Harrow County is one of my favorite horror graphic novels. When I reviewed it years ago, I was enraptured with its setting n the Appalachian hills of yesteryear, its worldbuilding where it introduces a whole secret world of haints and magic, and its coming-of-age tale of young Emmy accepting her role within both worlds. Emmy’s story felt like it was completed, and I felt very satisfied by the ending. However, I would turn down the opportunity to revisit Harrow County and Cullen Bunn’s Tales from Harrow County Library Edition for the most part, didn’t disappoint.
It’s been ten years since Emmy left Harrow County and now it has a new protector, Emmy’s best friend Bernice. There’s more to fear in Harrow County besides the supernatural as World War II is calling many young men away from Harrow County never to return. Except a strange song has called all the dead back and Bernice must find a way to stop that song before other, angrier things are summoned. The real world is affecting Bernice’s home, but it’s still in the firm grip of the supernatural.
Writer Cullen Bunn’s and Tyler Cook’s stories as well as Naomi Franquiz’s and Emily Schnall’s illustrations all work together to make this book feel like Harrow County while trying to break new ground. The book spends a lot of time establishing that Bernice is different; she’s an adult, in a surprisingly progressive relationship with the town nurse, and seemingly confident in her abilities. Bunn could simply rehash a few monster-of-the-week style storylines to scratch fan’s nostalgia itches, but he also widens Bernice’s world by introducing more strange residents of Harrow County that aren’t haints. There are elements that still feel like the same old ground readers know intimately, but Vol. 1 does a solid job of introducing this new Harrow County with Bernice at its center.
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