Aaron Williams

Aaron Williams is proof that a cartoonist can make you laugh for two decades and then genuinely terrify you. The Kenosha-born, Columbus-based creator built his name on two beloved cult comics: Nodwick, the long-running fantasy-gaming strip that delighted Dragon Magazine readers, and PS238, the hilarious series about a school for super-powered kids that spawned its own role-playing game. Alongside them came the webcomic Full Frontal Nerdity, making Williams one of the most prolific gag cartoonists of the web-comics boom.

Then, in 2009, he flipped the script. North 40 — written by Williams with art by a young Fiona Staples at Wildstorm — asked the question: what happens when you take a quiet Midwestern county and drop H.P. Lovecraft on it? The answer was a six-issue horror masterpiece in which an ancient witch’s spellbook cracks open and turns Conover County’s residents into monsters, cultists, and the occasional accidental hero. Williams told CBR the series was “basically what happens when you take a small backwoods county in the Midwest and drop H.P. Lovecraft on it” — and it became a touchstone for fans who love their horror with rural grit and bone-dry wit.

Beyond comics, Williams wrote the Image series Truth, Justin, and the American Way with Scott Kurtz, scripted the Diablo miniseries for DC, and kept his webcomic empire running from nodwick.com. Today he shares new sketches and comics with readers through his Patreon and posts updates as @dogooderpress on Twitter. Start with North 40 for the horror side — then follow the links back to PS238 when you need to laugh again.