With Halloween coming fast at the end of the month, everyone’s getting in the spooky mood by watching horror movies, telling ghost stories, and putting up spooky decorations. And while Marvel and DC both have impressive horror collections full of great stories, the masters of fright in the comics industry undoubtedly belong to Image Comics. Lacking the restraints of a shared universe, Image writers have expanded far beyond the superhero genre to tell some of the most violent and psychologically haunting stories in comic book history. Some of the company’s most popular comics are horror and thriller stories guaranteed to terrify readers.
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Image Comics has always been celebrated for creating subversive stories that push the boundaries of what’s permitted in comics. These stories have become staples of the horror genre in comics, and any fan of the scary should check them out.
5) Stray Dogs
At first glance, with its cute art style and canine protagonists, Stray Dogs looks like a lighthearted comic made by Disney. However, these factors hide the twisted, depraved thriller story that it truly is. The series follows a little dog named Sophie, who wakes up in a house with no memory of how she got there and is surrounded by dogs she doesn’t recognize. She, along with the other dogs, soon realizes they don’t belong to the man who lives in the house. Instead, the man in question is a notorious serial killer who murdered all their original female owners and collects his victims’ pets as trophies. The story then becomes a desperate battle for survival as Sophie and the other imprisoned dogs try to escape the man’s house with their lives. Stray Dogs is an incredibly dark and chilling series that keeps readers on the edge of their seats until the very end.
4) The Ice Cream Man
Usually, the arrival of an ice cream truck promises sweet treats, but not so in the anthology series The Ice Cream Man. Here, it brings only horror. The series’ central, malevolent figure is Riccardus, the titular Ice Cream Man, who’s really an eldritch, omnipotent demon that lives to corrupt human souls and make them suffer—and boy do they ever. Each issue offers a new twisted tale full of visceral gore and mind-bending existential dread as people find their lives either directly or indirectly impacted and ruined by the Ice Cream Man’s cruel games. As these horrific one-shot stories unfold, the Ice Cream Man is confronted by his polar-opposite, morally pure brother, Caleb, who wants to stop the villain’s nihilistic, sadistic rampage. The Ice Cream Man is a terrifying and graphic dark comedy horror series that tackles serious issues like addiction, mental illness, grief, and nihilism in a cruel and random world.
3) Wytches
Moving to a new town can always be scary, but nothing could have prepared the Rooks Family for the nightmares waiting for them in Litchfield, New Hampshire. In Wytches, the Rook Family moves to this town after their daughter Sailor is accused of murdering a bully who went missing. Unfortunately, the rumors follow the family, and Sailor becomes even more isolated at her new school. Even worse, Litchfield is a town full of supernatural secrets and horrors, particularly those of the titular magical creatures known as Wytches who lurk in a nearby forest. When someone marks Sailor to be taken by the Wytches, she and the rest of her family become targets of these monsters and the rest of the town. To survive, they must work with Wytch hunters and uncover the town’s remaining dark secrets. Wytches is a creepy, atmospheric miniseries with haunting imagery and monsters that reinforce the comics’ themes of trauma, selfishness, and ostracization.
2) Killadelphia
Vampires have been a persistent monster in horror culture for centuries, and Killadelphia continues this long tradition. This series follows a small-town cop named Jimmy Sangster Jr. who returns to his hometown of Philadelphia to bury his murdered father. However, Jimmy soon finds a journal containing his father’s last unsolved case, which opens the door to an entire conspiracy involving a vampire coven that has been lurking in the shadows of Philadelphia for centuries. It’s also revealed that the coven’s leader is none other than John Adams, the second president of the United States, who’s now trying to take over the world with an army of the undead. Jimmy is soon joined by his undead father in his battle against the coven. While the plot is absurd, it still has a great noir and gothic tone that’s perfect for the Halloween season. With its frightening imagery, engaging mystery, and scathing critique of American society, Killadelphia is an awesome piece of vampire fiction.
1) The Walking Dead
No series Image Comics has created over the years is more popular than The Walking Dead. Set in a world where the concept of zombies never became famous pop culture monsters, this black-and-white post-apocalyptic masterpiece sees a comatose sheriff named Rick Grimes wake up to a world overrun by shambling cannibals called Walkers. Rick soon reunites with his family and meets other survivors who must band together to traverse the perilous landscape. Anyone can die at any moment in this series, making every issue a nail-biting experience. And like the best zombie media, The Walking Dead explores how humans can oftentimes be worse monsters than the hordes of the undead. With its tense, engaging reinvention of the zombie genre, The Walking Dead inspired a multimedia empire that includes several hit TV shows and video games. The Walking Dead is rightfully celebrated as one of the greatest horror comics of all time, and it’s one everyone should read to prepare for Halloween.
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