Here we are…the end of the Halloween road. Well, just for H&V, 31 Days of Horror will continue on the website up until the day itself. We’ve had some real crackerjack pieces this year and I’m glad I was able to contribute in some small way.
I wasn’t able to contribute to the “Film That Scared Me The Most” series of articles because it was said that my suggestion of Music by Sia missed the point.
Here’s some spooky comics!
The House
Drew Zucker & Phillip Seuy
Dark Horse Comics
Who doesn’t love a good haunted house story?
The House fit the bill nicely for my holiday reading this year. I’ve been more open to exploring new (to me) horror options instead of just resisting the same old favorites. Trick ‘r Treat may have been benched this year but if you think I’m not watching Garfield’s Halloween Adventure for the 36th consecutive year…
Here’s the blurb:
During the Battle of the Bulge, a squadron of US soldiers is caught in a blizzard while patrolling through the woods. Seeking refuge from the impending white out, they stumble across an abandoned manor, seeking shelter and safety. Once inside, however, the doors disappear, rooms begin to morph, exits become entrances, and they quickly realize there is no safety to be found! As their eyes deceive them, their minds descend into madness, panic, and paranoia. Is this real? Or is there more to this labyrinth than what resides within the walls? Secrets are revealed, history is retold, and death is the only mercy.
When it comes to the horror genre I’m very much a Johnny-come-lately, only truly embracing it in my 30’s. I find it fascinating that the genre is able to be remixed and reimagined to either tell personal stories or reflect the anxieties of the time. A haunted house by itself isn’t very interesting, but if you put some people inside it interesting stuff starts to happen.
The House has all the trappings of a classic horror set up: creepy woods, exhausted travelers, a spooky house, the existence of which is at odds with reality itself. What’s inside? Well, oftentimes, as the old adage goes “only what you bring with you.”
I burned through The House in one sitting, completely absorbed in the oppressive atmosphere the book cultivated. Sure, it’s a bunch of soldiers trapped in a house but as the reader you’re also trapped in there with them. Since there’s precious little time left before the big day, you’d do well to add The House to your reading list.
Refrigerator Full of Heads
Rio Youers (W)
Tom Fowler (A)
DC Comics/Hill House Comics
Well, this was a welcome surprise! Since DC decided to break free of Diamond for their comics distribution last year, I no longer get the DC section in Previews every month so at any given time I have NO CLUE what’s coming out. Their website is kind of a mess and is difficult to navigate but lucky for me they decided to start publishing their own physical advance notices book available in comics shops.
But that’s not what we’re here for! Hill House Comics is BACK, baby! I loved the hell out of the first wave of the Joe Hill curated line of titles but when they ended…that seemed like it was it. My LCS guy had intoned to me that I was one of the only people picking up the book which bummed me out more than a little. The title were a great collection of widely different Horror titles that harkened back to DC’s Silver Age Horror books.
Refrigerator Full of Heads is, of course, a follow up to last year’s Basket Full of Heads and I can only hope this book does well enough to warrant something of a larger volume …Full of Heads. Like maybe Buick Full of Heads or Airplane Full of Heads. If anyone of note is reading this and I’m at least in the ballpark (Full of Heads) I humbly ask for a producers credit on the next book.
Here’s the blurb (Full of Heads):
Hill House Comics is back and heads are going to roll for making readers wait! The new wave of titles begins with a rancid return trip to bloody Brody Island. For a year now, the mysterious axe that unleashed pandemonium during the hurricane of ’83 has waited at the bottom of the bay but nothing that powerful stays buried. Brody Island has new visitors, and a new sheriff in town, too-not to mention a dangerous great white shark spotted in its waters-and when vacationing couple Calvin Beringer and Arlene Fields find themselves on the wrong side of Brody’s unsavory elements, their beachcombing will turn up something a lot sharper than sea glass… Crime novelist Rio Youers joins forces with artist Tom Fowler to unleash a gonzo grindhouse expansion on the lore of the original Basketful of Heads!
As far as first issues go, this is exactly what I wanted from a followup to BFOH and I’m really looking forward to seeing where it goes along with what’s next for the Hill House line of titles.
