comedy, and cryptids. Today, Vizual Shogun will share their personal story and what to expect in the world of Mytris.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Your background and your position in the arts?
“Ayyy, I’m Viz! I’m an illustrator from New York City and a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, receiving a BFA in Illustration (and with enough classes in writing and art history, I probably should’ve just minored in them both) in 2023. I’ve been a huge book nerd for about as long as I’ve been drawing, from non-fiction to genre pulp, and that’s probably played a not-insignificant role in why the art I draw has as much of a …range as it does. I’ve been away from social media for a while, but I’m planning on being much more active again, especially on posting about Mytris. I’m not as active on Insta anymore because of… well, gestures at everything the Zuck has touched. However, I am going to be active on my Bluesky and Tumblr!”
You have these beautiful horror themed drawings yet other pieces you’ve made look so serene and calm. What goes into making those pieces and is there a genre you prefer?
“So, to start, it’s definitely horror. It’s the genre I started with as a little kid, it’s the one that, regardless of the phase of my life I’m in, I always go back to. It is, to me, the most honest genre, the one that peels back the human condition to its barest, to what disturbs and discomforts us. But contrastingly, I love genre scenes, slice-of-life fluff, and general cozy stuff. Give me a scene where the cast is just eating breakfast, or a bottle episode of a character’s daily routine, and I am there. I think I’m so attracted to these two because they’re so vulnerable. Horror is a snapshot into the worst possible thing that can happen to us, where our anxieties are proven to be all too right, while those calm spaces are snapshots of where we go to lick our wounds, to recoup.”
What’s led you into wanting to create your own series?
“Oh man, very long story. But to make it just a bit shorter, I was a kid that switched hyper fixations very quickly and developed a surface level interest in just about anything that piqued my little brain’s interest. History? absolutely, probably would’ve gone into academics if I wasn’t doing this. Politics? Unfortunately, the more you learn the sadder you get. Anthropology? Can’t get more complicated and multi-faceted then the human animal, can you? Etc., etc. etc., eventually at some point in my early teens during a really rough period, I decided to channel my hyper fixations into something practical *and* to focus on something else other than what I was going through. Thus, Mytris was born (kind of, it’s been changing).”
Can you tell us about your series?
“Mytris is a New Weird fantasy setting set on the eponymous Mytris, a Jupiter sized terrestrial planet whose ‘modern’ era is roughly analogous to our late 1890s/early 1900s, except with weird monsters, occultists in funny hats and slasher monster hunters. If I’ve got a story idea I tend to just slot it into the setting where I think it could fit, but the ‘main one’ is; Friends and Monsters, a (planned) horror-comedy comic following grad student cryptobiologists Ewin Greener and Gelella Müller as they embark on their incredibly foolhardy and near self-destructive thesis project to catalogue all of Mytris’ anomalous flora and fauna. Mytris, its cultures, characters and stories are very near and dear to me, and I’m looking forward to sharing much more about this bizarre little project of mine.”
When it comes to Mytris, how do you start off by designing these creatures? Anything in mind when starting them or fears you try to tackle?
“I think that, for me at least, a monster has to come from what scares you personally, your anxieties. That’s probably why most of the monsters in Mytris, one way or another, relate back to body horror, the twisting of the human form into something out of your control. The ‘Ick’ factor.”
Cryptobiologist is such is such a loaded description for a job that your main characters occupy! What does a Cryptobiologist do?
“In Mytris, a cryptobiologists is a natural philosopher/scientist that studies the para-natural lifeforms (i.e. monsters, curses, etc.) that plague the world. It is very much seen as a legitimate form of study; however, it also tends to attract just as many cranks as cryptozoology does here.”
What is it about the 1890s / 1900s that pulls you into it and makes you want to set a series during that period?
“From the clash of indigenous resistance against encroaching colonizers, to the roaring emergence of the industrial revolution, to the formalization of modern political and economic ideologies, to the development of new and incredibly dangerous technologies, it’s a period that is characterized by such drastic leaps and contrasts in aesthetics and attitudes. It laid the foundations for the world as it is now, for better, and for worse.”
You mentioned really liking things about horror. Are there any series that you really like and found yourself inspired by in your art?
“Oh plenty. For movies, The Thing, Halloween, Alien, Get Out and Evil Dead 2, for games, Alien isolation, Dead Space, Control and Still Wakes the Deep. and For Books, The Strain, The Only Good Indians, and the webcomic Stay Still, Stay Silent“
What’s made you keep going all this time in art? Dreams? Dedication?
“Dreams and dedication for sure, but the primary driving force is probably stubbornness more than anything lol.”
Any words for those looking to make their own horror-comedy series?
“Watch Evil Dead 2. Okay but for real, to quote Jordan Peele, ‘The difference between comedy and horror is the music.’ Horror both explores heavy subject matter and, conversely, goofy absurd camp. Same with comedy. I tend to think of it like a symbiotic push and pull, horror establishes stakes and consequences, while comedy gives you relief and releases from that tension. It’s a balance, and if you’re not too careful you can lead too far into one while alienating the other. So, I’d suggest being aware of that balance and when and where to lean into one or the other. Also watch Evil Dead 2.“
Connect Today!
Recent series focusing on aspects of late 1800s life and the supernatural tend to lean more toward the darker side of things than anything else, making Mytris a refreshing take. You can follow its progress on Vizual Shogun’s Instagram.
The Evil Dead is a staple of the horror-comedy genre. Its last (comedy-focused) entry was in 2018, with Bruce Campbell’s departure. For those who feel the hole left by the iconic horror-comedy series, be on the lookout for Mytris!