Fearsome Five: Top 5 Horror Graphic Novels

When many hear the phrase “graphic novels,” they think of superheroes. Indeed, superheroes have become synonymous with the medium, but graphic novels can tell a variety of stories and there are many writers/artists who have become adept to using pictures to tell very graphic stories as well as stories that quietly chill the blood. Here are a few of my favorite graphic novel series that I would recommend to patrons who might be both fans of Marvel Comics, DC comics, or just scary stories in general.

A quick note before we begin the list. Purists will make a distinction between trade paperback and graphic novel. Trade paperbacks usually collect the individual comic book issues that make up a story arc.  A true graphic novel is one that was not published in previously separate volumes and began life as a self-contained story told through pictures. For this list, there will be both trade paperbacks and graphic novels. Purists may spew some hatred in the comments section, (or avoid the comment section and decide I don’t know what I’m talking about), but judge for yourselves the quality of the books on this list.

5) Rednecks written by Donny Cates  with art by Lisandro Estherren and Dee Cunniffe

The Bowmans are a clan of vampires who quietly run their own barbecue joint and subside on cattle blood, completely avoiding the human variety. However, that doesn’t matter to the Landry family, who have all vowed to eradicate the undead Bowmans. What starts as a simple “blood feud” story soon tweaks the roles these characters have in this tale, as well as readers’ expectations. It gradually becomes more difficult to separate victim from monster, as many of the characters take turns as both. This story could almost be the 1980’s movie The Lost Boys completely rewritten by Joe Lansdale, the author of the Hap and Leonard mystery series.

4) Harrow County written by Cullen Bunn with art by Tyler Cook

Emmy has lived in Harrow County all her life. She knew that, at night, there were “haints” wandering the woods surrounding her home, but on her 18^th birthday, she discovers her connection to the dead witch Hester Prine and that’s when she found, and continues to discover as she grows into her power, other things to be afraid of.  This story is a southern Gothic coming-of-age tale as Emmy learns of the power she wields and the enemies that wish harm to her and her home, plus the simple, Norman Rockwell-esque artwork gives an original look to the people that inhabit this bygone land as well as to the supernatural terrors that roam at night.

3) Wytches written by Scott Snyder with art by Jock

Forget about boiling cauldrons and flying broomsticks; the titular witches in this story written by Scott Snyder, the man who practically reinvented Batman with stories like Death of the Family and Endgame, won’t be dispatched simply by throwing a bucket of water on them.  The witches here are truly powerful and truly terrifying. After Sailor Rook’s mother is paralyzed and her bully is killed (many people think Sailor herself is responsible), Sailor and her family move to an idyllic New Hampshire town to escape the trauma, but it also brings her into the path of the Wytches. The artwork can be distracting at times, but it mostly adds to the surreal feel to the book, especially as it shows the Wytches in all their hideous glory.

2) Locke & Keywritten by Joe Hill with art by Gabriel Rodruigez

Joe Hill is famous for his novels, which are making him as popular with horror fans as his dad Stephen King, but Hill has never shied away from including so much straight-up modern fantasy as to evoke Neil Gaiman. This blend of fantasy and fright can be seen in this miniseries about a family returning to their ancestral home, a house full of magical doors that have a variety of effects. But in the well, something escapes, something evil, and it’s looking for a very special door. The story itself is intriguing and the Locke family, each member adjusting in his or her own way to the father’s death, is sympathetic and believable, a perfect anchor for readers as Hill delves into the keys and doors of Keyhouse, each with their own magic, all part of an immersive mythology.

1) Batman: ArkhamAsylum written by Grant Morrison with art by Dave McKean

Choosing a superhero book, particularly a mainstream one, seems like an odd choice for this list, particularly the top spot, but I still remember reading it and thinking I was reading something truly special. The inmates have literally taken over the asylum as Batman runs a gauntlet to try to free those held hostage by villain mainstays like Two-Face and the Joker, but this book is far from Saturday Morning fare. The villains here are genuinely terrifying (from a Clayface who wants to “share his disease” to a Joker who looks like something plucked from a Guillermo Del Toro fever dream), the parallel narrative of asylum founder Jeremiah Arkham is not for the faint of heart, and Batman is truly pushed to his mental breaking point, one where only a wager of his life and sanity can possibly save everyone.  Superhero fan curious about horror? Horror fan wanting to give superheroes a try? Choose this book.

Any other suggestions? Send them my way at scarylibrarian43@gmail.com.

New Arival: Review of Alma Katsu's The Hunger

Historical fiction is a genre not readily associated with horror. Works from authors like Philipa Gregory and Tracy Chevalier aren’t trying to necessarily teach history and should not be taken as historically accurate. They are, to paraphrase Stephen King, only using just enough truth to tell a convincing lie (a lie, in this case, that becomes a book of over 300 pages). There seemed to be no examples of literary fiction in the horror genre until Alma Katsu’s The Hunger.

What allows this merging of history and horror in The Hunger is the subject matter; namely, the book follows the ill-fated members of the Donner Party as they succumb to the hardships of the trail, eventually resorting to cannibalism before perishing. The reader, thanks to pop culture, has probably heard of the Donner Party and knows their ultimate fate, but this story should be thought of like a tragedy. Tragedies, like trips, aren’t always about the destination but the journey, and Katsu’s story is a wagon train whose journey ends thanks to its people’s hubris and lack of understanding what truly awaits them.

The book takes its time introducing the members of this expedition, from blustery George Donner to his calculating wife Tamsen (who Katsu portrays as maybe having the smarts and gumption to survive this ordeal) to the noble pariah Stanton. Katsu, however, goes beyond these four and introduces the reader to seemingly the entire wagon train, all of them coming from different walks of life but all working toward the goal of traveling west. Katsu manages quite a feat of juggling in keeping all these stories straight, giving backstory through flashbacks and journal entries which reveals a lot about their individual, personal motivations. The reader can know these characters and empathize when the horrors of the trail finally descend on them.  

Make no mistake, this is definitely a horror book, even if the horror comes in drips and drabs. A lot of the book’s content is creating conflicts from without, and especially from within, that slow the group until they and the reader realize just how dire their circumstances are, including ritual sacrifices and the teasing of something waiting for them beyond the woods. Near the end of the book is where the horror really ratchets up, where the characters that Katsu so quietly introduces are all damned by their choices. The denouement of this tale, even when the reader knows the ending, is one that should leave the readers feeling satisfied and perhaps slightly nauseous. The book doesn’t profess to be historically accurate (there are other writings out there with more historical accuracy) but this book fulfills its purpose of letting the reader experience the horror caused by the Donner Party’s isolation and abandonment of hope.

Have You Read This? Review of Nick Cutter's The Troop

Look at the picture of the hamburger below.

Take a good look at it. 

Is it making you hungry? Making you realize you’re missing lunch? Feeling a rumble in your stomach yet? Now imagine that hunger multiplied by ten. By a thousand. Imagine your hunger growing until your stomach is a bottomless cavern that cannot be filled no matter how much food or non-food you put into it. This is the enemy facing the young scouts in Nick Cutter’s The Troop.

The troop in question is a boy scout troop who go off on a camping trip to an island with their trusted scout master, but they soon face a terrifying coming of age when their scoutmaster falls ill after being infected by a mysterious stranger called the Hungry Man.

Those who have read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies will find much of that plot repeated here; basically, the boys left without adult supervision try their best to survive but ultimately make a mess of it. There are even characters in Cutter’s work that directly parallel those in Golding’s (the nerdy boy Newt for Piggy, the moral center Max for (boy’s name in Flies)). The rest of the boys feel like a who’s who of different archetypes used over and over in fiction, from troublemaker Eff to alpha-male in training Kent to oddball loner Shelly. The book depends a lot on these archetypes but does puts in the work of moving beyond them. Describing their own inner mental workings helps these boys push against the boundaries of their archetypes.

But what takes this tale beyond a Lord of the Flies remake are the worms that serve as the primary antagonist. These worms, like tapeworms on steroids, emaciate a body within a day, and the scenes showing them escaping the body and attempting to infect another host are graphic enough to make readers not want to look at the hamburger picture above while reading. Cutter also does a great job of incorporating news articles and testimony after the infection and the ordeal is over (of course, the scars do remain) that will draw readers in and shows the depth of evil for what could be the prime antagonist of the novel: the military industrial complex that allowed their monster worms to escape.

If you’re hungry for a story that juggles gross-outs and character development, give The Troop a chance, but I advise not reading it after you’ve had a big meal.