Fetus-X

Fetus-X is a controversial weekly romantic horror comic written and drawn by Eric Millikin, award-winning American cartoonist and former human anatomy lab embalmer and dissectionist.

Fetus-X has been published in newspapers, books, and as a webcomic since late 1999. The first Fetus-X comics were drawn by artist Casey Sorrow, who later left to create the comic Feral Calf. The storylines of Fetus-X generally revolve around Millikin's use of the occult in both romantic relationships and battles with various ghosts, demons, aliens, and monsters. The artwork is mixed media, combining expressionist paintings with found objects. The text is often written in free verse.

History

Millikin began drawing horror comics by age one-and-a-half, when he made crayon drawings of ghosts terrorizing him during toilet-training. By second grade, he was making teachers' birthday cards showing his school burning down captioned "Fuck you."

The first Fetus-X newspaper strips were published in spring 2000 in Michigan State University's The State News. Immediately there were problems with censorship, Catholic League protests, and threatened cancellation. After six months, The State News cancelled the comic strip despite support from some readers. It continues to be published on the web and in many college newspapers and in alternative newspapers such as Detroit's Metro Times.