Slendy Needs a Hug

Here's another wee doodle inspired by Hallowe'eny things; specifically, the surprisingly voluminous quantity of spooky short films, cunningly creepy doctored photos and imaginatively eerie fictional writings that comprise The Slender Man Mythos.

If you've never heard of Slender Man (or Slendy, as he's affectionately known. Not that affectionately though), the excellent folks at TV Tropes can provide elucidation. Have a look at this, and I'll wait here until you get back.

Tum-tee-tum. Doo-dee-doo. I am the walrus, etc.

Hello again! Wasn't that interesting?

I became aware of the Slenderverse during my Hallowe'en jaunt round the InformationSuperBypass looking for sinister mini-movies, and there's some nifty stuff on YouTube that's been put together with impressive care and attention-to-detail by a whole bunch of talented film-makers. The three biggest projects – Marble Hornets, Tribe Twelve and Everyman Hybrid (the best one) – are impressive examples of how to make "found footage" horror genuinely freaky and engaging, and some of the photos that people have (ostensibly) taken of the blank-faced lanky chap are surprisingly unnerving. (Many of the finest ones feature in the Something Awful forum thread that started the whole thing off.)

Pretty much everything connected with Slender Man suggests that his motivations are malevolent (if abstract), and that he enjoys doing terrible things to people. But what if, like so many famous "monsters" (the Frankenstein creature, say, or King Kong, or the guys from Monsters Inc), Slendy is misunderstood? What if, instead of stalking people intent on removing their gizzards, he's just trying (ineptly) to make friends?

I personally see Slender Man as a rather sad and lonely character cursed with absolutely rotten luck, like a scary-looking Calamity James. He could be the loveliest guy in the world, but we'll never know because he's been lumbered with a physical form that could chill magma, he can't talk and thus can't reassure people that all he wants is a nice cup of tea and some company, and he can't go near any other living things without them (a) running away screaming, (b) going insane, or (c) falling horribly ill and/or dropping stone dead. And to top it all off, he has to live in freezing cold woodland because real estate agents are notoriously reluctant to arrange mortgages for people with no facial features. Life can be so unfair.

This pen-and-ink piccy is my way of paying homage to the spindly slim one, and of calling attention to his plight. Slendy desperately requires some love, and also a good square meal if anyone can think of a way to help him eat it.