LEWISTON – Few people get to wander the cobweb-infested life of a murderous genius.

Richard Waters Jr. is hoping horror fans want to do just that for the next two weekends. He’s created a three-dimensional horror comic book, “The Life and Times of John Hawkins,” following the fictional life of a Lewiston-born madman who ultimately winds up shrieking and smoking in an electric chair.

“We don’t do anything gory or satanic,” Waters said. “We can’t go too far, because of the kids. We don’t want to scare anybody too badly.”

Walker and his crew will continue the show in back of the Promenade Mall on Lisbon Street in Lewiston, through Nov. 8.

The story, written by Waters, follows John Hawkins from birth to his assumed death – and beyond. Waters hopes to continue Hawkins’ story next year.

“We left him open-ended,” he said. “He doesn’t end here. We have things we can do with him. Plus, you find out in the story that he has children. So, we might do something with them down the road.”

The idea for the entire project, from the details of Hawkins’ life to the designs for the animatronic skeletons and such, grew entirely out of Waters’ imagination. Wife Jane Waters said he’d been talking about it all year, but finally decided to do it this summer.

“We all said it was suicide,” Jane said. “It’s just too much. But here we are after all.”

Waters, family and friends built the entire set, from the electric chair to a “working” elevator – a machine rocks and shakes it – and an elaborate bridge. There are haunted cabins, long desolate hallways and plenty of things going bump in the night.

The show opened on Oct. 18 in place of the Hip Hop Connection, an after-hours club behind the Promenade Mall.

“It was perfect – big, wide open with black walls,” Waters said. “It was just what we needed.”

Crowds have been moderate. Outside of a couple of newspaper advertisements and some radio spots, Waters said he hasn’t promoted his show much.

“Unless you can afford to put $10,000 to $20,000 in ads, there’s only so much you can expect,” he said. “But we’ve done fine this year and we’ll be back next year.”

The family and crew of 15 will continue running the show Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday beginning at 6 p.m. and by appointment through Nov. 8. After that, Waters said he’ll break down his little shop of horrors and start planning for next year.

“The thing that gets you is how much there is to do,” Waters said. “You get caught up in the details. But now I know what we’ve done, and we have it to build on. We did all of this in four or five months. Imagine what we’ll accomplish with an entire year to plan.”

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