Four-colour chillers...
As a medium, comic books (at least in the west) are overwhelmingly dominated by a single genre; superheroes. Love them or hate them, they’re the form’s defining characteristic – but that doesn’t mean comics can’t also accommodate a wealth of diverse styles and stories, including horror. Here we take a look at the glut of horror titles that have recently wrapped, starting with Dark Horse’s superb four-issue RAGEMOOR, written by Jan Strnad, best known for hi…
Given the current economic and cultural climate, for a comic book to reach its hundredth issue is a rare achievement. For that comic to be creator-owned, non-superhero, and from an independent publisher is even more remarkable. And for the same writer/artist creative team to have produced ninety four of those one hundred issues is virtually unheard of. Writer/creator Robert Kirkman and talented British artist Charlie Adlard have done exactly that, with the…
Long before zombies were the crossover cultural phenomenon they are today, and decades before Robert Kirkman’s hit comic/TV show THE WALKING DEAD turned shuffling, bloodthirsty cadavers into mainstream primetime entertainment, there was DEADWORLD. Created by Stuart Kerr and Ralph Griffith in 1987, the comic book series, which quickly became a cult hit, was originally published by Arrow Comics, and then by Gary Reed’s Caliber Comics. Reed took over as head …
It’s not unusual for creative people to enjoy multidisciplinary talents. Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is an accomplished artist and novelist; writer/artist Frank Miller directs movies; musician Rob Zombie has found (commercial, if not critical) success as a filmmaker. The list is virtually endless. Following in their footsteps is Alan Robert, the New York-born bassist/singer/songwriter for hard rock group Life Of Agony. I can’t speak to their music, but I …
Following celebrated comic book writer Garth Ennis’ original (and highly successful) nine-issue series, and three spin-off mini-series/specials written by David Lapham (for more details, see here), Avatar Press recently made the eminently sensible decision to turn nightmarish survival horror comic CROSSED into an ongoing series. The title (known as CROSSED: BADLANDS) launched in March, on a bi-weekly schedule, and kicked off with a three-part story arc by …
Like Romero’s DEAD movies and Raimi’s EVIL DEADs, HELLRAISER was one of those classic horror films I watched during my formative years, and it’s stayed with me ever since. It’s no less powerful now than it was twenty five years ago, but the same can’t be said of the sequels, which run the gamut from adequate to dire to abominable. Pinhead, that most iconic of movie monsters, has been reduced to a shadow of his former fearsome self, the punch line to a bad …
Once thriving, the British comics industry has been reduced to a handful of titles offering original content (led by that most revered of comic book institutions, 2000AD), and a slew of American reprints. While the disappearance of so many big name publications has made it more difficult than ever for comics creators to find success in their chosen medium, it hasn’t stopped them from trying. The UK is host to a thriving small press community, which takes f…
Continuing our look at the UK’s small press horror scene, we turn to TWISTED DARK, the ambitious creation of writer Neil Gibson. TWISTED DARK is the collective title of a series of short, mostly psychological, horror stories, written by Gibson and drawn by a small army of artists, which have so far been collected into two volumes, available both through the project’s website (see below) and on Amazon. The stories, usually dark in nature and usually featuri…
In 2010 IDW Publishing released THE CAPE, a one-shot adaptation of Joe Hill’s short story of the same name, from his 20th Century Ghosts collection. The collection is an eclectic mix of spooky, smart and whimsical fiction, of which The Cape is one of the highlights. It’s one of those stories that happens Just Because; a child’s makeshift superhero cape imbues him with the ability to fly. Far from the aspirational tale such a primary coloured premise might …
A few months ago we looked at the opening storyline of Boom! Studio’s new ongoing HELLRAISER comic. Featuring the iconic Pinhead and Kirsty Cotton, survivor of the original movie, as the lead characters, and co-written by Clive Barker, the comic is arguably the first ‘official’ HELLRAISER continuation since the franchise went so badly off the rails following the third instalment. The second storyline, ‘Requiem,’ has since been released, dealing with Pinhea…
30 DAYS OF NIGHT is that rarest of comic books beasts – a horror success story. The original 3-issue miniseries, written by Steve Niles and illustrated by Australian artist Ben Templesmith, was released in 2002. It was a runaway hit, thrusting both the creators and the story into the limelight, and was quickly followed the next year by a sequel, DARK DAYS, from the same creative team. Since then there have been a dozen series and one-offs, written and draw…
Despite a diverse and highly successful career spanning more than twenty years, Irish writer Garth Ennis is, and probably always will be, best known for PREACHER. Co-created with artist Steve Dillon, PREACHER is the violent, funny, profane story of Texan preacher Jesse Custer, who is unwittingly (and unwillingly) possessed by the supernatural Genesis, and sets out with vampire companion Cassidy and hitman girlfriend Tulip on a mission to find God. The stor…
They say clothes make the man, and never was this truer than in the case of John Constantine, mage, wanker extraordinaire, and star of Vertigo’s long-running HELLBLAZER series. I recently waxed lyrical about the extra-sized Annual, and last month saw the end of Peter Milligan’s latest story arc, The Devil’s Trench Coat. Milligan, who’s been penning the comic for the last three years, is adept at cutting to the heart of what the character of Constantine is …
There’s no one in comics quite like John Constantine. Created by legendary writer Alan Moore and first introduced in SWAMP THING #37 way back in 1985, Constantine is a magician of dubious morals, a British former punk rocker with an anarchic streak a mile wide, demon blood in his veins and a history of unparalleled personal tragedy. Constantine soon outgrew his supporting role and, in 1988, was awarded his own spin-off book, HELLBLAZER (it was originally t…
It hardly seems creditable, but there was a time when zombies weren’t the mainstream staple they are today. If you wanted your undead fix in the eighties and nineties you had to rely on Hollywood... and a little-known (at least in the UK) indie comic book by the name of Deadworld. Created in 1987 and originally published by Arrow Comics, Deadworld soon found a home at Gary Reed’s Caliber Comics, and continued to be published through the early nineties. The…