As San Diego Comic Con comes to a close you may be left asking yourself, "What now?" We understand your sense of loss, and we're here to help! Don't hang up that cape, that spandex, or those cat ears just yet, we've got five current horror comics you should be reading. These are coming out monthly and they need your adoring attention!
Hellboy in Hell
If you read my weekly comic review round-up you'll know my love for all things Mike Mignola. It's no secret that I think Mignola and crew are doing the best work in horror comics today. The artwork is always thoughtful, the story lines are always deeply emotional, everything works perfectly together. That's never been as true as in Hellboy in Hell, where we see Big Red going back to his hometown (Hades). It was great to see Hellboy react to Hell, but now that the series is entering its second arc we're going to see how Hell reacts to Hellboy.
The Massive
This taut, tense thriller is on my must read list for a bunch of reasons. The apocalypse as presented in The Massive is a realistic one. There are no gnawing zombies or radioactive wastelands, just an Earth flooded with ocean after Alaska melted. The artwork on this comic follows that realistic tradition closely, as each character is lavishly and lovingly drawn in honest detail. The story follows the crew of The Kapital, a huge ocean liner, as it sails around the flooded earth. Yes, this is another comic that shows us an end of the world scenario, but it does so with style and grace.
Eerie and Creepy Comics
There's been a recent revival in the classic horror anthologies. Back in the good ol' days, the best way to get a good scare was to go down to the soda shop (I assume, I'm in my late twenties) and scare up an issue of a horror comic anthology. Now we have a horror movie coming out every week and media serving up scares by the handful, but you can still get your claws on these awesome horror anthologies. Eerie serves up four to six stories about horror and the supernatural with a science-fiction tinge, while Creepy is just straight up, old-fashioned scares! Check them out for that old time feeling.
Spider-Man
Yes, for real. You should be reading all things Spider-Man that are coming out right now. It may not seem, on the surface, like this is appropriate to recommend for a horror site, but let me make my case. Peter Parker is dead. The person running around in Peter Parker (and Spider-Man's) body is the disembodied spirit of Doctor Octavius! Whoa! That's some Emily Rose shit. And that's just the monthly main title run, called Superior Spider-Man. There's also The Superior Foes of Spider-Man, all about the half-wit villains who are out for blood. Then there's Superior Carnage which only just started up and which will truly amp up the body count. Check it out, for real, just trust me.
The Walking Dead
If this article came out five months ago The Walking Dead would not have made the cut. But the issues are starting to pick up the pace, and a big showdown is imminent. The Walking Dead is an amazing, sprawling piece of work, but it sometimes loses its pacing and footing. When it's good, though, holy smokes is it good. And right now, with Negan (I want to teleport into the comic to kill him myself) and Rick at each other's throats, there's bound to be big changes in this little comic. Each issue may not give you everything you're looking for, but if you've put in the time you'll be vastly rewarded.