Somna: A Bedtime Story (winner of the Eisner Award for Best New Series in 2024, published by DSTLRY), follows a young woman named Ingrid, down a path of lust and ecstasy during the 17th century witch trials in England. Conceived by Becky Bloonan and Tula Lotay, Somna is a graphic novel with an unabashed infusion of sensuality, the supernatural, and the scary. The historical horror blended with fantasy and folk conjures up scenes from films like Midsommar (starring Florence Pugh) and The Witch (starring Anya Taylor Joy).
Our protagonist, Ingrid, is trying to diminish the fire inside her — specifically her enduring sexual curiosity, arousal, and desires. However, a specter (The Shadowman) in her vivid subconscious dream state enables these behaviors and unyielding thoughts, even though they’re considered ‘unholy’, ‘sinful’, and overall being on the precipice of ‘defiling her purity’. She fears not only being shunned by her church and villagers who associate seduction with sin, but also her husband Ronald, the bailiff and witch hunter.
Chilling, sexual energy permeates this graphic novel
In a world where pleasure is sin, one woman dares to cross the line
Ingrid cannot deny who she is and once she passes the ‘erotic threshold’, there will be a high price to pay as she experiences how quickly her loved ones turn against her, brand her as a witch, and condemn her for colluding with the devil. There’s something to be said about how this story is still so relevant in our modern age, where Somna feels like an allegory for women being chained to patriarchal expectations of how a lady is ‘supposed to behave’ per some archaic doctrine. At the outset, we (the reader) root for Ingrid, who yearns to feel safe in expressing sexual desires without judgment — thereby liberating her mind, body, and soul — and ultimately honoring her true self.
For Cloonan, the desire to tell this story was a long time in the making. “I started talking to Tula about collaborating on an erotic horror over 10 years ago. It started as a self-indulgent amalgam of our love for Hammer Horror and smut…but as we developed the story, it evolved into a more serious study of desire and repression with a psychological is-this-real-or-isn’t-it-vibe.”
Cloonan and Lotay bring seduction and fear in this haunting story of a woman’s awakening
A project that was 10 years in the making
Despite the overarching somber tone, Cloonan says the project gave her purpose and joy. “I still cackled my entire way through drawing it, so in that respect, it stayed self-indulgent,” she says. Additionally, the synergy fostered by this collaboration was akin to them being on a journey together: “Our big goal was to create a book together with no clear writer/artist distinction. We shared inspiration and touchstones the whole time… it was so fun to weave the story together,” Cloonan explains.
Lotay says that it was an evolution of what the two both enjoyed but also being afforded an opportunity to merge ideas together. The notion of creation to spark new inspired storytelling: “You’re also witnessing Becky and I intertwining two art styles…a bit like Ingrid and The Shadowman — both from the real world and the erotic subconscious. That was a creative experiment we couldn’t wait to host,” Lotay explains.
Somna is a sensual, fiery tale rife in lust, longing — and made more wild-eyed with the trappings of the whole ‘things-that-go-bump-in-the-night’ supernatural sentiment. Exciting and experimental, this book is available now as a collected hardcover.
- Founded
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May 1, 2023
- Comic Series
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Gone, Somna, Blasfamous, White Boat, Spectregraph, The Blood Brothers Mother
The Witch
7/10
- Release Date
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February 19, 2016
