Aside from superheroes, one genre has dominated the comic book industry. That genre, of course, is horror. Comics are ideal for horror since they are a visual medium. Horror in comic books has always had a fervent following and a place alongside superheroes.
So here’s a list of the best horror comics that is a must read:
1.Wytches
Picture: Broken Frontier
After a poor hand in their hometown, a young family relocates to a small New England town in the hopes of giving their daughter Sailor a second shot, they discover that they’ve traded one evil for another. They’ve relocated to a town where residents trade living people for greater health and fortunes with unknown beings residing on the outside of town. These ‘Wytches,’ as they’re known, prey on humanity’s hunger in order to divide people.
Scott Snyder and Jock’s Image Comics book Wytches is a quintessential horror comic for focusing the tale on their horrific twist on witches while using those creatures to demonstrate the inherent evil of individuals willing to exchange human decency for a better stock in life. By the end of Wytches, Snyder had nailed the contrast, demonstrating that no one is fully immune to succumbing to temptation, even a father of a troubled child.
2. Locke and Key
Picture: Den of Geek
Locke and Key is a never-ending horrorfest that centres on the Locke family and a history of demons, murder, betrayal, and possession. Hill and his artist Gabriel Rodriguez take inspiration from all eras of horror, from the gothic foundations of the genre to the Lovecraftian and Poe inspired strangeness of the early twentieth century to the contemporary slasher obsession of the modern age.
Locke and Key has its own universe and introduces fully developed characters who must face unspeakable horrors in order to survive and unlock the next door of a nightmare that never seems to end. Locke and Key is not available as a movie on Netflix which will add more thrill when watched on screen!
3. Hellblazer
Picture: Den of Geek
John Constantine, a sardonic mage, has called gods, fought demons, and defeated cancer. Despite its horror and esoteric themes, Hellblazer’s deadliest moments were grounded in truth. Even at its most satirical, Constantine’s exploits always had a realistic subtext running through them. Whether it’s Warren Ellis’ gruesome descriptions of domestic decay or Brian Azzarello dropping the smart-ass mage into the American prison system, Constantine’s most terrifying encounters have come close enough to the truth to remind readers that real life can be just as terrifying as any succubus or demon spawn.
Classic horror author after classic horror author guided Constantine’s voyage through the DC Universe’s underbelly in the original Hellblazer publication from Vertigo. Readers have been sent to hell and back through Constantine as he battled every form of killer, monster, and demon imaginable, and he did so for fifteen incredible years throughout his Vertigo run. Although Constantine now weaves his black magic throughout the DC Universe, the trench coat magician established the standard for modern comic horror in the legendary and genre-defining Vertigo title.
4. Hellboy
Picture: Den of Geek
Hellboy is a comic book character created by Mike Mignola. Mignola has created an ever-expanding realm of nightmares that will enthral and enchant even the most jaded readers. Anything goes in Hellboy’s universe, from baby demons to vampires, sex cults, friendly sea creatures, bloodthirsty clockwork murderers, and classic monsters of every shape and size. Mike Mignola, a visual horror genius who has no equal when it comes to shadows and chills, presents it all. Hellboy saves the earth from the creatures of darkness in Mignola’s world, and the biggest monster is also the greatest hero.
The biblical Beast of Revelations, a conflicted, heroic monster, faces his fate as the most powerful nemesis of all. Mignola’s work, despite its postmodern awesomeness, exudes majesty and melancholy, evoking a profound sense of history and loss through random panels of decaying castles and stray wildlife.
5. The Walking Dead
Picture: Den of Geek
An apocalyptic epidemic has spread across the globe, driving the dead to rise and feast on the living. Society has fallen in a matter of months: there is no government, no food stores, no mail service, and no cable TV. In this frightening future, Rick Grimes finds himself as one of the few survivors. He was a small-town cop who had never fired a shot and had only ever seen one dead body a few months earlier. Separated from his family, he must now sift through the chaos and death to find his wife and son. We are compelled to start living in a world ruled by the dead.
This horror comic book, created by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, is the most popular and lucrative horror comic series of all time. It was most likely because of the popular television series The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead comics are to blame for the zombie revival. Because of the incredible storytelling in the comics, zombies were thrust into the spotlight. It’s essentially a human narrative about people figuring out how to survive in the face of things that want to eat them. A must read comic or a must watch series because everyone knows about it!
6. Tales From The Crypt
Picture: Variety
The origins of horror comics as we know them now had to begin somewhere. The stored work in EC Comics’ extensive archives symbolises the genesis of a few things: iconic iconography, which made these comics globally known even to kids who never crept beneath their covers to read them, and a more sophisticated take on the horror genre. Most EC collections will take you on a creepy, nostalgic journey, as well as serve as a reminder of where horror comics began. You’re in good company with early readers like John Carpenter and Chuck Palahniuk.
Tales from the Crypt was a bi-monthly horror comic anthology series produced by EC Comics from 1950 to 1955. There were 27 issues in total. The things shown in this cartoon were not commonplace. The majority of the storylines in this comic were about vengeance or caution. Many people are unaware that this comic influenced the storey structure and overall tone of television shows such as The Twilight Zone. Another feature of this comic is that each narrative is introduced by a horror host, the crypt keeper, vault keeper, and old witch being the most well-known.
7. Swamp Thing
Picture: The Movie Blog
Swamp Thing is the creator of modern horror comics. Swamp Thing was a prominent figure among the hundreds of horror characters produced during the Bronze Age, an era that genuinely embraced the darkness. After all, Swampy was created by two horror comic legends, Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, possibly the greatest horror artist in comic book history. But that was just the start.
Swamp Thing became a character on the outskirts of the DC Universe after Wein and Wrightson wove their dark swamp magic. Swampy had a cult following, but he never made it big in the music industry. Swamp Thing was relaunched by DC in the 1980s, and when British wunderkind novelist Alan Moore took up the writing chores, comic book horror was forever changed. Moore’s work established the Vertigo look and ushered in a new era of profound darkness in comics. Many others, including Rick Veitch, Nancy A. Collins, and Mark Millar, to name a few, followed in the bearded Brit’s footsteps, each dragging Swamp Thing a little deeper into the uncharted territory of fantasy. Swamp Thing was the readers’ guide to unseen horrors the entire time.
Sources: Variant Comics, Den of Geek, Paste Magazine Games Radar
