It feels like 2019 has been a year of horror--both in real life and in the world of comics. It makes sense that there would be so many great horror comics these days, as stories are a way of coping with reality through metaphor and symbols.
Historically, comics writers have used horror to deal with social issues, complex philosophical ideas, and moral quandaries, conjuring the specters of real-world fears into powerful bone-chilling narratives whose monsters and mystery hint at the darkness imprinted on the human soul. As 2019 has had more than its fair share of darkness, here are the ten most terrifying horror comics of the past year, ranked:
10 The Plot
Vault Comics have released some of the best indie titles of the past year, claiming their rightful place as the boldest new indie comics company to specialize in horror and fantasy stories. The Plot is written by Michael Moreci and Tim Daniel with pencils by Joshua Hixson.
The Plot opens follows McKenzie and Zach Blaine, two children who are forced to move in with their estranged uncle after their parents are killed. The three of them move to the old family home in the town of Cape Augusta, a dilapidated structure barely fit for habitation. The house is built on an old bog which is leaking in through the basement and behind its old wall are hidden dark secrets determined to claw their way into the present.
9 Basketful of Heads
The multiple award-winning novelist Joe Hill recently launched his new horror imprint over at DC, entitled Hill House Comics. The first title released under the imprint was Basketful of Heads which Hill is writing in collaboration with artist Leomacs.
The story opens on a remote island off the coast of New England after several prisoners have escaped from their work detail. Judy Blume is visiting her boyfriend on the island and stays with his boss for safety. The boss is a collector of ancient artifacts from the Viking Age. When the convicts break into the house, she is forced to defend herself with an 8th Century Axe--one rumored to have mystical powers to keep alive the heads it severs.
8 The Dollhouse Family
This is another series from Hill House Comics, written not by Joe Hill himself, but instead by the talented M.R. Carey. As one of the masters of smart horror writing, Carey's narrative perfectly compliments Peter Gross's subdued but detailed art.
The Dollhouse Family is the story of a young girl, Alice, who inherits a dollhouse with a small family of actual people living inside. Meanwhile, Alice's home life is imperiled as her father's abusive tendencies begin to spiral out of control, causing her to seek refuge in playing with the dollhouse, where secrets are waiting to be uncovered.
7 Immortal Hulk
Marvel has printed some pretty great horror comics over the years, but generally, the company has focused more on the fantasy, science fiction, and noir elements of the superhero genre. That's one reason Immortal Hulk is so fascinating.
The story focuses on the return of Bruce Banner as the Hulk, after he was supposedly killed during the events of Civil War II. In this twisted tale of body horror, the tragedy of the Hulk is explored as a man forever doomed to life as an outsider, even as it is revealed that the Hulk can't be killed.
6 The Low, Low Woods
Writer Carmen Maria Machado, who previously wrote the book Her Body and Other Parties, has been one of the biggest new names writing literary horror. In The Low, Low Woods she makes her comics debut and partners with the artists Dani Strips and Dan McDaid to deliver an amazing story about two girls living in a small town called Shudder-to-Think.
The town is built over old mining tunnels that have been aflame for decades since an incident that caused the mines to close. Girls in the town sometimes disappear and reappear with missing memories. Strange animals lurk in the woods, if they are in fact animals and not something worse. It's an eerie story that blends coming-0f-age with the terrors of life in a remote small town.
5 House of Whispers
Another DC title, House of Whispers is part of DC's other big adult imprint, Black Label. This book is written by the award-winning novelist Nalo Hopkinson and is part of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Universe.
The series is unique in how it uses the religions of the West African diaspora to weave a tale of mysterious twists and tragic turns as old gods have to reassess their role in the worlds while new magics inflict themselves upon people. Beyond the great horror and fantasy elements, the world-building is stunning and the characters are absolute delights to follow.
4 The Dreaming
Another title in The Sandman Universe, this story follows an ensemble cast of different denizens of the Dreaming as they cope with the absence of their lord Dream, even as the realm is seeing the arrival of strange new humanoid visitors from beyond their borders.
This book brilliantly uses metaphor to look at real world issues through the symbolism of dreams and nightmares. The prose is profound and moving, the art pops off the page while attempting new imaginative visual feats, and the lettering is some of the most dynamic in the pages of any comic currently in print.
3 The Batman Who Laughs
There are two superhero titles on this list and both of them take already-dark characters into even darker places. The Batman Who Laughs marks Scott Snyder's return to writing Batman along with the artist Jock--the two having previously collaborated on Snyder's very first Batman comic.
The Batman Who Laughs is about the Bruce Wayne of the main DC universe being targeted by the darkest version of himself in the whole of the omnivores. The foundations of Batman's every belief are undermined as he slowly loses himself, gradually being changed into the exact kind of monster he most fears as he fights to save the city he loves--though it is no longer a place he can recognize.
2 Fearscape
Every so often, a comic comes along which reimagines what the medium is capable of doing. Fearscape is exactly such a comic, which writer Ryan O'Sullivan and artist Andrea Mutti should be fully commended for.
This is not an easy read. The protagonist, Henry Henry, is genuinely unlikeable in almost every aspect, being arrogant, cowardly, duplicitous, condescending, self-pitying, treacherous, and just all around awful. He is both the hero and the villain in this tale which explores the very nature of storytelling and which showcases its literary versatility from the very first page.
1 Die
The final entry on the list is a masterpiece of storytelling that deconstructs the entire genre of fantasy roleplaying games as well as much of the larger world of fantasy as a whole. Written by Kieron Gillen and with beautiful art by Stephanie Hans, Die is a project they spent five years developing before its first issue was released.
This is a story about a group of six kids who played a roleplaying game and got sucked into the world of the game. Two years later, five of them returned, one missing an arm. None ever spoke of what happened to them. Then, as adults with PTSD and failed relationships haunting their midlife crises, the five all are returned to the game world where they have to face all the magic, intrigue, and death they thought they'd left behind.