Any horror comic recommendations?

[LuaVerena]

I love reading comics of all kinds, but horror has always been my one true love, and I've been visiting the shops near me for a while now trying to pick up new books to check out. I like Robert Kirkman's stuff, I got hooked on The Walking Dead books when I was younger and I recently picked up Outcast by him as well. I'm not fussy about a particular horror subgenre, I'll read anything from cosmic horror to action-thrillers. My absolute favourite work is Lost Soldiers by Ales Kot, the author of the Bloodborne comics: Lost Soldiers isn't strictly a horror, but its one of the most horrifying reads I've had in a long time about the cycles of trauma and violence.
Anyway, hope this thread introduces me and others to some cool stories that we might not otherwise heard of!

 

[lizmonster]

The Kid is super into horror. Most of what she reads are webcomics. She sent me this list of webcomics, including genre and gore level (one is minor gore; three is very gory - some of the unlabeled ones also have occasional gore):

Homesick (supernatural/post apocalyptic)
School bus graveyard (supernatural/YA)
Stagtown (supernatural/mystery)
Everything is fine (dystopia)
Witch creek road (straight up horror)
Clinic of horrors (not quite horror, more dystopian mystery with some gore)
Rotten (sort of supernatural but more crime related)
Melvina's therapy (supernatural/existential/drug-trippy/unsettling/sort of a mystery)
Gremory Land (mystery/supernatural/cabin in the woods-esque but a themepark)

There's also Junji Ito - all of his stuff is very gorey. Favorites are Hanging Balloons, Fashion Model, the Tomie series, and Uzumaki.

I haven't read all of these, but I can verify that Ito is creepy as hell.

 

[owlion]

Emily Carroll's comics are really good and you can read them online at her website, or there's a collection of them called Through the Woods which you can get as a paperback. Skelehime also does good short horror which is available on their website and twitter.

 

[Maggie Maxwell]

There's also Junji Ito

This was going to be my reply. Junji Ito's the best body horror artist out there. Even his chill Cat Diary manga, the real story of him, his wife, and their cats is tempered with terrifying imagery. His version of Frankenstein is spectacular.

There's also The Drifting Classroom, another horror manga about an elementary school that gets teleported to a post-humanity wasteland, leaving a bunch of young children alone in a world of monsters. Very Lord of the Flies-ish.

The Last Halloween is an incredible but sadly incomplete horror webcomic https://www.last-halloween.com/ The artist is fantastic and probably close to Ito when it comes to body horror, but her time is currently being spent working on an indie horror Visual Novel game, so it'll be a while before she gets back to it. However, she has a book of shorts out (The Crossroads at Midnight) and some free shorts here: https://abbyhowardart.myportfolio.com/short-horror-comics

 

[Ink-Soul]

Are there Bloodborne comics?! I need to see that!

As for recommendations, I don't read a lot of horror comic books, but I read the first chapter of Night of the Ghoul by Scott Snyder and enjoyed it. I haven't read the rest yet, so can't say if he keeps up the quality, but might be worth looking into it.

 

[Nether]

On the manga front...

Like others have mentioned, Junji Ito is amazing (he has multiple great collections, not all of which have been officially translated). His work has thematically inspired/influenced my own at times.

Uguisu Sachiko is great. I know and like her best for Shibito no Koe wo Kiku ga Yoi, which is a series where most chapters are basically standalones. (The ending is disappointing, but it attempts to wrap up the series by bringing together multiple early storylines and recurring storylines.) I think I first got hooked after reading the one with the phantom carnival.

 

[LuaVerena]

The Kid is super into horror. Most of what she reads are webcomics. She sent me this list of webcomics, including genre and gore level (one is minor gore; three is very gory - some of the unlabeled ones also have occasional gore):

Homesick (supernatural/post apocalyptic)
School bus graveyard (supernatural/YA)
Stagtown (supernatural/mystery)
Everything is fine (dystopia)
Witch creek road (straight up horror)
Clinic of horrors (not quite horror, more dystopian mystery with some gore)
Rotten (sort of supernatural but more crime related)
Melvina's therapy (supernatural/existential/drug-trippy/unsettling/sort of a mystery)
Gremory Land (mystery/supernatural/cabin in the woods-esque but a themepark)

There's also Junji Ito - all of his stuff is very gorey. Favorites are Hanging Balloons, Fashion Model, the Tomie series, and Uzumaki.

I haven't read all of these, but I can verify that Ito is creepy as hell.

Thank you, I love webcomics and I’ve read a couple of these, but it’s always good to hear of more. Everything is Fine in particular is really good and just came back off hiatus!

 

[LuaVerena]

Are there Bloodborne comics?! I need to see that!

As for recommendations, I don't read a lot of horror comic books, but I read the first chapter of Night of the Ghoul by Scott Snyder and enjoyed it. I haven't read the rest yet, so can't say if he keeps up the quality, but might be worth looking into it.

Yes, the Bloodborne comics are brilliant! There’s four volumes, the first 3 are standalone while the fourth ties into those first 3. The order goes Death of Sleep, A Song of Crows (my personal fave, it’s a murder mystery/character study of Eileen the Crow), The Healing Thirst and then The Veil Torn Asunder.

I’ve never heard of Night of the Ghoul, I’ll have to check that out!

 

[LuaVerena]

On the manga front...

Like others have mentioned, Junji Ito is amazing (he has multiple great collections, not all of which have been officially translated). His work has thematically inspired/influenced my own at times.

Uguisu Sachiko is great. I know and like her best for Shibito no Koe wo Kiku ga Yoi, which is a series where most chapters are basically standalones. (The ending is disappointing, but it attempts to wrap up the series by bringing together multiple early storylines and recurring storylines.) I think I first got hooked after reading the one with the phantom carnival.

Junji Ito is one of my all time faces, currently trying to save up to get some of the new collections that have been published.

I haven’t heard of Uguisu Sachiko before, will certainly seek out her stuff, thank you!

 

[LuaVerena]

This was going to be my reply. Junji Ito's the best body horror artist out there. Even his chill Cat Diary manga, the real story of him, his wife, and their cats is tempered with terrifying imagery. His version of Frankenstein is spectacular.

There's also The Drifting Classroom, another horror manga about an elementary school that gets teleported to a post-humanity wasteland, leaving a bunch of young children alone in a world of monsters. Very Lord of the Flies-ish.

The Last Halloween is an incredible but sadly incomplete horror webcomic https://www.last-halloween.com/ The artist is fantastic and probably close to Ito when it comes to body horror, but her time is currently being spent working on an indie horror Visual Novel game, so it'll be a while before she gets back to it. However, she has a book of shorts out (The Crossroads at Midnight) and some free shorts here: https://abbyhowardart.myportfolio.com/short-horror-comics

Some great suggestions here, I’ve been meaning to get around to reading The Drifting Classroom for ages. Abby Howard sounds interesting, thanks for the recommendation!

 

[LuaVerena]

Emily Carroll's comics are really good and you can read them online at her website, or there's a collection of them called Through the Woods which you can get as a paperback. Skelehime also does good short horror which is available on their website and twitter.

Emily Carroll is soooo good! I think I follow Skelehime, but if not I definitely will!

 

[Ink-Soul]

Yes, the Bloodborne comics are brilliant! There’s four volumes, the first 3 are standalone while the fourth ties into those first 3. The order goes Death of Sleep, A Song of Crows (my personal fave, it’s a murder mystery/character study of Eileen the Crow), The Healing Thirst and then The Veil Torn Asunder.

That sounds class! Eileen was such an interesting character. I'll definitely have to look into those comics. Thanks for the accidental recommendation haha

 

[mschenk2016]

Well if you like the Walking Dead, I recommend The Rise by George C. Romero (George A. Romero's son). It's the official prequel to Night of the Living Dead and explains what brought the dead back to life. His dad got to read the script before he died and gave it his approval. It was originally going to be a movie, but I guess they couldn't get funding so it got released as a comic. I read the first 3 issues, I'm waiting till October when the whole thing is released in hardcover to read the rest.

 

[VCAckerman]

If you're willing to read webcomics, there's quite a few horror stories on the internet. I have some to recommend:

• Shriek - A horror anthology. My favourite one is "The Returned Girls" by Ilgwon Goh.
• The Vault of Horror - Another horror anthology. I quite liked "A tale of cat and mouse", though it does have an open ending.
• Chiller - Yet another horror anthology. "Entangled" by Song is very good.
• Silent Horror - One shot comics made by the DarkBox team. Admittedly, this series is more of a horror comedy, as while some of them entries are scary from beginning to end, many of them end on a funny note. "Poltergeist" is an example of things ending more humorously. Unlike my other recommendations, these comics have no dialog.

 

[kodak]

There are a lot of great suggestions here. +1000 for Junji Ito. Long Dream is my favorite of his short stories. Uzumaki is terrific. Gyo is wonderfully wacky.

Drifting Classroom is also very cool. I need to finish that one.

I highly recommend I Am Hero, especially if you like Walking Dead. It's a really bizarre version of a zombie apocalypse. The illustrations are incredible. (The movie is okay, but I'd highly recommend reading the comics first. Much more in-depth.)

Also, I haven't read it yet, but Homunculus has been on my reading list. The art is incredible for this one too. It's the same creator as Ichi the Killer.

 

[Ma8lstrom]

My kid really loves Uzumaki. I see a few other people have mentioned this one.

 

[VCAckerman]

My kid really loves Uzumaki. I see a few other people have mentioned this one.

Uzumaki is great! Generally speaking, you can't go wrong with Junji Ito when it comes to horror.

 

[owlion]

I recently read It Took Luke, a sort of dystopian body horror comic about exterminators who have to get rid of monsters, and I highly recommend it!

 

[Zachisrad51]

Just finished Something is Killing the Children which was very good, kind of a monster hunter-type horror comic.
Also The Nice House on the Lake is really good, it's more mystery/sci-fi (aliens) mixed with horror.

 

[CMBright]

Just finished Something is Killing the Children which was very good, kind of a monster hunter-type horror comic.
Also The Nice House on the Lake is really good, it's more mystery/sci-fi (aliens) mixed with horror.

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