In the spirit of Halloween we rounded up a few of the Comic Attack staff, locked them in an old abattoir to set the mood and fed them nothing but candy corn, black licorice, circus peanuts, and raisins while they talked about some of their favorite horror titles!
It had been a long time since I had checked out anything horror affiliated as I had lost interest in the genre as far as comics were concerned. That would all change when horror aficionado, Decapitated Dan, put Locke & Key on my radar. Though still hesitant because of the hype, a fateful meeting with series artist Gabriel Rodriguez changed all that. It was on that day I started a journey with the Locke family that remains one of my favorite stories to this day. One of terrible loss, supernatural forces, enchanted keys, and the bonds of family and friendship told by Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez, and Jay Fotos.
The story spans several decades but the main narrative takes place in the current time as Joe Hill kills it with the emotional beats and surprises from start to finish. Going from murderous plots and blood splattered pages to some really heart-wrenching moments between others. Now I’ve seen some great art over the years but Rodriguez and Fotos knock every single panel out the park and ride the wave of emotions in the story with precision. If you haven’t read Locke & Key or even not really into horror comics I’d still say pick this one up as there’s a story with heart at it’s center. – Infinite Speech
Frankenstein is one of my favorite stories of all time. I remember seeing it really young, then going out of my way to find the other Universal movies with Frankenstein attached. There were plenty of cartoons, movies, and comics to check up on the creator and created. I always felt bad for the creature (before he goes on a murderous rampage) his dad bailed on him and then he had to make it on his own, meanwhile his dad is passing out every few pages from his responsibilities.
Another love was Junji Ito who I was introduced to by a copy of The Enigma of Amigara Fault, which combined unexplained phenomenon with a body horror end. The guy knows how to draw scary things. And cats, but those aren’t meant to be scarier than normal cats. Both Frankenstein and Junji Ito have intertwined where he adapted the book and gave his own take on the infamous Creature. I think I said this in my review of it, but, two great tastes that taste great together. – Doc Bustos
Another horror title that came out of nowhere and hooked me immediately was Blood & Gourd! This is a straight up love letter to those 80s horror movies with it’s over the top gore, dark humor, and villains whose goal is to straight up murder everyone in town! They don’t want or require your sympathy and that’s the way the creative team from Dead Peasants likes it.
Everything kicks off on Devil’s Night in Olympia, Washington courtesy of an evil corporation and the ominous Gordfather! A towering creature of death with the head of a pumpkin and a demon’s visage. The townspeople are also getting attacked by ravenous pumpkins which results in some of the most unique death scenes in comics. Writers, Jenz K. Lund & D. H. Shultis with artists Dave Acosta, Fran Gamboa, Jonas Scharf have knocked out three issues of complete mayhem also backed with some genuine human moments that make me long for the days of practical effects and a gore filled time. – Infinite Speech
“I’m really not into the horror genre that much, whether it be on TV, in the movies, novels, or comics. I appreciate some of the classic horror stories, especially in prose, such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Cthulhu mythos stories by H.P. Lovecraft. My tastes tend to run more toward creepy, unexplained mysteries and the supernatural versus gore or over-the-top violence, so I’m not particularly a fan of the zombie genre, for example.
In terms of comics, I really like comic stories that take classic horror characters in a new direction, such as Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. or Gotham City Monsters. I really enjoyed the I, Vampire series from the New 52, by Joshua Hale Fialkov, for both the story and the theme-appropriate art by Andrea Sorrentino. Other horror-adjacent comics I’ve enjoyed are things like Gotham by Midnight and Justice League Dark.
For pure horror, the manager of my favorite local comic book shop, Collector’s Paradise in Pasadena, last year set up a Halloween-themed section of the store and also sent out an email talking about some of her favorite Halloween-themed comics. I was intrigued by Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft. I’d heard of the title before, but I knew nothing about it, but I was immediately interested due to name-dropping of Lovecraft in the title of the first arc. In addition to reading Lovecraft, I play in an ongoing Cthulhu tabletop role-playing game, so I picked up the first trade collection and read it in one sitting. It’s exactly my kind of horror – creepy and mysterious, but without a lot of blood or gore. As a simple description, the first arc is about a mansion in New England (of course!) called Keyhouse, full of fantastic doors that change people who walk through them, as well as a sinister, ominous spirit that is trying to manipulate people into opening the most dangerous door in the house. Check out this super creepy image from the first story arc! It communicates so much with so little, and is a great example of the tone of the whole book. It’s even creepier when you realize that the boy has been “talking” to the creature in the well for almost the whole book without knowing anything about her.” – Martin
The Gentleman: Darkness in the Void was created by Marcell Dupree and written by the creator of Is’Nana the Were-Spider, Greg Anderson Elysée. So the expectations were high with this one just on the strength of his previous works. Greg weaves this supernatural tale with a rich tapestry of character building, a generational curse, and a noire feel. Greg’s story also gives a fresh take on the supernatural with it’s influence of Caribbean mysticism which is rarely seen and shown with a serious attention to it’s roots. The art from Massimiliano Veltri and Marco Pagnotta fits perfectly with the narrative and keeps you cemented in this story.
Oh and all of you people whose mantra is “Give me some new original POC characters and I’ll read it!” well this is the book you’ve been asking for. It’s got the representation, fine storytelling, and slamming artwork that us comic fans demand so it’s waiting for you to check out. – Infinite Speech
Just Beyond: The Scare School is the new addition to the graphic series Just Beyond by R.L. Stine and published under Kaboom! of Boom! Studios. During what should have been a normal day at school, three kids come across a mysterious creature stalking some weird kids in their school. After following the group they find themselves falling through a portal into a nightmare version of their school where they’ll have to run for their lives to escape or be trapped forever
Just Beyond: The Scare School is for younger readers and doesn’t try too hard to scare or creep out readers like the old Goosebumps series use to. It’s got some really beautiful artwork thanks to the talents of Kelly and Nichole Matthews and moves fairly quickly from panel to panel. I think ages 6-12 might get a real kick out of this book as it moves fast, has some cool art and isn’t hard to follow. However, anyone older than that or has experienced Goosebumps might be turned off by the more lighthearted tone and silly twists. All in all, if you’ve got a young reader in your family who’s hungry for some Halloween reading, this is a nice treat! – Eric
martin@comicattack.net
esnell@comicattack.net
drbustos@comicattack.net
infinitespeech@comicattack.net
Pingback: R.L. Stine’s ‘Just Beyond’ Greenlit For New Series Coming to Disney+! – ComicAttack.net