This time of year, our minds trend to all things horror. Horror movies, horror novels, horror TV shows… so why not horror comics? The horror genre has a long and rich history in comics, and here’s a brief sampling of the best the medium has to offer, sorted by the type of horror you might enjoy.

For The Horror/Comedy Fan: The Goon

In an unnamed, vaguely Depression-era city, The Goon and Franky run a mob business. They’re main competition: The Zombie Priest, a man who raises undead gangsters, swamp monsters, and God knows what else to fight the Goon, who usually responds by shooting and/or punching his adversaries until they cry. Eric Powell’s long-running mashup of horror and noir runs the gamut from light-hearted comedy to star-crossed romance to bleak horror, all of it supported by Powell’s consistently lush artwork. Powell has the ability to make readers laugh then hook them right in the gut with unexpected turns.



For The Thoughtful Gore Fan: The Spectre

DC has a tendency to approve run books well outside the usual realm of superhero and spandex, and in 1992 the publisher gave John Ostrander, a former seminarian, the Spectre, a character who happens to be personify God’s wrath. With that set-up and master horror artist Tom Mandrake at the drafting table, you’d think this book would get canceled in favor of Cheery Superman Adventures. Instead, Ostrander and Mandrake were allowed to run loose for five years and there’s nary a dud in their run. The book balances serious moral conundrums — the Spectre faces everything from the AIDS crisis to civil war and America’s violent past — and over-the-top gore, as the Spectre inflicts ironic punishment on everybody from drug dealers to corporate raiders. It’s thoughtful, but messy!

For Fans Of Violent, Ironic Twists: Tales From The Crypt

In the early ’50s, EC Comics changed the industry. Using lurid art and stories thick with brutal irony, the company began selling millions of copies of their horror, crime, and science-fiction books. They’re all worth a look, but horror fans should pay special attention to Tales From the Crypt, Vault of Horror, and Haunt of Fear, which found Wally Wood, Jack Davis, Reed Crandall and other artists working at the top of their game. Currently these are available in big hardcovers, but hit up your local comics shop; they’ve been reprinted constantly since the 1980s, and they’ll likely have a few reprints on the shelves.



For The Stephen King Fan: Wytches

If you learn anything from horror movies, you learn that moving to New England to make a fresh start is a really bad idea. And, yet, that’s what the Rook family does, after an unexplained moment of violence supposedly committed by their daughter, Sailor. Scott Snyder and Jock’s book is very much in the Stephen King mold, not least because the series’ best and darkest moments both spring from the bonds between family and what happens when they’re severed.

For The Literary Horror Fan: Harrow County (monthly, Dark Horse)

If your tastes in horror reading tend toward A Rose For Emily and Edgar Allan Poe, try Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook’s Harrow County. Set during the Great Depression in the aforementioned county, it follows Emmy, a charming girl who carries a dangerous secret not even she knows about. Crook’s art in particular nails the balance between wholesome Americana and the dark backwoods haunts that Emmy discovers. To say more would ruin the fun.



For The Slow Burn Fan: Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina

If you only know Sabrina from her ’90s TV show or cutesy kid comics, get ready to be surprised by what Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack are pulling off. The “mythology” of Sabrina, such as it is, is reinvented; all the stuff you remember is still there, but now it wants to kill you and eat you. A companion book of sorts to the equally superb zombie book Afterlife With Archie, Sabrina stands out for its unexpected and highly effective creepy moments.

For The 100% Hardcore: Colder

There are two things odd about Declan: One, he’s been staring into space for 30 years, unmoving. Two, his body temperature is well below normal, and yet he’s still alive. That’s the starting point for Paul Tobin and Juan Ferreyra’s profoundly disturbing Colder. It’s effective because of Ferreyra’s emphasis on emotions over blood. Some genuinely horrifying and disgusting things happen in this book, but Tobin and Ferreyra put the focus on the people it’s happening to, not the things happening to them, even if they’re unnamed bit players.

This isn’t to say Ferreyra doesn’t uncork his imagination; he does and then some, with some superb monster design. But it’s really the people at the center of this story that make for such a great book.

There’s plenty more horror on the shelves, of course; this is just a sampling. Whether you visit the Cryptkeeper or spend a little time with the Goon punching zombies, enjoy a good comic book this Halloween.