Horror comics have been a major part of the medium for decades, and currently, horror-focused comic books are among the best on store shelves. Readers have a broad variety of choices as well. They range from independent titles like Something Is Killing The Children to Marvel superhero series like the just-completed The Immortal Hulk.
The appeal of horror comics goes far beyond the Halloween season, with unsettling but thought-provoking stories that investigate horror themes well beyond mere gore. Some of the most interesting horror comics may not be obviously horror in nature at all, but nevertheless ask major questions about life, death, and agency.
X-Men Comics
From the very beginning of the Dawn Of X era of X-Men comics in 2019, there is an unsettling sense that something is wrong. Some of the best X-Men issues of the 2010s heralded a new era for mutants on Krakoa, but the end of death through the resurrection protocols seems to also be the beginning of questions of what it means to be alive, and even what it means to be the person you thought you were.
While not obviously horror in nature, the themes explored in the last two years of X-comics aren’t unlike those in Frankenstein. Professor X presides over this experiment with a creepy detachment, with subtle, unnerving hints that something isn’t right in Krakoa.
Red Room
Red Room by writer and artist Ed Piskor might be the obviously horror-themed comic on the racks today. A gory exploration of a secret internet sub-world devoted to killing people on live streams, the comic feels like an Eli Roth movie from the early 2000s.
It introduces a lot of creepy characters like Poker Face that have a lot of unsettling impact. A big attraction in the comic is the art, which uses a lot of throwback comic book techniques like Duo-Tone to create a gritty and raw feel perfect for the brutal nature of the story.
Nocterra
Nocterra is a new ongoing comic from acclaimed writer Scott Snyder, responsible for some of the best Batman comic book issues of the 2010s, and artist Tony S. Daniel.
The comic has a great 30 Days Of Night vibe with lots of action and suspense. The entire world has been cast into eternal night, and society has been destroyed by creepy creatures that roam in the dark. Val is a woman who transports survivors from the wastelands into one of the few outposts of civilization.
The Low, Low Woods
The Low, Low, Woods is an unnerving comic set in rural Pennsylvania (taking place in the appropriately named Shudder-To-Think), where endless fires in abandoned coal mines have created a strange and scary landscape. Rabbits have human eyes and teenagers lose their memory and a whole lot more.
The comic is written by Carmen Maria Machado, with gritty art by Dani that really creates a sense of everything being covered in the soot of the fire. It comes from Hill House, the DC Comics imprint overseen by author Joe Hill, the son of Stephen King.
Stillwater
Similar to the X-Men comics and even The Immortal Hulk, Stillwater tackles the concept of what it means to not be able to die. Immortality isn’t what it’s cracked up to be in this remote town. A consequence of not dying is that no one ages, and everything just kind of atrophies for the residents.
Written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Ramón K. Perez, the story mostly revolves around the character of Thomas, whose mother smuggled him out of the town as a baby. He returns as a fully grown adult to confront a dark past that remains exactly as it was decades before.
Maniac Of New York
Maniac Of New York takes the slasher genre embodied in movies like Friday The 13th to truly outrageous levels, but it never steers into comedy. This is despite being written by Elliot Kalan, who has been a writer on The Daily Show and Mystery Science Theater 3000.
The comic follows a single serial killer on a truly epic spree through New York City, and no one is able to stop him. It’s a commentary in a way on the seemingly preposterous nature of slasher movies, even as it reflects a deep and real fear people have of such things.
Gideon Falls
Gideon Falls is one of the most visually arresting and inventive of any current comic book, with crazy art by Andrea Sorrentino that depicts the surreal reality inside a place called The Black Barn. Reality breaks down inside the Barn, as do the minds of anyone that goes inside it.
Writer Jeff Lemire, who also created Sweet Tooth, the comic the recent Netflix series was adapted from, crafts a story that takes full advantage of the comics medium. Panels become portals and what is and isn’t real loses all sense of certainty.
Monstress
Monstress on the surface seems like an epic fantasy, but it also has elements of horror that might make it appealing to readers. Written by Marjorie Liu and drawn by Sana Takeda, this award-winning Image Comics series tells the story of Marika Halfwolf, who is psychically bonded to a demon-like monster that can manifest from her amputated arm.
Marika has shades of Magik from The New Mutants, but the story is a fantastic and original fusion of magic and kaiju, with sorcerers battling monsters and Marika battling herself in every way.
The Immortal Hulk
The Immortal Hulk, written by Al Ewing, recently concluded its fifty-issue run. Now that the series is over, readers can take in the series from start to finish as it delves into David Cronenberg levels of body horror.
The series explores the Hulk in a completely new way, with the hero unable to ever die thanks to his gamma radiation powers. He regenerates from body parts and discovers other creatures and cosmic entities beyond himself, like The One Below All, which makes the Marvel Universe a more terrifying place than it was.
Something Is Killing The Children
Something Is Killing The Children features a great protagonist in the form of Erica Slaughter, who has echoes of Buffy Summers in the way she cuts down monsters. She comes to a town where all the children have gone missing, leading to a mysterious and bloody story with truly scary monsters at the heart of it.
Writer James Tynion IV and artist Werther Dell’Edera create a must-read series with lots of twists and turns that have made it very popular as a comic book, and it’s set to become a Netflix streaming series by Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan.
