Trick or treat! This year, Comic SCREECH is giving out a stack of spooky HalloSCREAM BLEEDS! Wait, I meant, “Halloween reads.” Sorry, this thing is set to “Crypt Keeper.”
Just in time for Samhain, Comics Beat is sharing a stack of spooky comics to make your season scarier than it already is! Be sure and let us know what you think of our selections (and feel free to share any of your own) in the comment section or over on our social media page!
13 Demons Dead
Writer: Adam Tierney
Artist: Saspy
Colors: Saspy
Letters: Neil Uyetake
Publisher: IDW Comics
After Everly “Ev” Espada unknowingly kills a demon to save her favorite teacher’s life, she gets conscripted into a millenia-long battle between demons and their hunters. Her task is to kill 13 Demons in one year, all while trying to maintain something of normal life and pass her classes. It’s the kind of shonen-style premise with a female protagonist that I would’ve loved in high school myself. Ev is a teenage girl in every facet of that word. She curses, has crushes and annoying cousins. She loves her family but is deeply embarrassed by their love for her in a way that only a teenager can. All of these attributes are written openly and earnestly, without the author looking at the audience and saying “Girls, right?” Bloody, hilarious and earnest. – E.B. Hutchins
Absolute Batman, Vol. 2: Abomination
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Nick Dragotta, Marcos Martin, Clay Mann
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Colorists: Frank Martin, Muntsa Vicente, Ivan Plascencia
Publisher: DC Comics
Absolute Batman has been redefining the meaning of monstrosity and body horror in superhero comics since its very first issue. While the opening story arc features an excellent interpretation of Black Mask that pokes fun at tech bro culture, it’s in the second story arc that things really go full horror. Aptly titled “Abomination,” this is where Bane gets one of the most terrifying makeovers a character has ever gotten in a Batman comic. Snyder and Dragotta essentially turn the Venom-addicted bruiser into a mass of muscles that makes him look like an ancient body-building deity that runs on pure evil. It evokes the most disturbing parts of the classic anime Akira, especially when you think about Tetsuo’s transformation in the final battle. Bane is sadistic but well-spoken, vicious but surgical in the damage he inflicts. Even with the Joker getting a terror-inducing makeover of his own, I’d still rather not be in the same room as Bane. – Ricardo Serrano
Ash and The Army of Darkness/Ash Gets Hitched
Writer/Artist: Steve Niles, Various
Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Dynamite has released many Army of Darkness comics over the past few decades, but the cream of the crop is the gory, funny – but also emotionally resonant – Ash and the Amy of Darkness. Twisting the ending of Army of Darkness to plant Ash and his colleagues back in the 1300s because Ash fumbled the words again, Steve Niles of The Walking Dead fame uses Ash’s return to create some high and resonant stakes. Questions of humanity and mortality rise during each branch of the series. The comic also provides the best interpretation ever of Ash’s romance with Sheila, his medieval lady love, who has turned into a tough knight in his absence and now carries his child. Unfortunately, Niles’ reign on the comic ended just after the couple’s wedding – leaving fans wondering what could have been. But for spooky season, there’s no better way to delve into the series. – Lisa Fernandes
Batman: The Winning Card
Writer: Tom King
Artist: Mitch Gerads
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: DC Comics
Spooky season is never complete without a good Batman comic. While there are plenty of options, ranging from the Gothic to grizzly detective murder mysteries, I find The Winning Card to be one of the most enjoyable modern Batman horror stories. Yes, it’s yet another “Batman meets the Joker” retellings but King and Gerads make a meal out of this limited concept with a number of fascinating formal choices and a twisted sense of humor. Their Joker is terrifying and hilarious in a way modern Joker stories simply lack, and the intertitle dialogue is a great bit that evolves as Batman comes to understand the Joker. If you read King’s other Batman work, this is not in the same wheelhouse. There’s no doomed romance or existential musing here. Instead, what you have is a young, brutal Bat out for blood against a young, brutal Joker. Chaos ensues and it’s delightful to witness. — Steve Baxi
Cocoon
Writer/Artist: Machiko Kyō
Publisher: Viz Media
It is often said that there can never be a work of anti-war fiction because it will always make the violence thrilling. What this fails to consider is the angle upon which war is being presented. Cocoon follows a group of Himeyuri students, girls still in high school, working as medics in the midst of the Second World War. What follows is a work of absolute horror as Kyō’s watercolors bleed into gore and viscera. A fantastic work of horror fiction. — Sean Dillon
DC Horror Presents: Sgt. Rock vs The Army of the Dead
Writer: Bruce Campbell
Artist: Eduardo Risso
Colorist: Kristian Rossi
Letters: Rob Leigh
Publisher: DC Comics
Sgt. Rock Vs The Army of the Dead is an excellent horror comic that is full of action, gore, and dead nazis all beautifully rendered. As part of the (now seemingly defunct) DC Horror line, Sgt Rock tells the story of Easy Company in the waning days of WWII. Hitler is facing defeat and desperate to field his army. So through dark science he begins to bring back an army of the damned. Bruce Campbell writes this book with an amazing sense of pace and wit that is uncommon for celebrity writers. Horror Comics legend Eduardo Risso nails the grotesque gore and violence. This comic is grindhouse meets EC Weird War Tales and one of my favorites of the Halloween season. — Jordan Jennings
Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir
Writer/Artist: Tessa Hulls
Publisher: MCD
It’s not often that horror gets Pulitzer Prize recognition. Tessa Hulls’ graphic novel Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir is among those select few (with Daniel Kraus’s Angel Down being another recipient, but in prose). It’s a monumental achievement that reflects the richness and the cultural value of the story it tells. The book explores modern Chinese history through three generations of women that were impacted by the violent changes that marked each period. Journalism, memory, and family trauma are expertly woven for a narrative that pulls no punches on the ugliness humanity is capable of. Horror is the connective tissue, the language that ties history and personal experience together. Every page is populated by ghostly shapes and dark splotches of vaguely discernible haunts that act as a constant reminder of trauma. It’s a heavy read, but it never sacrifices accessibility to get its point across. Feeding Ghosts is the kind of book that marks a generation of comics. That it uses horror to do so makes it even more special. — Ricardo Serrano
Feral
Writer: Tony Fleecs
Artist: Trish Forstner & Tone Rodriguez
Colors: Brad Simpson
Letters: Tony Fleecs
Publisher: Image Comics
After the phenomenal success of Stray Dogs miniseries, the same creative team reunited to combine the storytelling sensibilities of The Walking Dead with the visual aesthetics of Don Bluth animated films. Just when I thought the zombie genre was tapped out at this point, Fleece and Forstner deserve immense praise for finding a new take not only using rabies instead of a fictional infection, but doing so from the POV of felines. Feral obviously owes its story sensibilities to the aforementioned TWD, particularly when it comes to not being afraid to kill off the cast. However, it doesn’t feel like a ripoff at all and builds a wholly original world that shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. — Taimur Dar
The Me You Love in the Dark
Writer: Skottie Young
Artist: Jorge Corona
Colors: Jean-Francois Beaulieu
Letters: Nate Piekos of Blambot
Publisher: Image Comics
A tale as old as time: a young artist needs inspiration, they park themselves in an ancient house with just the right atmosphere and history, they discover the place is haunted, and they… fall in love with the ghost? Yes, you read that right! Young and Corona’s haunted house gothic romance has flown under the radar for years but it’s stayed with me ever since I read the first issue. Housed within some typical spooky thrills is a wonderfully tragic look at what it means to create, the pain of solitude, and learning to love the darkness within ourselves that helps animate our passions. More than just a Halloween read, The Me You Love in the Dark is also a perfect fall book that reminds you of the terrors, comforts and joys of the season. — Steve Baxi
Mindset
Writer: Zack Kaplan
Artist: John Pearson
Letters: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Publisher: Vault
These days, what’s scarier than technology? Mindset tells the story of a young tech entrepreneur who aims to solve our phone and app addiction by creating yet another app to be addicted to, and inadvertently stumbles onto mind control. Subtly has gone out the window in our world of tech oligarchs controlling every aspect of our lives. Kaplan and Pearson render the terror of everyday modern living so vividly that you begin to question whether you are also part of the problem, staring down at cell phones and e-readers all day when the sun sets early and the cold weather forces us inside. The scariest Halloween stories are the ones that take away your comforts to brave the turning of the season, and Mindset is no exception as it forces you to not only confront reality but perhaps re-evaluate the ways you spend your spooky nights. — Steve Baxi
More Weight
Writer/Artist: Ben Whickey
Publisher: Top Shelf Comics
It’s very hard to make the case that a work is American From Hell. Certainly, the absurdity of such a sentence speaks for itself. Even Moore’s attempt at the project – Providence – has the limitation of the writer lacking a full understanding of the nation’s heart. Whickey, being of America, is able to provide the depth, mystical implications, and moral horror that From Hell presented and does so with gusto. It earns the Moore quote on the cover and then some. One of the great comics of the 21st century and a stark look at a truly horrific set of events. — Sean Dillon
Nameless
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Chris Burnham
Colors: Nathan Fairbrairn
Letters: Simon Bowland
Publisher: Image Comics
There was a war in heaven and evil won. Fortunately, a group of occultists led by the titular rock star magician and funded by a tech billionaire are here to save the day. I’m sure things will end well. A grisly work of cosmic horror that refuses to leave the brain years after you’ve finished reading it. At once flawed, immaculate, and brilliant. Burnham is working at a career high one sorely wishes he’d return to. And Morrison’s bleak vision of the cosmos feels like an enema being injected into decades of poptimism and utopian billionaires. Fire rains down from heaven, and people burn in the ashes. — Sean Dillon
Negative Space
Writer: Ryan K Lindsay
Artist: Owen Gieni
Letter: Ryan Ferrier
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Negative Space is a beautiful, dark twisted comic. Ryan K. Lindsay tackles a topic that is a lot for people to deal with: depression and suicidal ideation. The story doesn’t let up at any point of the journey. Ultimately, Negative Space takes big swings in not only the scale and scope but with the art. Artist Owen Gieni creates a visceral and haunting world of cosmic horror. Negative Space has a lot of stuff that can be off-putting to some readers, but if you know what you are dealing with when you go into it, you will find a comic that is befitting a read for the Halloween season. — Jordan Jennings
Stagtown
Writer/Artist: Punko
Publisher: Ten Speed Graphic
Stagtown plays out against the backdrop of what Stephen King has called a “peculiar little town,” a setting whose relative isolation allows numerous anomalies to ferment and fester. When she returns home after college, a young woman realizes that daily life in her rural town is anything but normal. The first print volume of this popular webcomic is structured as an episodic series of supernatural disturbances, but it lays an intriguing foundation of clues pointing to a larger mystery. Stagtown twines its roots through deep currents of American gothic storytelling, and its characters are relatable even when they find themselves in situations that feel as though they could have been excavated from internet archives of creepypasta. — Kathryn Hemmann
Strange Cases
Writer/Artist: Riotbones
Publisher: Andrews McMeel
In a low-fantasy reimagining of the Victorian period, a law student studying abroad in England returns home for his mother’s funeral. His legal expertise is of interest to unusual segments of the colonial society occupying his flooded city, where he finds himself drawn into a series of supernatural mysteries. The gorgeous art in Strange Cases invites the reader to explore a world of gothic decadence even as the story subtly suggests hidden truths about the decaying foundations of imperialism. Despite its tonal darkness, this graphic novel glimmers with bold colors and brilliant character writing. — Kathryn Hemmann
Theater of Terror!: Revenge of the Queers
Editors: Justin Hall and William O. Tyler
Publisher: Northwest Press
In this excellent and unapologetically queer anthology, you’ll be trick or treated to a collection of excellent and memorable short horror comics. Like the best anthologies, there is a wide spectrum of story types in Theater of Terror, including spooky ghost stories, gory parables and some unexpected surprises! You can read more about the 2020 anthology here. — Avery Kaplan
