“Coffin Hill” is a Witchy, Multigenerational Mystery

“Coffin Hill” is a Witchy, Multigenerational Mystery

Each Friday, we’ll be letting a different DC.com writer share what they’ll be reading over the weekend and why you might want to check it out. Here’s this week’s suggestion for a perfect Weekend Escape!

If there’s any genre I’m all in on, it’s occult detective fiction. I love a good mystery, but I enjoy it more when there’s a ghost or monster involved. Constantine, Angel, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Evil… Hell, I’ll even watch Baywatch Nights. Part of what I love about Batman is that he’s not just a superhero, but the “World’s Greatest Detective.” 

So, while it may be weird to say you find something like Coffin Hill comforting, that’s how I found it. The 20-issue series ran from 2013 to 2015, but Coffin Hill Vol. 1: Forest of the Night collects the first seven issues, making it a quick weekend read to see if it hooks you.

The Premise:

Coffin Hillfollows Eve Coffin from a long line of witches, including Emma Coffin, who built the foreboding manor that looms over the titular town of Coffin Hill. Generations later, she’s the town’s favorite urban legend, replete with her own nursery rhyme. Everyone knows who the Coffin family is, but no one fully understands the evil that permeates the town and its woods, where numerous people have disappeared over the years.

Eve’s story time-hops from her teenage years as a rebellious brat who learns a hard lesson about her bloodline’s powers to the present, where she’s a disgraced ex-cop who’s come home to face her past. Between these two timelines rests her life as a cop, which is particularly compelling. Though just a rookie, she’s placed on a task force to hunt down a Boston serial killer.

All of these stories—plus those of a more distant past—weave together to create a centuries-long mystery.

Let’s Talk Talent:

Together, they’re more than equipped to create the sinister vibes of Coffin Hill. Kittredge has a sensibility for horror, creating a constant tension for Eve and her friends, family and colleagues. No one is safe from the witch’s trickery or the woods’ dark secrets. The characters are also fleshed out beyond what could be archetypes, giving us a reason to care about what happens to them.

Miranda is able to conjure the tone of the series, balancing its intense gore with the subtle eeriness that pervades the spaces between. Some images are strikingly beautiful—Eve approaching the wrought-iron gates of her childhood home or the many images of characters exploring the ominous woods. Others, like the blood-soaked aftermath of a ritual gone wrong or the series’ many crime scenes, evoke a stomach-churning horror.

A Few Reasons to Read:

• The bones of Coffin Hillare familiar. Protagonists born into powers and left to grapple with the forces of darkness are easily found across supernatural fiction—Sookie Stackhouse, Nick Burkhardt, Wynona Earp, etc. That’s a lot of what I like about this series, but rest assured, Coffin Hillis very much its own thing with plenty of unexpected moments. It also doesn’t get bogged down by a “monster-of-the-week” format. Even detours have a place in the main story, which is largely about Eve’s family and the obligation she feels to put an end to her generational trauma.

   

• The time-hopping can be a little confusing if you’re not paying attention. That could be a con, but I honestly like reading or watching something that requires me to pay attention and look for clues—especially in a digital age where I’m constantly being spoon-fed content.

• I also really enjoy Miranda’s art. The characters all have their own style—Eve sports a jet black bob and a moto jacket that makes me wish it were cold enough where I live to wear one—and the Coffin manor is a gothic horror dream. Yet don’t let the charm fool you. This series can get surprisingly gory when it needs to, so horror fans won’t be disappointed.

   

• On that note, I think the kind of person who enjoys Clive Barker’s Harry D’Amour stories might especially find Coffin Hill a cozy bedtime read…as odd as that sounds.

   

Why It’s Worth Your Time:

While this dark series is full of murder, occult rituals and grievous eyeball injuries, it’s not without heart. Characters are nuanced and even the ones you think you don’t like may end up surprising you. The multiple timelines offer a number of twists and turns, some predictable, others far less. It’ll keep you turning pages to get to the bottom of one mystery just to find another even more intriguing one beneath it. Not all of them are solved here, but they’re all clearly building toward something, ending on a cliffhanger that’s truly surprising.

Plus, it’s the season of the witch, and Coffin Hill is a solid spooky read—especially if you’re in Los Angeles, like I am, but dreaming of an East Coast autumn.

Coffin Hill Vol. 1: Forest of the Night by Caitlin Kittredge and Inaki Miranda is available in bookstores, comic shops, libraries and digital retailers as a softcover graphic novel. It can also be read in full on DC UNIVERSE INFINITE.

Juliet Bennett Rylah writes about horror, Vertigo and the dark side of superheroes for DC.com. Follow her on Bluesky at @JBRylah.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Juliet Bennett Rylah and do not necessarily reflect those of DC, Warner Bros. or Skydance, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.

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