Halloween is over, but that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy a good scare—and a few laughs while you're at it. North 40 , a comic from last year which I first encountered at Comic-Con this year, is being published as a trade paperback, available this week. It's from WildStorm comics, an imprint of DC which was shut down this September, although you wouldn't know it from their website.

But the publisher isn't the only thing that's not quite dead here. In North 40, two kids from rural Conover County unwittingly unleash Cthulhu on their town one evening. Everyone blacks out, and when they wake up in the morning they find that things have ... changed. Sheriff Morgan has his hands full trying to keep the peace, not only with his regular troublemakers but also with a new crop of beasties. A couple of outsider kids find themselves entrusted with strange new powers and tasked with binding up Cthulhu before things get too much further along.

The book is a little bit like taking a season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and condensing it into one jam-packed monster-fest. The artwork by Fiona Staples is quite creepy (and gory), and Aaron Williams' writing hits the sweet spot with just a touch of humor to go along with the terror. The book ends with a hint at more, but with the current state of WildStorm I doubt it's likely anytime soon—which is too bad, because Williams and Staples have created a terrific, spine-chilling tale. If you like monsters and prophecies and unlikely heroes, take a trip up North 40.

North 40 retails for $17.99 and will be available Tuesday, November 16.

Wired: Cthulhu vs. rednecks—plus great writing and stunning artwork.

Tired: This six-issue run is all you'll get for now; definitely not for younger readers.

Disclosure: WildStorm provided an advance copy from beyond the grave.