Astonishing Comics Have Best Cover Art of Any Golden Age Horror Comics
Other than superheroes, i genre has ruled the comic book world. Of course, that genre is horror, and since Halloween is imminent, we idea nosotros'd take this opportunity to pay tribute to some of the greatest horror comics ever published. At present heed, these are just some of the groundbreaking, vitally of import horror comics that have scared the feces out of readers for decades. Nosotros tin probably pick hundreds of colon clenching, testicle shriveling comics to add to our ghoulish listing, but these are the thirteen standouts, so don't send us a severed caput if we missed your favorite.
As a visual medium, comics are perfect for horror. From the garish scares of the Golden Historic period, to the groundbreaking horror of the '50s with EC Comics, to the gothic '70s and the experimental '80s, comic book horror has always had a rabid following and a identify right alongside superheroes. Join us equally we expect at horrors past and relive some of the greatest terrors ever produced by some of the greatest and sickest imaginations in comics.
thirteen. Fatale (2012-2014)
By Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips
How does i combine classic criminal offence noir, menstruum drama, and Lovecraftian terror into an ongoing comic that non simply scares, it fascinates? Read Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips' Fatale to detect out. For years, Brubaker and Phillips crafted some of the greatest crime fiction in comics with their seminal Criminal , but in Fatale , the creative duo proved they can do high octane horror with the same panache they did cops and robbers.
Fatale centers around a seemingly undying woman named Jo who has lived for decades. Jo has the souvenir (or curse) to make men become obsessed with her. Jo is pursued across the decades by a Lovecraft-inspired cult that wants to utilise her for their ain nefarious purposes. The men that fall in dearest with Jo become her protectors and usually run into horrific ends. Fatale is a meditation on obsession and madness that will arctic even the nearly stolid reader to the bone, and information technology's filled with subtle horrors and overt atrocities that will leave the reader feverishly turning the pages.
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Afterlife with Archie (2013 – present)
By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla
Despite the disquisitional love for Afterlife with Archie , many horror mavens nonetheless aren't buying the fact that Archie Andrews and the Riverdale gang are currently starring in 1 of the nigh terrifying comics out at that place. But these so-called horror lovers meliorate get with the plan, because somehow, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla have found a way to stay true to the Riverdale characters while crafting a truly compelling zombie horror tale that cuts deep, raw, and bloody.
Information technology all begins when Jughead's love pooch Hot Dog is killed by a speeding motorcar. Jughead begs Sabrina, the Teenage Witch to cast a spell to bring Hot Dog back to life, but this deed curses Riverdale into becoming zombie central. This comic is non cute in anyway. All the same elements that make The Walking Dead such a monumental example of the zombie survival horror genre are on display in this masterpiece. And when a character dies, it'due south a dearest figure from your babyhood. And you thought the deaths in Negan's circumvolve hurt.
But through it all, the Archie pantheon remains true to form as Afterlife with Archie remains i of the greatest and unlikeliest horror comics of all time. Oh yeah, and if it wasn't for the brilliance of this series, we wouldn't accept the luminescence of Spooky Adventures of Sabrina , which also brought us a similarly brilliant Netflix series!
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xi. Tomb of Dracula (1972-1979)
By Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan
Curiosity is mostly known for its superheroes, only starting in 1972, a very different kind of caped figure began stalking the Curiosity Universe. For years, the comics industry had to operate under the Comics Lawmaking Authority, a self-inflicted ratings administration that strictly forbade the utilize of undead creatures. When the Lawmaking relaxed on this point in the early '70s, Marvel was able to delve into the night worlds of horror, and delve it did. Marvel wanted to do horror correct, so the Firm of Ideas looked to the classics, and terror doesn't go more than archetype than Dracula.
At first, Marvel's Tomb of Dracula comic was a fleck directionless with multiple writers doing one or two bug apiece but when Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan took over, Marvel struck horror gilt. For well over threescore consecutive issues, Wolfman and Colan crafted a earth of gothic shadows and archetype horrors, a earth of vampires, bodice ripping romance, and gallons of vivid, constantly flowing blood, and it all somehow existed inside the confines of the Curiosity Universe.
They also introduced an extended cast of heroes of villains who would both fight for and against the Lord of the Vampires. There was Rachel Van Helsing, the granddaughter of the original vampire hunter, Frank Drake, Rachel'south lover and vampire killer extraordinaire, Hannibal King, a kindly individual detective that had to live with a vampiric curse, and Blade, the vampire hunter who helped kickstart the modernistic superhero film craze.
And, of course, at that place was Dracula, demonic, tragic, and terrifying, a royal figure that combined the Universal Pictures monster artful with modernistic comic book storytelling. Tomb of Dracula was a relentless thrill ride into classic horror that left Marvel fans begging for more. Information technology was also a master class in sequential horror storytelling as Colan masterfully rendered Dracula's world of blood and shadows in symphony of creative nightmares. Seriously, this title was virtually perfection and is just waiting for a cinematic adaptation.
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ten. Hellboy (1993-2016)
By Mike Mignola
Has there always been a more than ever-nowadays horror character than Mike Mignola's legendary Hellboy? Along the way, Mignola has built an ever expanding earth of nightmares to thrill and please even the most jaded readers.
In the world of Hellboy , anything goes from baby devils, vampires, sexual activity cults, kindly sea creatures, murderous clockwork killers and archetype monsters of always shape and size, Hellboy has covered it all. And it is all presented by Mike Mignola, a visual horror main who knows no equal when it comes to shadows and chills. In Mignola'southward world, the greatest monster is the greatest hero every bit Hellboy protects the world from the creatures of darkness.
When things go bump in the night, Hellboy bumps back and a generations of comic book fans wouldn't have information technology any other way.
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9. Locke and Central (2008-2013)
Past Joe Colina and Gabriel Rodríguez
We would accept totally included 30 Days of Night on this list merely the series was merely as well darn short and the sequels were kind of lacking in authorization, only rest assured, 30 Days is worthy of a mention because it fix the foundation of horror that IDW Publishing was built on. And on that foundation was built a house, a house of terror and nightmares that only contemporary horror master Joe Hill and artist Gabriel Rodriguez could master.
Locke and Key borrows from all eras of horror, from the gothic foundations of the genre to the Lovecraftian and Poe inspired strangeness of the early 20th century to the contemporary slasher obsession of the modern age, Hill and his artist Gabriel Rodriguez stuff information technology all into the never ending horrorfest known as Locke and Key , an unrelenting ride into terror that centers on the Locke family unit and a history of demons, murder, betrayal, and possession. Locke and Cardinal spins its own mythology and delivers fully realized characters that must endure unimagined terrors to survive and unlock the adjacent door of a nightmare that seemingly never ends.
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viii. Hellblazer (1988-2013)
By Just well-nigh anyone who'south anyone in the world of comic book horror.
Since John Constantine was introduced in the pages of Swamp Matter , this postmodern con man/mage has been your guide through the darkest corners of the DC Universe. In the original Hellblazer title from Vertigo, classic horror writer after classic horror author guided Constantine'due south adventure through the underbelly of the DC Universe. Starting with Alan Moore, and continuing with Jamie Delano, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Peter Milligan, Warren Ellis, Brian Azzarello, Mike Carey, Paul Jenkins…and that's just the writers! A sloew of artists like John Ridgway, Dave McKean, Tim Bradstreet, Guy Davis, and dozens more than of the greatest minds in comics have explored horrors undreamed of and along the mode.
Through Constantine, readers have been taken to hell and back every bit he fought every blazon of killer, monster, and demon imaginable, and he did information technology for fifteen awesome years during his Vertigo run. These days, Constantine is weaving his dark magic around the main DCU, but in the classic and genre defining Vertigo book, the trench coat wizard ready the standard for modern comic horror.
I mean for real, this is the book that had the sheer creative assurance to have Constantine really give the middle finger to the devil himself.
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seven. Preacher (1995-2000)
Past Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
Set yourself for some Dixie-fried commotion, because when it comes to horror, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher is the real deal. TV fans learned about Preacher 'southward special brand of atrocity over on AMC, simply the TV series only scratched the surface of the depravity that the comic went to. Yous had metaphysical horror in the forms of angels and demons, you had classic horror in the form of vampires, yous had course-A gore in the form of the Meat Man and more leave wounds than yous can shake a severed limb at, and you lot had a special make of extremely humorous terror that would brand Sam Raimi proud. Plus, Grandma Custer might very well exist the virtually monstrous graphic symbol in comic book history and that ain't no hyperbole.
But underneath the scares beat the centre of purely American romantic gamble that made readers truly intendance for the principal characters. For every gag Preacher caused there probably was besides a tear because information technology's a righteous gamble that made the spirit soar.
Plus, it had lots and lots of poo jokes.
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half-dozen. Sandman (1989-1996)
By Neil Gaiman and some of the greatest dream makers in comics
Yeah, we know what you're thinking, "But Den of Geek , Sandman is fantasy, not horror!" And to you we say, read the Doctor Destiny in a diner story (from Sandman #6 to exist precise) and tell u.s.a. this series isn't horror. If I was a librarian, I also would shelve Sandman under fantasy, but there are just so many strong scares in this unforgettable series that it had to make our list.
From Doctor Destiny to the dreadful Corinthian to a hotel convention for series killers, Neil Gaiman and a host of artistic partners delves into some very dark places every bit the Sandman saga unfolds. For real, issue #6, the one with Dr. Destiny, is one of the single most horrific comics ever published. In many ways, Gaiman and friends redefined horror in Sandman even if horror was just one of the genres played with over the course of the series. Because after all, where there are dreams there are nightmares, and in Sandman , readers were shown some nightmares that can never be forgotten.
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5. From Hell (1989-1992)
By Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell
Ane of the about visceral, thought-provoking, and spooky comics of all time, From Hel 50 is the speculative and meticulously researched tale of the origins of Jack the Ripper. Other than being one of the greatest horror comics of all time, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell'south From Hell is besides perhaps the greatest historical comic of all time as information technology paints a vivid moving-picture show of the era in which Jack did his encarmine work. The attention to item makes the horror all the more than lurid as Moore and Campbell create an absolutely perfect treatise on how to historically educate readers while scaring the shit out of them in the process.
This is i horrific comic made all the more than terrible because many of the details of the atrocities that lie within these pages are absolutely truthful, fifty-fifty though much of the story itself is fictionalized. From Hell delves into the mind of madness and creates a chilling retelling of things so horrible that they can't possibly exist real…just they are. Sleep tight with that thought in mind.
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4. Creepy (1964-1983) Eerie (1966-1983)
By Then many madmen, lunatics, and mad scientists
EC Comics may be the most famous horror publisher of all fourth dimension, but Warren Publishing raised information technology to the adjacent level of atrocity. Back in the day, Creepy and Eerie were the magazines your parents didn't want yous to read. Both magazines took an unflinching yet ofttimes times darkly humorous approach to horror. The black and white magazines really allowed the many Warren artists to darkly smoothen as visual masters like Neal Adams, Dan Adkins, Reed Crandall, Johnny Craig, Steve Ditko, Frank Frazetta, Grayness Morrow, John Severin, Angelo Torres, Alex Toth, Al Williamson, and Wally Wood all were at their blood curdling all-time as they produced a metric ton of horror stories that delighted readers and horrified parents. Outcome after consequence, Creepyand Eeriepushed the boundaries of good taste as the body count mounted.
The blackness and white legacy of Warren spawned many copycats, and even Curiosity got into the black and white horror game in the '70s. While Marvel did some awesome piece of work, its output usually paled in comparing to the derisive and bloody madness of Warren'southward output.
Purchase Creepy and Warren collected editions on Amazon
3. The Walking Dead (2003 – Present)
By Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard
Now here's a little comic you may have heard of. There hasn't been a bigger comic volume success story in the 21st Century than The Walking Dead . When Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore starting time introduced this earth dorsum in 2003, it barley registered on fans' radar. After all, did the industry demand some other blackness and white horror book? It turns out the answer was yep…yep, it needed The Walking Dead in a large style.
Since the publication of the first consequence of the adventures of Rick Grimes and the rest of the survivors, The Walking Dead has become one of the biggest cultural touchstones in the earth. The Walking Expressionless reinvented horror comics and presented a tale where anything can happen to anyone at whatsoever time. No character (or reader) was safe from a earth that has died and continued to rot before our very optics.
First artist Tony Moore than artist Charlie Adlard brought this horrific globe to life and presented some of the most gory splash pages in the history of comics, where readers would be forced to endure some of the virtually strong bodily atrocities e'er to be rendered on a comic page. The book'southward formula is uncomplicated: introduce characters, make fans autumn in the love with them, and so rip them from our hearts. This aforementioned technique has translated to two Goggle box shows that perchance you lot've seen.
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2. Swamp Affair (1973- present with so many horrific stops in between)
Past Len Wein, Bernie Wrightson, Nestor Redondo, Martin Pasko, Alan Moore, John Totleben, Steve Bissette, Rick Veitch, Nancy A. Collins, Mark Millar, Brian Yard. Vaughan, Andy Diggle, Scott Snyder, and holy crap, and then many more
Let's just say it, Swamp Affair is responsible for modern comic horror. In the Bronze Age, Swamp Thing was a standout icon amidst the tons of horror characters introduced in an era that truly embraced the shadows. Subsequently all, Swampy was created by two masters of the horror comic, Len Wein and arguably the greatest horror creative person in comic volume history, Bernie Wrightson. But that was only the commencement.
After Wein and Wrightson weaved their dark swamp magic, Swamp Matter became a character on the fringes of the DC Universe. Swampy had a cult following, just he never actually hit the big time. In the '80s, DC revived Swamp Thing and when British wunderkind writer Alan Moore took on the writing duties of the title, comic book horror inverse forever. Of a sudden, the old EC Comics formula was cleaved as Moore began to explore the truly forbidden. Sex, drugs, and taboos were all explored in an era where Super Friends however aired on Saturday forenoon Goggle box.
Moore pushed the boundaries of the medium and of what his editors would allow past presenting page after page of mental and psychical atrocity the likes of which mainstream comics had never before endured. Through his piece of work, Moore invented the Vertigo aesthetic and forced comics into a new age of thoughtful darkness. These comics set the stage and so many others like Rick Veitch, Nancy A. Collins and Mark Millar, to name but a few, followed in the bearded Brits footsteps each taking Swamp Thing a scrap further into the unexplored darkness of imagination. And all the while, Swamp Matter was the readers' guide to terrors undreamed of.
Who can forget the reimagining of Anton Arcane and the Un-Men, the horrific rebirth of the Floronic Man, or the beautiful relationship between Abby Arcane and Swamp Thing? All these moments became burned into the souls of brave readers who endured the vile swamps of the DC Universe and plant some of the greatest literary horror of the late 20th century.
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1. Tales from the Crypt/ Vault of Horror/Haunt of Fear (1950-1955)
By Many Masters of blood curdling Commotion
In the first half of the 1950s, 1 comic company ruled the roost when it came to vivid horror, and that company was EC Comics. EC published 3 horror comics that inverse everything, Vault of Horror , Haunt of Fear , and the grandpa of them all, Tales from the Crypt . Within these pages, readers constitute soul searing adult horror tales that even so have a nightmarish impact on a readers over 65 years later. These tales often took the class of cautionary stories of revenge and irony in which a graphic symbol who committed a malfeasance of some kind was hunted and forced to endure a deliciously unthinkable ironic fate.
Some of comics' greatest creative talent contributed to these books. Wally Woods, Al Feldstein, Harry Harrison, Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Davis, Joe Orlando, Reed Crandall, and many more than all dug deep into the darkest parts of their imaginations to evangelize some of the most soul piercing tales of mayhem ever produced in any medium. There tin be no doubt that the story construction of these tales influenced TV shows like The Twilight Zone and likewise had a huge affect on the young minds of future geniuses such as Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, John Landis, and and so many more.
EC as well introduced the concept of the horror host in these pages. The Crypt-Keeper, the Vault-Keeper, and the Erstwhile Witch would each introduce a tale in every issue. EC horror became so popular that a widespread movement to ban and censor comics to foreclose juvenile delinquency was a direct response to the gore laced covers of EC horror comics.
Other than the introduction of Superman, Batman, and the Marvel Universe, no unmarried comic had a bigger cultural impact on the mainstream world than Tales From the Crypt and the other EC horror publications, and information technology was all because some of comics' greatest artistic minds made it their business organization to scare the shit out of readers again and once again and again.
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Bonus Undead Entry!
Adventure Comics: Spectre (1974-1975)
By Joe Orlando, Michael Fleisher, and Jim Aparo
It may have just been x issues, simply the Spectre strip that ran in Adventures Comics #431-440 redefined superhero horror. Fable has it that later on DC editor Joe Orlando was mugged, he decided to bring back the Aureate Age hero The Spectre to become a symbol of hellish vengeance on Earth. With Michael Fleisher and the neat Jim Aparo, Orlando plotted ten issues of visceral commotion.
The unstoppable Spectre would hunt, stalk, and punish killers, thieves, and rapists, commonly past transforming these scums of the globe into inanimate objects. Who tin can forget when the Spectre transformed a crook into paper while morphing himself into a giant pair of scissors? Many of these clever yet horrific demises would inspire some of the Freddy Krueger kills in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series of films.
Orlando and Fleisher brought the narrative nightmares, simply it was Jim Aparo's clever and surreal layouts that made this short lived series a classic of the Bronze Age. Before the Adventure Comics run, the Spectre was an nearly forgotten footnote, merely after this team conducted their ghostly symphony of nightmares, the globe was reminded just how truly scary a comic can be.
I mean, for real, in one issue, Spectre turns some poor schmuck into a candle and melts him, how fucked upwards is that?
Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/comics/13-essential-horror-comics/
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