E. M. Carroll Explained

Spouse:Kate Craig

E. M. Carroll (born 1983), previously credited as Emily Carroll, is a comics author from Ontario, Canada. Carroll started making comics in 2010, and their horror webcomic His Face All Red went viral around Halloween of 2010. Since then, Carroll has published three books, created comics for various comics anthologies, and provided illustrations for other works. Carroll has won several awards, including an Ignatz and two Eisners.

Career

Carroll is educated as an animator. They began drawing comics in 2010.

Webcomics

Carroll drew and published their first comic on their website in May 2010.[1] Their third webcomic, His Face All Red, was released on October 31, 2010, and soon went viral.[2] [3]

Carroll has continued to publish short horror comics on their website. For their 2014 webcomic The Hole the Fox Did Make, Carroll chose a limited format to see how they could create unease in a limited space. Furthermore, they created this webcomic during breaks between other work, and the format facilitated drawing in "small chunks". Another webcomic, Margot's Room, presents the reader with a child's bedroom; clicking on objects in the room presents a part of the story. A poem at the start suggests a reading order, but the comic can be read in any order. Their 2016 webcomic Some Other Animal's Meat was adapted as "The Outside" for the Netflix horror anthology Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (2022).[4]

, the latest webcomic on their website is A Pretty Place, published in 2023.[5]

Print

Carroll's work has been included in a number of comic anthologies, including "Explorer: Mystery Boxes," "Fairy Tale Comics," "Creepy" and "The Witching Hour."

In 2014, Carroll published Through the Woods, an anthology book of four original stories and an adaptation of His Face All Red for print format.[6] [7] According to CBR, this was first announced in 2011 and was to be titled "His Face All Red and Other Stories". When talking about adapting a webcomic to print, Carroll said, "it was difficult... I think it works pretty good, though I think it might be more successful on the screen, to be honest. Because page turns became really important. With horror comics or any sort of suspense comics, if you have a set up for a scare on the left-hand page and the scare itself on the right-hand page the effect would disappear immediately." Through the Woods won Eisner,[8] Ignatz, and British Fantasy awards.

Carroll illustrated the 2015 graphic novel Baba Yaga's Assistant from Candlewick Press and a graphic novel adaptation of Speak.[9] In 2019, they published When I Arrived at the Castle, a graphic novel which they wrote and illustrated.[10] In 2023, they published A Guest in the House, an adult horror graphic novel, through First Second Books.[11]

Illustrations for other works

Carroll created illustrations for the 2013 indie video games Gone Home[12] and The Yawhg.[13]

Reviews

Articles at CBR have described Carroll as a "webcomics wunderkind" and "a master of atmosphere and mood". They have called Carroll's webcomics "deliciously dark", praising their "vibrant colors, exquisite pacing, and genuinely creepy, genuinely bleak stories of murder and monstrousness". The magazine Room said of their work, "Beautiful, yet delicately sinister, fairy-tale comics evoke a feeling of isolation that twists into suspense as the reader clicks and scrolls through a horror story and that lingers in the mind long after the final panel." It also highlighted themes of isolation and guilt that appear throughout their work, as well as their preference for ambiguous endings. Paste Magazine called their comic The Hole the Fox Did Make one of the best webcomics of 2014.[14]

The critic Joe McCulloch said of Carroll's His Face All Red, "Even in the late '80s, guys like Stephen Bissette were developing forums like Taboo which were specifically designed to counteract the traditionalism of comics horror … 'His Face All Red' seemed a break from that when it hit me. And it hit a lot of people."

Carroll's 2019 book, When I Arrived at the Castle, received positive reviews. The Comics Journal said that Carrol has an "incredible capacity to scare" and that "while there is a moral, Carroll deftly avoids moralizing. At no point does [Carroll] offer a neat resolution—the victimizer is condemned, of course, but the victim is not necessarily absolved completely." A review for Women Write About Comics called it a "dark, delicious fantasy" and said, "It's the kind of story that needs multiple readings, not because it's confusing, but because there's so much to unravel, so much thematic detail to sift through."[15] PopMatters rated it 8 out of 10, and said that "Carroll's style remains familiar: deceptively cartoonish figures that evoke a children's picture book despite the puddles of blood oozing into the gutters. Not that there are many gutters. Carroll prefers ever-changing layouts that only rarely provide traditional panels or grids."[16]

Their 2023 release A Guest in the House was likewise positively received, earning a starred review from Booklist.[17] The Comics Journal hailed the graphic novel as "a resounding success of horror in the medium of comics" that "goes beyond the many preconceived notions of the genre to explore identity, isolation, what it means to belong".[18] The Beat, calling it "one of the best comics of the year," observed a "strong plot with tonal and atmospheric visual choices so subtle, many readers might not know what the cartoonist is up to, not technically, but they sure will feel the effects."[19] A more mixed review from NPR held that the book was "an impressively long and gorgeous volume that delivers an uncanny, wild ride" but that the "mechanics of its plot are a bit more unsteady."[20] The book was listed as one of the "best Canadian comics of 2023" by the CBC and one of the "notable books of 2023" by the New York Times.[21] [22]

Awards

Personal life

Carroll was born in London, Ontario. Their parents divorced when Carroll was in high school. As of 2014, they are based in Stratford, Ontario. They are married to Kate Craig.[34]

Bibliography

Emily Carroll (2018). Speak: The Graphic Novel. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.,

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Collins. Sean T.. 2011-12-05. Emily Carroll's His Face All Red and Other Stories headed to boookstores via Simon & Schuster. 2020-11-05. Comic Book Resources. en-US.
  2. Web site: Hubbard. Taryn. 2014. An interview with Emily Carroll: A Fairy-Tale Teller in the Digital Age. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20141012103533/http://www.roommagazine.com/blog/interview-emily-carroll-fairy-tale-teller-digital-age. 2014-10-12. 2020-11-06. Room Magazine.
  3. Web site: emily carroll . LiveJournal . https://web.archive.org/web/20101102094210/http://sockefeller.livejournal.com/ . 2010-11-02.
  4. Berman . Judy . Guillermo del Toro Is Rolling Out a Netflix Horror Anthology. Here Are the 2 Must-Watch Episodes . . 25 October 2022 . 27 October 2022.
  5. Web site: Carroll. E.M.. EM Carroll Art & Comics. usurped. https://web.archive.org/web/20210212222624/https://emcarroll.com/. 2021-02-12. 2026-01-10. emcarroll.com.
  6. Web site: Dueben. Alex. Emily Carroll Walks "Through the Woods". Comic Book Resources. 2014-08-21.
  7. Web site: Woerner. Meredith. Exclusive Horror Story From The Absolutely Chilling Through The Woods. io9. 2014-07-17.
  8. Web site: Whitbrook. James. July 11, 2015. e Are Your Eisner 2015 Winners!. 2020-11-05. io9. en-us.
  9. Web site: Lodge. Sally. 2013-08-01. 'Speak' to Be Adapted as a Graphic Novel. Publishers Weekly.
  10. Web site: Hennum. Shea. April 25, 2019. Reviews: When I Arrived at the Castle. 2021-02-28. The Comics Journal. en-US.
  11. Web site: A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll . 2023-09-09 . www.publishersweekly.com.
  12. News: Smith. Zack. 2014-09-10. Emily Carroll Takes Us THROUGH THE WOODS. Newsarama. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140913014459/http://www.newsarama.com/22092-spx-countdown-emily-carroll-takes-us-through-the-woods.html. 2014-09-13.
  13. Web site: Rally Your Friends and Face The Yawhg, A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Game With Artwork by Emily Carroll. The Mary Sue. Chambers. Becky. 2013-05-31.
  14. Jackson. Frannie. 2014-12-17. The 20 Best Webcomics of 2014. Paste Magazine.
  15. Web site: Brinks. Melissa. 2019-05-23. When I Arrived at the Castle is a Dark, Delicious Fantasy. 2021-02-28. Women Write About Comics. en-US.
  16. Web site: Gavaler. Chris. 2019-03-04. Pussycats, Lesbian Vampires, and the Blood-Splattered Erotica of Emily Carroll's 'When I Arrived at the Castle'. 2021-02-28. PopMatters. en-US.
  17. Web site: A Guest in the House . Macmillan Publishers . Macmillan . 11 January 2026.
  18. News: Bies . Sadia . A Guest in the House . 11 January 2026 . The Comics Journal . Fantagraphics . 8 October 2024.
  19. News: Quaintance . Zack . GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: A GUEST IN THE HOUSE is a stunner . 11 January 2026 . The Beat: The Blog of Comics Culture . Superlime Media . 27 October 2023.
  20. News: Oksman . Tahneer . 'A Guest in the House' rests on atmosphere, delivering an uncanny, wild ride . 11 January 2026 . NPR . 28 August 2023.
  21. News: The best Canadian comics of 2023 . 11 January 2026 . CBC Books . Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . 11 December 2023.
  22. News: 100 Notable Books of 2023 . 11 January 2026 . New York Times Book Review . New York Times . 21 November 2023.
  23. Web site: 2011 Nominees and Winners. The Joe Shuster Awards. 2011-06-18.
  24. Web site: Boyd. Kevin A.. The 2012 Joe Shuster Award winners. The Joe Shuster Awards. 2012-09-15.
  25. Web site: MacDonald . Heidi . 2019-09-16 . 2019 Joe Shuster Awards winners including Zdarsky, Kerschl, Carroll and Variant Edition . 2025-06-27 . The Beat . en-US.
  26. Web site: Past Winners. Doug Wright Award.
  27. Web site: CBC Books . 13 May 2024 . Stratford author Emily Carroll wins 2024 Doug Wright Award for best comic . CBC.
  28. Web site: Your 2015 Ignatz Award Winners!. The Comics Reporter. 2015-09-20.
  29. Web site: Alverson. Brigid. Comics A.M. | Emily Carroll's 'Through the Woods' wins British Fantasy Award. Comic Book Resources. 2015-10-26.
  30. Web site: 2024 Winners . Lambda Literary . 11 January 2026.
  31. Web site: Letter to Lambda Literary . 11 January 2026.
  32. Web site: Chandrasekera . Vajra . The Saint of Bright Doors Wins the Locus First Novel Award . Vajra Chandrasekera . 11 January 2026.
  33. News: Gelt . Jessica . L.A. Times Book Prize winners named in a ceremony filled with support for USC valedictorian Asna Tabassum . 11 January 2026 . Los Angeles Times . California Times . 19 April 2024.
  34. Web site: Randle. Chris. 2014-08-07. Monsters at the Door. 2020-11-05. Hazlitt. en.

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