The reviews are rolling in and people can't get enough of David Dastmalchian's debut comic Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter #1! As a lifelong comic book and horror fan, David is a scholar of the scary! So, we asked him to put together a list of some of his favorite horror comics, mix tape-style! If you're looking for your next binge-read, look no further! Behold, David's Halloween Horrors Co(Mix) Tape! Be sure to check out this week's digital sale on all of David's Dark Horse horror picks! Take it away, David!
I love mixes. I love collections and collecting things. I love collecting comics and have had a fascination with horror comics since I was watching the late-night creature feature in Kansas City, scouring my local comic shop, garage sales, and thrift stores for classic EC comics, Tomb of Dracula, and more. During those scavenger hunts, I also began to acquire my now-extensive collection of Halloween vinyl records. The sounds of horror, the bubblegum pop tunes, and the campy and sometimes horrifying cover art are all elements that I love and admire in these works. It would fill my cold, dead little heart with so much horrific joy if you, dear readers, would illuminate a jack-o-lantern, cozy up with a copy of Count Crowley: Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter #1 and place an old Halloween record on the crackling gramophone this Halloween season. (There are plenty of albums available for streaming if you don’t have a record player!) And once you’ve turned that last terror-inducing page of Count Crowley, here is a little mix I’ve made for you to enjoy this Halloween season. Just a few of the horror comics that keep me up at night . . .
1. Beasts of Burden: There is something so emotional and meaningful that takes place in the pages of Evan Dorkin’s amazing series about a group of house pets who face supernatural mysteries and bravely battle monsters of every shape. At first, I thought my intense reaction grew from the fact that I love dogs and cats so much, but I soon realized that it’s much more than that. The impact, originality and depth of these stories would have the same effect whether our heroes were a gang of ghostbusters or a group of suburban pre-teens. The fact that the characters are pets has been, for me, an opportunity to view relationships, horror, and bonds from a fiercely fresh perspective. And the gorgeous way that they’re brought to life in Jill Thompson’s art adds depth to the emotional moments and a wonderful splash of fright to the scares.
2. House of Penance: My wife and I once took a pilgrimage to the Winchester Mystery House. We weren’t disappointed in our quest for a scary experience when a mysterious and unseen force slammed a door shut behind us in an empty room . . . so I was very excited when I heard about Peter Tomasi’s HF comic, and let me tell you, I was not disappointed! From the first few powerful panels of Ian Bertram’s art, I felt like I was stepping into a world influenced by everything from Edward Gorey to the world of Vincent Price/Roger Corman’s House of Usher. Themes of guilt, shame, and mental illness haunt the shadowy corners of this terrifying tale while the colors and letters do an excellent job of fulfilling the eerie atmosphere.
3. Speaking of Eerie . . . How cool is it that Dark Horse has been doing such a fantastic job assembling and sharing the classic works that crawled out from the catacombs at Warren Publishing so many moons ago? Jaime Brocal, Howard Chaykin, Wally Wood classics, the Sanjulian and Frazetta painted covers, the characters crafted by Ditko, Orlando, and so many more . . . If you want to see where so much of the inspiration for Count Crowley was derived, look no further. If you just want an Eerie and Creepy night of reading, then get out your grave-digging shovel and DIG IN!
4. Colder: There is a new face in the canon of horror characters and that visage belongs to the vicious Nimble Jack, a creature straight out of my nightmares. Freddy Krueger, you have met your match in Jack. From the mind of Paul Tobin and brought to shock-inducing life by the incredible Juan Ferreyra, all I have to do is entice you to get that first issue and stare at the cover . . . alone . . . if you dare.
5. Blackwood: The second Evan Dorkin title on this list, and it’s just everything I want to experience in a horror comic. The visual style concocted by Veronica Fish and Andy Fish is fresh and new while paying homage to Lovecraft with a Satan’s-School-meets-Hogwarts vibe and even echoes of the vibrant palette found in a good Dario Argento film. I love these characters. The stories found within the walls of Blackwood Academy will keep you up at night, hoping that the spirits you suspect are hunkering in the hall aren’t really coming to get you . . .
6. B.P.R.D. and the Mignola-verse: I’m assuming that most folks reading this list are already fans of Red, Abe, and the rest of the many masterfully-materialized characters, worlds, plots and spin-offs from the mind of Mike Mignola and the sprawling universe of the B.P.R.D. Therefore, this recommendation goes out to those few who wander here who have yet crossed the threshold into the Mignola-verse. I would recommend grabbing B.P.R.D.: Killing Ground and Hellboy: The Crooked Man and Others.
7. Infidel: This is a comic that reflects in many ways what is exploding with urgency and purpose in the current renaissance of horror cinema that’s been ramping up in recent years. Thanks to Pornsak Pichetshote’s fearless ability to infuse every panel and page with the courage to usurp both our intellectual and emotional expectations, the book literally had me gasping at moments of pure horror, shock, and even emotional despair. I’ve never read anything quite like it.
8. Bttm Fdrs: Ezra Clayton Daniels has written a story here that is terrifying, hilarious, and relevant, addressing topics of gentrification and cultural appropriation in a style reminiscent of film director David Cronenberg’s most striking body horror studies—with a side of hilarious satire. The art, design, and layout put down by Ben Passmore is both hilarious and grotesque. I have often imagined my lived-in spaces have lives of their own, and this story plays out that idea in a pretty horrific and stomach-churning manner.
9. My Favorite Thing is Monsters: This graphic novel and seminal work by the brilliant Emil Ferris changed my life. Not enough can be said about the bold way her words, characters, art, and ideas swirl, swim, and provoke every part of my brain when I give myself the time and space to lurk back around the pages. It’s one of those books that I will both treasure and puzzle over for the rest of my life. Happy haunting, one and all.