Horror comics?

Fysh · 31-03-2005 10:52pm #1

The board isn't exactly dead, but there's not been much on lately to interest me, so hoor that I am, I figured I'd start a new thread and see if anyone else is interested.

Over the last year there's been a marked increase in popularity of horror comics, which has seen the number and variety of titles expand. It seems to have been spearheaded by IDW's "30 Days Of Night", a vampire story set in a village close enough to the poles that it has a full month of uninterrupted night and a full month of uninterrupted daylight every year. As you might imagine, a town where once a year, they get to run rampage for a whole month straight is attractive to a vampire posse. But this isn't the only title...

(the following are in no particular order)

There's "The Walking Dead" (also from IDW), a zombie comic not unlike Dawn/Day Of The Dead. There's "Fragile" (from Humanoids publishing), a different type of zombie comic in which death does not immediately render you a zombie, rather it means you start to decompose while still conscious and self-aware. There's the Army Of Darkness series (which so far has the complete Ashes to Ashes 4-issue series and the current series "Shop Till You Drop Dead"). There's a series of adaptations of Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween in the pipelines. There's Marvel's Blade series, the resurrected Dracula series (a comic adaptation of the original novel), a 3 part adaptation of Richard Matheson's "Hell House", an adaptation of Matheson's "I am Legend", "Blood : A tale" from vertigo, DC's Hellblazer series, and a bunch of smaller independent comics.

In short, there's a whole bunch of the damn things, if anyone's interested. What I'm wondernig is:

Does anyone else read them? (I suspect Darko does, but I have no idea about the rest of you) If so, what ones did you enjoy, and what ones didn't you like? And equally importantly, why?

The thing I dig about horror comics is that, quite often, in horror films, either you get visual (which too often means "visceral") horror - gore, brutally detailed depictions of injuries/killings, and imagery. Better horror movies (at least, imo) combine or replace this with a strong atmosphere and sense of unease (see most of the asian horror flicks generally recommended on this board). Horror books, on the other hand, have more leeway for mucking around with the intricacies of characters, the smaller nuances of personality that make them individuals, and is ideally placed to use what I term "philosophical horror" (ie ideas-based horror explored in considerable detail). Comics, being a combination of text and picture, are in an ideal position to combine the two approaches to give something different to what you get in books or films.

Matthewthebig · 31-03-2005 11:50pm

The Danzig comics are sort of horror infused along with violence an dsex mind you.

01-04-2005 11:57am

I have to agree with your choices, some damn fine comics in there, and yes I do read all of them.

I think the reason I enjoy reading horror based comics is the freedom the creative team has, they can let their imaginations run wild. More so than most films, the situation is reminiscant of the early Dr Who strips in which the Doctor. In which the comics looked a lot better than the series, no 3 walled cardboared sets.

In my opinion "30 Days of Night" is the best one to date. It contained most of the elements that make a horror story great. Isolation, tension, characters you care about, it did'nt rely on gore and also there's no cheap scares.The film is currently in development with Sam Raimi producing, could be the Thing, then again it could be Dracula 2000.

One other horror comic you did'nt mention is Toetags. Basically its a zombie comic by George A Romero. I got the first four issues yesterday and plan on reading them today, I'll let you know what they're like, fingers crossed.

spooky donkey · 01-04-2005 2:37pm

Well im reading FRAY at the moment. Its by joss weldon`s story of a vampire slayer a few hundred years in the future. Kinda buffy the next generation! Its very good all the same!

jill_valentine · 01-04-2005 10:25pm

'Tis very good, but the horror elements aren't predominant in it. Unless you consider implied incest horror in the same vein as zombies.

Fray is more superhero/ adventure/ scifi. Cracking, but I wouldn't call it horror.

Speaking of 30 Days, I loved 30 Days of Night right up until it completely zoomed past the actual attack on the town. The hell? The story was perfect until then. What's the point of racheting up so much tension if you don't plan to do anything with it?

Anybody else read the Silent Hill IDW series? Not bad, but not a patch on the games...

Fysh · 02-04-2005 12:14pm

I saw Dying Inside, but it didn't interest me. IDW are making the mistake of using the same visual approach for most if not all of their horror comics, and I find it frustrating because it's a style you can quickly get tired of.

spooky donkey · 02-04-2005 1:30pm

jill_valentine wrote:

'Tis very good, but the horror elements aren't predominant in it. Unless you consider implied incest horror in the same vein as zombies. Fray is more superhero/ adventure/ scifi. Cracking, but I wouldn't call it horror.

Speaking of 30 Days, I loved 30 Days of Night right up until it completely zoomed past the actual attack on the town. The hell? The story was perfect until then. What's the point of racheting up so much tension if you don't plan to do anything with it?

Anybody else read the Silent Hill IDW series? Not bad, but not a patch on the games...

Well its got vampires in it and its as close to horror in comics that i come to atm.

I think i have that silent hill stuff some wheres but never found the time to read it, any good?

Xcom2 · 03-04-2005 2:24pm

Deleted User wrote:

One other horror comic you did'nt mention is Toetags. Basically its a zombie comic by George A Romero. I got the first four issues yesterday and plan on reading them today, I'll let you know what they're like, fingers crossed.

Toetags starts off great but gets kinda weird bout half way through.I have all six.I dont know how mile high shipped them to me as no.6 is dated may 05.

30 Days of Night was brilliant IMO.The sequels Dark Days and Return to Barrow are also very good.

Army of darkness:ashes to ashes I have on order plus shop til you drop dead which includes so far five different covers for issue 1.

Clive Barkers Nightbreed 1990 is pretty good,I have all 25 issues.

Dark Horse released 3 or 4 different The Thing series most of which are good.They also released loads of Alien series the best of which are Aliens:Genocide and Aliens vs Predator: Deadliest of the species.

I also read 2000AD every week and the Judge Dredd Megazine every month there are often supernatural/horror stories in them.

X

Crash · 03-04-2005 3:10pm

If you want good supernatural (with a tint of horror at times) read Lucifer - spin off from the sandman comics - its just really really good

jill_valentine · 08-04-2005 8:23pm

spooky donkey wrote:

I think i have that silent hill stuff some wheres but never found the time to read it, any good?

It's not bad, it's just disappointing if you go in expecting the story to even approach the levels of the game plots. The art is perfect for Silent Hill tho', it has to be said. Silent Hill: Paint it Black is probably the best of the bunch so far.

Finished Walking Dead: Vol 1 yesterday, and it's pretty excellent. Keeping an eye out for this from now on...

Fysh · 09-04-2005 11:20am

jill_valentine wrote:

It's not bad, it's just disappointing if you go in expecting the story to even approach the levels of the game plots. The art is perfect for Silent Hill tho', it has to be said.

Is it Ben Templesmith doing the art (Or someone copying him)? Because I'm getting kind of bored of that style - there seems to be loads of comics out on IDW with the same type of visuals, and I tire of it.

jill_valentine wrote:

Silent Hill: Paint it Black is probably the best of the bunch so far.

I saw an ad for this in the first issue of Castlevania : Belmont's legacy that I picked up (aside : looks like it could be quite cool, will see what the next couple of issues do) and didn't realise it was out already. Am I right in thinking it's a one-shot or is it a miniseries?

pauldeehan · 16-04-2005 1:25am

Bought Ashes 2 Ashes recently. Not sure how good it would be without the Evil Dead association but it's cartoony visuals are a nice contrast to the extreme guts n' gore and there's a good cheesy humour to it.

bobbydoo · 28-04-2005 4:24pm

I've just recently started getting into Horror Comics (and comics in general).

Read The Walking Dead TPBs 1 & 2 and was very impressed. Nicely Done. Good zombie action. The third TPB should be out soon.

Got 30 Days of Night and Dark Days and was a lot less impressed. I didn't think the artwork was up to much and the story/script was boring an cliched.
Don't think I'll bother with the other TPBs in the series.

Aleister Arcane on the other hand was great. The artwork was lovely. Very well done indeed. So I haven't lost faith in Steve Niles.

Richard Matheson's I Am Legend comic adaptation is quite good. Sticks very closely to the book, as I remember. Very expensive though, since it only comes in Hardback.

The best horror comics I've seen are the Tales From The Crypt reprints. EC 1950's horror anthology. The stories are fun and gripping. Just like old twilight zone episodes....but gorier. The TFTC tv series was terrible in comparison. I'd recommend these comics to other horror fans.

Waiting for the following to come in the mail:
Toe Tags, Bigfoot, The Black Forest, George A.Romero's Dawn of the Dead, Remains, Scars, Lurid.

Can anyone reccommend any other horror comics?

Anyone read any of these yet?:Wake The Dead, Secret Skull, Containment, Lurkers, Fragile, Boneyard, Night Of the Living Dead, Zombie World, Deadworld, King of the Dead, Spookshow International?

Xcom2 · 28-04-2005 10:42pm

bobbydoo wrote:

Got 30 Days of Night and Dark Days and was a lot less impressed. I didn't think the artwork was up to much and the story/script was boring an cliched.
Don't think I'll bother with the other TPBs in the series.

:eek:

Fall's over dead!

X

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