House of Twelve

House of Twelve is an independent anthology comic book publisher based out of the New York metro area and run by artist Cheese Hasselberger.

Ho12 also sponsors a monthly comic art collective held the first Wednesday of every month at Jack Demsey's Pub on 33rd street in New York City, NY. They have been running since August 2001.

Publication History

House of Twelve was formed by Cheese Hasselberger, Chris Prynoski, Goat Reinecker and Jody Scheaffer in the fall of 2000. The four founding members had been a part of a loose art collective at The School of Visual Arts in the early 90's and after working for years on various projects, most notably Mtv Downtown animated series, came together once more to do the first issue of the comic.

House of Twelve #1

House of Twelve #1 contained four stories featuring characters trying to get to the much heralded House of Twelve, which was a thinly veiled metaphor for heaven. On the House of Twelve website, Cheese describes 12 meaning:

"12 represents God. Or a god, or a similar idea. When we originally came up with this book we decided that since we believed man created God in his image, one could in effect create God in whatever image you wanted. So why not make it whatever the first thing that comes to you mind? Why not an apple? Or a handkerchief? Or even an abstract concept that doesn't really exist, except in the minds of everyone, like say, a number, or more specifically, a '12.' And Heaven would be where 12 lived, thus, the House of Twelve."

The four stories were mostly experiments in violent masturbation jokes.

Release woes

Ho12#1 was scheduled to debut at the Small Press Expo of 2001, but the event was canceled on account of the September 11th, 2001 attacks only three days prior. The release was delayed until SPX 2002 where it was released to little fanfare.

Mauled!#1

Mauled!#1 is an anthology comic book with each story being a fictionalized account of actual animal attacks at zoos.

Manual Comics publisher Brian Musikoff and Cheese Hasselberger had been friends for years when Brian approached Hasselberger about publishing Mauled!. They eventually decided on co-publishing the book to make use of Brian's research and Cheese's artist contacts.

House of Twelve #2

House of Twelve Ver. 2.0 was a relaunch of the book. Now featuring an extended line-up of artists and a more mainstream theme, Science Fiction, the book came out to varied reviews and decent sales. It debuted at the Small Press Expo in the fall of 2003. The book featured the work of House of Twelve staple artists such as Brian Musikoff, Miss Lasko-Gross, Kevin Colden, Dave McKenna, Jenny Gonzalez and Evan Forsh as well as many others.

House of Twelve #3

House of Twelve #3's theme is obscenity. It is over 100 pages and contains stories ranging from divine masturbation to child abuse. Created as a knee jerk reaction to the gentrification of American media, its over the top content garnered excellent reviews. Along with the regular contributors it also features the work of David Paleo, Victor Cayro (credited as The Beard), Jay Marcy, Nick Jefferies and Ryan Snook.

The book again debuted at the Small Press Expo in 2004. Initial sales were greater then expected, so much so it got the attention of Diamond Comic Distribution and in January 2005 was distributed nationally. Sales slumped after the launch and the future of Ho12 was put in jeopardy.

House of Twelve #4

After a three year hiatus, Ho12's flagship title returns with the 68 page House of Twelve Goes to War it features many of the same contributors along with fan favorites Mike Dawson and Chris Radtke. It will be released at the 2007 Small Press Expo.

House of Twelve Presents

Ho12 Presents is a series of movie parody comics produced annually. A variation of the 24 hour comic concept, the books are created in an afternoon (usually over Memorial Day Weekend) by the collective during the Ho12 Barbecue. The artists are broken up into four randomly generated teams and work together to create separate four page stories, a connecting story is then created to string the stories together. They are then published as mini-comics and given away as promotional books at conventions and appearances.

Rashomon

The first of the Ho12 mini's, is based on the classic Japanese story Rashomon. Its resemblance is fairly loose, keeping the basic story of three people going into the woods and only two coming out, a trial, and it leaves the reader wondering what actually happened. For consistency the characters were culled from images found on The Live Journal Random Image Generator, an internet script that pulls the last 30 images posted on Livejournal.com. It also introduced the character of Billy Kramer a longhaired, heavy metal guitar player with a huge mustache, who has become an unofficial mascot of sorts. The book was nominated for an Ignatz Award for best debut comic at the 2005 Small Press Expo.

Heavy Metal

A parody of the 1980's animated movie Heavy Metal (originally based on the comic art magazine of the same name) the mini comic is a sequel to the movie featuring the return of the Loc-Nar and it again telling tales of its corruptive powers. The book again featured four stories and a surrounding story, but the characters were created on the fly instead of based on real people. It was again nominated for an Ignatz Award for the best debut comic at the 2006 Small Press Expo.

The Breakfast Club

Another parody of an 80's classic film, the Breakfast Club. The book tells the stories of why the characters were sent to the detention that the movie is based around. It was created on May 28th, 2007 and will be released in the fall of 2007.

The Ho12 Comic Jams

Started in August 2001 as an excuse to meet new people after a bad break up, Cheese Hasselberger drunkenly posted on The Comics Journal message boards about starting a cartooning group. A date was set and a bunch of cartoonists got together at the New York bar Max Fish. It was decided at the meeting that the group become a regular gathering. While at the bar founding member K. Thor Jensen said, "We need a name, some kind of art movement!" and Cheese replied, "More like a bowel movement." and the Bowery Bowel Movement Jams were born.

They stayed at that location meeting the first Wednesday night of every month through 2002 and early 2003. Eventually they outgrew Max Fish and moved the event to McCarthy's Bar and Grill on Second Avenue because it offered more space and a private room. They also changed the name to the Ho12 Comic Jams seeing they were no longer in the Bowery (actually they never were, but it sounded cool). The group stayed there until it closed its doors in April 2007 when they resettled at Jack Demsey's Pub, which also offers a private room and a more accessible location.

The format of the comics created has stayed the same since its inception. Each participant brings a sketchbook or note pad and draws a starting panel then passes the book to who ever is available to continue the story. Each story goes on until the either it reaches a logical conclusion or runs out of steam. All are welcome and the group has grown and shrunk over the years, bottoming out at five attendees and topping out at twenty four. Currently they average twelve to fifteen attendees a month.

The Ho12 Comic Jams still take place the first Wednesday of every month starting at 7 pm and running until at least 11 pm, often later.