While The Walking Dead comics may have ended in 2019 after an impressive 193 issue run, it still finds legions of new fans and remains a popular television series, especially around Halloween. But it's not the only comic to feature zombies or even Robert Kirkman's only horror comic.
From a zombie apocalypse featuring a fresh take on classic characters to a town obsessed with spirals to a mysterious barn and a demonic ice cream man, there are plenty of horror comics to choose from. With Fall approaching and bringing with it the promise of pumpkin spice, colder weather, and all things spooky, this is the perfect time to read a few of these stories.
For those looking for something new after The Walking Dead, or just want something different, it's time to jump into some (other) comics that will be sure to bring the fear and the thrills with their haunting imagery and vivid storytelling.
10 Locke & Key By Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodríguez
After a terrible loss, the Locke siblings and their mother move to the mysterious Keyhouse in Lovecraft, Massachusetts to start a new life. Youngest child, Bode, soon discovers a mysterious key and a door that turns him into a ghost and learns of something living in the well-house. Thus begins Locke & Key.
This Eisner award-winning series, features magical keys, chilling and vivid murders, and an iconic house and villain at the heart. Beginning with the graphic novel Welcome to Keyhouse the books incorporate so many elements of horror both classic and modern, it's best to just settle in for the ride.
9 Outcast By Robert Kirkman & Paul Acazeta
Robert Kirkman may be most well known for The Walking Dead, but the story of Kyle Barnes provides a tale of trauma, darkness, and demon possession that will keep readers up at night. Outcast is a horror story that's as much about the dangers of the present as it is confronting the trauma of the past.
Kyle has been surrounded by demons for his entire life, so much so that he now lives a life of isolation. But when Reverend Anderson comes to Kyle seeking help for another possession, it begins a journey that sees Kyle facing the darkness around him and all the twists and turns that come with it.
8 Ice Cream Man By W. Maxwell Prince, Martín Morazzo, & Chris O'Halloran
Ice Cream Man is written in a series of one-shots that deal with a range of emotions and outcomes, some redemptive and some downright miserable, featuring a host of characters and the one connecting them all, the Ice Cream Man.
To quote Hellraiser, he's, "A demon to some, an angel to others," and can change your life in the best and worst ways. Colorful but with an underlying sinister edge, Ice Cream Man, much like the ice cream truck rolling through the neighborhood, is sure to bring laughs, tears, and a few screams.
7 Afterlife With Archie By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa & Francesco Francavilla
The fun thing about Archie comics is the characters have been around for so long that almost any story, and any genre, can be written using them. So when Jughead goes to see Sabrina (of the Chilling Adventures variety) about reviving his dog, Hot Dog, after he was hit by a car, things take a turn in a darker and definitively undead zombie direction.
The characters are older, the themes darker, and the art visceral. Afterlife was one of the first Archie stories to not only be a horror story set in an alternate universe, but also ushered in Archie's Madhouse – a brand that now hosts also excellent horror titles like Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Jughead: The Hunger, Vampironica, and Blossoms 666. Truthfully, all of these books could have made the list and should be read, but Afterlife started it all.
6 Harrow County By Cullen Bunn & Tyler Crook
Southern Gothic horror with some coming of age drama mixed with beautiful and haunting watercolor artwork by Tyler Crook consistently puts Harrow County on the top horror books list and deservedly so.
Set in the 1930s, Emmy, a young woman who is about to turn eighteen, learns that her father and the town intend to kill her as they believe she is a reincarnated witch they burned years earlier. As Emmy traverses the woods and learns more about her powers and who she really is, she must deal with Haints (ghosts), demons, and befriends a Skinless Boy, the mystery and mythology of Harrow County deepen. Both readers and Emmy learn that the town and its people aren't quite what they appeared to be.
5 Wytches By Scott Snyder & Jock
A lot of horror stories involve families moving to a new (and darkly mysterious) town in the hopes of starting over after some kind of, often traumatic, incident. Wytches begins with that trope but what it does with its central themes of fatherhood and the fear of being unable to protect one's children takes it to an entirely new level, while also reinventing what most audiences have come to expect from witches themselves.
After an incident involving the daughter, Sailor, and a school bully, the Rook family moves to Litchfield, NH. Here, a sinister presence in the woods waits for a sacrifice and a larger conspiracy lurks in the town. This limited series with art by Jock is downright scary and sure to make readers think twice before walking through the woods.
4 Uzumaki By Junji Ito
Set in the fictional city of Kurouzu-Cho, Uzumaki – written and illustrated by manga horror icon Junji Ito – revolves around spirals, and more specifically, the city's obsession with them. Much like the spiraled curse itself, what begins as an obsession grows as it takes control of the city, morphing into graphic and surreal depictions of death and obsession, changing the city and it's inhabitants as it grows.
As the story goes on and its main characters face the inescapable curse and its consequences on their city, the deepening message and terrifying artwork take hold. Spirals are everywhere and there's no escape.
3 Gideon Falls By Jeff Lemire & Andrea Sorrentino
Conspiracy, existential dread, and a mysterious black barn, this is how Gideon Falls begins. The story follows two protagonists as they seek to uncover the deeper and dark mystery surrounding a black barn that appears and brings madness and terror with it.
Norton Sinclair, a diagnosed schizophrenic who has just been released from a mental health facility, is seeing patterns in his city's trash. Meanwhile, Father Wilfred, a washed-up priest without a parish, is being sent to Gideon Falls to take over for the recently deceased priest there. What follows is a tense character-driven horror story that speaks to much deeper themes sure to resonate beyond the terror.
2 Witch Doctor By Brandon Seifert & Lukas Ketner
What do you get when you mix Lovecraft, House, and Sam Raimi? Witch Doctor by Brandon Seifert with vivid art by Lukas Ketner. It's a cool, fun, and occasionally downright disgusting book about Dr. Vincent Morrow, a doctor specializing in occult/supernatural medicine. Marrow is accompanied by his assistant, a paramedic named Eric Gast, and a college student called "Penny Dreadful."
Throughout the series, Morrow and the team encounter and treat demonic possessions, vampires, faerie changelings, and Lovecraftian sea creatures. Mixing magic with medicine and some clever lines, Witch Doctor will bring a smile to readers as much as the grotesque happenings in the bright pages will make them cringe. It's the fun kind of horror that doesn't spend too much time mired in darkness, rather creating a supernatural horror medical drama full of wit and style.
1 Hellblazer (DC Vertigo)
With many great horror writers, including Neil Gaiman and Garth Ennis, contributing to the tales of John Constantine over the years, it's difficult to pick just one story featuring the wise-cracking, trench coat wearing, anti-hero/mage. Though most fans seem to flock to Dangerous Habits by Garth Ennis as their entry point for the popular horror series.
Be it ghosts in Hold Me, the trauma that resonates in everything Constantine does in Newcastle, or confronting substance abuse, homelessness, and a vampire in Tainted Love, Hellblazer has countless of great storylines. There are many stories and themes to choose from across so many Hellblazer stories that deal with demons, monsters, and even the devil – who John flips off. They're all well worth spending the time to read.