A slasher story typically follows the same formula. A group of teens to young adults are stalked and hunted by a masked figure that kills them off in grotesque fashions. For horror comics, this isn’t much of a change, though the formula isn’t always copied and pasted like some franchises.
Since most horror movie slashers have made their way into comics, those series won’t be included, though series like Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash is a must-read using movie characters. Instead, this list focuses on Indie comics that maintain their own characters, even if homages are paid to the big names.
10 Hack/Slash Has Decades Of Slasher-Based Stories
The story of the final girl is a wildly popular trope for horror fans, and Hack/Slash follows the best of the bunch. Noted as the “final final girl” Cassie Hack and her hulking pal Vlad take their skills on the road to kill any slasher that pops up in the world.
From homages to killers like Freddy to actual crossovers in the Child’s Play and Army of Darkness worlds, Cassie has taken on dozens of slashers and lived to tell the tale. Hack/Slash is horror comics royalty at this point and deserves to have its many announced shows and movies out of development hell.
9 Maniac Of New York Does Jason Takes Manhattan Better
Where Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan failed to capitalize on the premise, Maniac of New York takes the reigns and goes fully into the murderous night. As a slasher named Harry, akin to Jason in looks and style, makes his way through the city, he kills as many people that cross his path.
Fans of the Friday the 13th series can see the many homages the story gives to the series, but also love the new characters and fresh tone of the ongoing story.
8 Nailbiter Shows Many Slashers And Questions Who The Good Guys Are
Instead of benign centered around a single slasher, Nailbiter takes the Fear Street approach of having a central slasher and showing at least 16 serial killers that came from the town of Buckaroo, Oregon. These serial killers, named the Buckaroo Butchers, are shown committing their crimes through flashbacks.
Edward Charles Warren is the latest of the Butchers and has a penchant for eating the nails of his victims. After things are shown to be not as they seem, the law and Nicholas Finch try to investigate a new killer, only to have further bloodshed by multiple hands.
7 Slasher Is A Provocative Tale About Becoming A Serial Killing
While Charles Forsman’s comic book, The End Of The F*cking World was easily adapted for the screen by Netflix, his other hit comic series, Slasher is unlikely to find the same treatment. Slasher is a psychosexual thriller following Christine as she goes from a woman bored of her daily life to a serial killer.
The series focuses on her start as she gradually steps up from just lightly cutting men she slept with to a ramage of throat-slitting as the Leather Slasher, named that for the adult suit she wears. There are enough twists and turns to keep the reader hooked.
6 Basketful of Heads Makes The Slasher An Accident In A Great Way
Flipping the idea of a slasher on its head, pun intended, Basketful of Heads has an accidental slasher as its main character. Part of the recently launched Hill House imprint, the story follows June as she is kidnapped because her boyfriend was supposedly working with the government to take down corrupt town police.
After escaping, she beheads a man with an enchanted ax, leaving the head alive and speaking. She has to fight her way to the truth, wielding the ax and a basket which she houses those she beheads, and learn a lot about herself along the way.
5 Severed Follows A Boy Eating Man And His Prey
Set in the early 1910s, Severed is told as a story within a story about a 12-year-old Jack Garron that ran away from home to meet his real father who had given him up for adoption. While most slasher series focus on teens and older adults this series has a killer with a literal taste for younger blood.
As Jack goes on his journey, he meets Sam, a fellow runaway and young lady posing as a boy on the rails. Jack joins the slasher on the road and learns a horrifying secret that haunts him into old age.
4 Random Acts Of Violence Is A Meta-Narrative About Comic Creators
Random Acts of Violence has seen its popularity rise over the last few years, especially thanks to the Jay Baruchel and Jesse Williams-led film released in 2019. The story follows a meta-narrative of a comic writer whose accidental posting of an ad leads to a serial killer trying to claim his prize.
The entire story is contained in one powerful book and fans have been asking for the series to continue since it left on a mild cliffhanger. Fans of Scream would enjoy reading this comic.
3 Death Follows Brings Slasher and Zombie Comics Together
Another slasher story that follows a pre-teen, Death Follows is almost entirely set on a farm where Birdie and her family hire a new farmhand named Cole Jensen. Like most slasher stories, there are several moments of science fiction, notably the inclusion of zombies.
The slasher of this story doesn’t actually kill anyone on-panel, but the atmosphere of the story is what really pushes this into a must-read. The ending is both shocking and cathartic for a story about a hellish time on the farm.
2 Plastic Is A Wild Ride Where Reader Root For The Slasher
Plastic is just a weird story, but perfect for slasher fans of all kinds. The story follows retired slasher Edwyn Stoffgruppen as his girlfriend is lusted after by some punks then kidnapped by a Louisiana money man. The girlfriend, Victoria, is the titular plastic as she is an adult doll and the love of Edwyn’s life.
A significant amount of the dialogue in the series is spoken by Edwyn, having the dead bodies around him fill in as needed, which makes for an entertaining read. Plastic is also well received for being a story where the reader roots for the killer.
1 Southern Hospitality Takes The '80s Horror Genre And Remixes It Into An Enjoyable Read
Closer to the traditional slasher movie, Southern Hospitality takes an idea from hit films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre and brings them to a comic series with depth. Following two friends from the north and three co-eds, as they venture to Florida, the trip is cut short as they begin to be hunted by a hulking figure.
This comic tends to lean more on the horror-comedy spectrum, especially with the art making every character look like a caricature. Even with its downfalls, the story breathes some new life into the genre instead of being just another clone of a slasher movie.