If you picked up something that surprised you recently, something that was out of the ordinary, it might have been an issue of Ghoulies III. You can be especially sure of that if you found it in a pizza box on Geneseo Recognizing Excellence, Achievement & Talent Day. As you perused its pages, you may have been intrigued by the “murder castle” of America’s first documented serial killer or started to think about the correlations between suburbs and graveyards. You were just as likely to be asking yourself, “What is this?”
Ghoulies III is a zine created by senior Thomas Mulholland. He said he’s been sitting on the idea since he first arrived on campus, when the administration announced the discontinuation of the studio art department.
“The immediate thought was creating a space where you could see this was an artistically productive place,” Mulholland said.
Four years later, he received the final shove to start printing.
“It was extremely doable, easy and cheap and there were a lot of people who wanted this to happen,” he said.
The community gave the idea much more than lip service; people have taken to it so well that several other zines with themes like body positivity and dream cataloging are in the works – ideas that Mulholland said he wanted to see after he started his zine.
Mulholland said he feels strange being the only name attached to the project, a result of all the work in the zines being anonymous. The anonymity, along with the overall silliness of the zine, is intended to make people feel less intimidated and ready to get involved.
“Each thing on its own is really awesome, but I want the overall feel of it to be thrown together and relaxed,” Mulholland said.
Each issue has its own theme. The next issue will be “mad science,” while the broader theme is “monster stuff.” Submissions don’t have to relate to the theme, however.
The zine will be a morphing project; Ghoulies III won’t even remain the title. It was originally lifted from a cheesy horror movie titled Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College, and intended for the first issue only. Mulholland listed “Ghost Dad with Bill Cosby” or “Hail Satan” as possible titles for upcoming issues. He’s also considering different methods of formatting, binding and printing.
For the future, Mulholland wants to make the zine, “a more face and body thing … I’d like to start handing these out rather than just leaving them places and maybe meet up to work on them.”