As the leaves begin to change color and the days get colder, there is no denying that Fall has begun, and with it comes the spookiest time of the year; Halloween! This is the time when everything seems just a little creepier and the urge to watch scary movies and tell ghost stories overtakes us all.
And with those urges comes the need to read some really frightening comics too. Sure, Marvel has plenty of scary tales for readers, and DC is full of spooky stories, but sometimes a reader needs to reach beyond the usual and discover what lies in the darker corners of comic books. That's when the indie titles jump out of the shadows and send tingles down the spines of every fan.
10 Locke & Key Will Get In Your Head
While you could watch Locke & Key on Netflix, the series isn't a direct translation of the Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodríguez comic into live-action. The comics, along with giving the reader a complete series, have the space to better dig into the mythology of Key House and the magic that surrounds it. With Locke & Key, Hill and Rodríguez have created a modern horror story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats, turning each page slowly, afraid of what they'll see next.
9 Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done? Will Make Your Skin Crawl
Ed Gein has served as the inspiration for a number of horror stories, from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho to Tobe Hooper's Texas Chain Saw Massacre and beyond. And while many people know the basics of the Ed Gein story, Eric Powell and Harold Schechter dig deep into the true story of one of America's most frightening citizens with their new true-crime graphic novel Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Done?.
Powell's art captures not only the cold desolation of Wisconsin from the early 1900s to the latter days of the 1950s, but it also brings the horrors of the Gein house to life in ways rarely seen. This story is not for the faint of heart.
8 30 Days of Night Will Bite Into Your Soul
While it started off as a three-issue miniseries by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, 30 Days of Night bit into the minds of readers and spawned twelve follow-up series, a crossover with the X-Files, and a movie.
The original series takes place in Barrow, Alaska, a town so far north that during the winter it goes 30 days without any sunlight. Sure enough, the idea of a town coated in darkness for a whole month catches the attention of a group of vampires, who come to Barrow looking to feast. Niles and Templesmith's 30 Days of Night tells one of the most original vampire stories in ages.
7 Babyteeth Will Make You Afraid Of Babies
In Donny Cates and Garry Brown's Babyteeth, sixteen-year-old Sadie Ritter was already scared about having a baby, but things got a lot scarier when she learned that her child is the antichrist and destined to open the gates of Hell, unleashing the greatest horrors mankind has ever seen. Only Sadie and her family can keep the world from ending, but the costs may be too much for a young mother to bear. Babyteeth, which just ended with its 20th issue, is equal parts horrifying and loving, just like any good family.
6 Black Hole Is Every Teen's Nightmare
As if being a teenager isn't scary enough, Charles Burns brings a new level of fear to growing up in his seminal work, Black Hole. Set in the suburbs of Seattle during the mid-1970s, the twelve-issue series focuses on a group of teens who come down with "the Bug," a sexually transmitted disease that physically mutates those who contract it, turning them into monstrous outcasts.
Told through the eyes of popular female student Chris and stoner kid Keith, Black Hole follows the lives of the teens who become infected with the disease as they move into the woods and create their own society away from the judging glares of others until one deadly night changes everything.
5 From Hell Delves Into The Darkness Of The World's First Serial Killer
Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's From Hell, recently re-released in color, digs into one of the better-known conspiracies connected to Jack the Ripper, the first serial killer in history. Using the facts of the Whitechapel Murders of the late 1800s and mixing them with theories about the involvement of England's Royal Family and the Freemasons, Moore and Campbell tell an intense and addictive story about humanity, the horrors of the 20th century, and how everything is connected either by coincidence or by unseen hands that shape reality.
4 Hellboy Is Scary Good
For nearly 30 years, Mike Mignola's Hellboy has delighted audiences by mixing the occult with sardonic humor. Mignola's creation, which follows the life of Anung Un Rama, better known as Hellboy, as he goes from a baby demon called to Earth by Nazi occultists to being raised to battle not only the Nazis who summoned him from Hell, but any monstrous creatures that threaten humanity alongside his teammates at the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.
Mignola's creation has spawned three live-action films, two animated films, and countless merchandise tie-ins, but nothing compares to the original comics themselves.
3 The Lottery: The Authorized Graphic Adaptation Gives A Classic Story New Life
Based on Shirley Jackson's beloved horror short story and adapted into graphic novel form by Miles Hyman, The Lottery: The Authorized Graphic Adaptation tells the well-known tale of a small American town with three hundred residents as they prepare for the annual lottery drawing in June. Jackson's original story, and Hyman's adaptation, perfectly captures the eerie reality of mankind's need to find a reason for everything and to often punish that reason even if it makes no sense. Much like Jackson's original story, the graphic novel will leave readers chilled to the bone.
2 Wytches Will Make You Fear The Trees
Written by Scott Snyder with art by Jock, Wytches has quickly gained popularity as one of the creepiest and gripping horror comics of the current age. The series, which currently includes a five-issue miniseries and the Bad Eggs Halloween Special that sets up the upcoming second sequel, tells the story of Sailor Rook and her family as they move to Litchfield, New Hampshire to start fresh after a difficult time in their old town.
Soon enough, the Rooks learns a horrible secret about their new home; the people of Litchfield serve a race of wytches that demand regular sacrifices. With Snyder's writing and Jock's art, Wytches is sure to give any reader nightmares.
1 Through the Woods Is A Beautiful Collection Of Spooky Tales
A collection of five terrifying stories by writer and artist Emily Carroll, Through the Woods is sure to give even the most courageous reader the heebie-jeebies. Along with Carroll's highly praised webcomic “His Face All Red," this collection includes four new sinister stories by the artist whose hauntingly beautiful artwork is sure to capture every reader's eye, even when they want to look away out of fear. Through the Woods is a compilation of short horror stories that readers will want to revisit every Halloween.