Warning: contains spoilers for Damaged People #1!

Damian Connelly’s Damaged People, from Alien Books, perfectly recalls the horror heyday of DC Comics’ Vertigo line. Horror comics have undergone a renaissance in the past decade, anchored by titles such as Something is Killing the Children and Harrow County. Damaged People, with its emphasis on telling self-contained, character-driven, Vertigo-style horror stories, is a worthy addition to the horror comics canon.

Damaged People #1 is written and drawn by Damian Connelly. Each issue of the title is self-contained, allowing readers to pick the title up with no worries about cumbersome continuity. The solicitation for the first issue reads:

Damian Connelly, creator of the best-selling comics You Promised Me Darkness, Follow Me Into The Darkness and Blood, Love, Ghosts and a Deadly Spell; brings you a new collection of spooky comics. Self-contained stories of horror, suspense, romance and damaged people. Each issue, a new story.

We are damaged people living in a world full of horrors, who can fix us?

Episode one: A ghost girl. In the first episode we will learn the story of Abigail, a boring and lonely girl who spends her days scaring people. Until her life changes completely when she meets Mary, a ghost girl. A gothic romance in the 90’s, dark places, flowers and two damaged people.

Indeed, Damaged People’s first story, titled “A Ghost Girl,” makes good on this promise. Set in the 1990s, “A Ghost Girl” is far from being a conventional horror story. Instead of focusing on scares and gore, “A Ghost Girl” instead peels back the layers of its young protagonists.

This emphasis on characters and their relationships recalls the best of DC’s late Vertigo line.

Alien Books Has Stepped The Horror Game Up

Damian Connelly Has Revived the Spirit of Vertigo

In addition to being the parent company of Valiant Comics, Alien Books also publishes high-quality horror and science fiction comics, and Damaged People is their latest triumph. The book is the brainchild of acclaimed writer and artist Damian Connelly. Connelly made a name for himself with You Promised Me Darkness, published by Behemoth. Connelly also released a sequel: Follow Me Into the Darkness. These comics established Connelly as a horror comics superstar. Now, he is set for Damaged People, his biggest title yet.

Alien Books, in promotional materials for Damaged People, stated the book would appeal to fans of titles such as The Sandman, as well as DC’s Vertigo line in general. This is an apt comparison. The Vertigo imprint, launched by DC in 1993, consisted of the publisher’s supernatural/horror-based offerings. The best of the Vertigo books mixed genuine, skin-crawling scares with compelling characterizations and thought-provoking stories. In titles such as Hellblazer and Swamp Thing, Vertigo helped lay the foundation for the modern horror comics boom. While Vertigo is now defunct, its legacy can be found everywhere.

Damaged People Is One of the Year’s Best Horror Titles

Another Triumph For Creator Damian Connelly

Damian Connelly’s Damaged People is cut from the same cloth that made titles such as Shade the Changing Man and Animal Man some of comics’ best. Connelly deftly mashes up romance, family dynamics and horror in “A Ghost Girl.” The story of a girl romancing a ghost might seem to stretch credibility, but Connelly sells it perfectly. Like DC’s Vertigo stories of old, Damaged People makes good use of the “Mature Readers” label, telling sophisticated stories exploring what it means to be alive, or in the case of “A Ghost Girl” being dead.

Damaged People #1 is on sale August 14 from Alien Books!