With April being our half-point to Halloween, it's a great time to pick up some new horror comics. Horror comics have seen a huge resurgence in the past few years with huge titles like Something is Killing the Children, Gideon Falls, and more. The medium itself has deep roots in the genre, with classic series like The Vault of Horror and Tales from the Crypt. Horror is more alive than ever in comics, with so many independent publishers and places like DC and Marvel no longer shying away from it.
April is jam-packed with some really big debuts for fans of all different types of subgenres to devour. Some titles grapple with heavy themes like censorship and the relationship with violence, while others are bombastic fun battling monsters and giant spiders.
Check out these titles at your local comic book shop, and if you need help finding your local shop, be sure to use the Comic Shop Locator.
New #1's
THE NASTY: Release Date - April 5th
Publisher - Vault
Writer - John Lees
Artist - George Kambadais, Adam Cahoon
Letters - Jim Campbell
The best pitch for this book is to imagine you grew up with Jason Voorhees as your imaginary best friend and what that would look like if it turned out that maybe he wasn't imaginary. The creative team is crafting an incredible series that tackles the themes of censorship through horror. Horror as a genre is no stranger to censorship at all. The Nasty title itself is a reference to the term "video nasty," a term coined by the National Viewers' Association in the UK to refer to low-budget horror and exploitation films, which form a large part of the book's premise. There is no other title I have been more excited about than this because it is a love letter to horror while tackling the conservatism we are seeing rise in pop culture today. One of the coolest aspects of the series is that the creative team has created numerous in-universe films for which artist Adam Cahoon has drawn posters that appear through the title. It shows how much this team loves horror and what it has been through to become something we enjoy more freely today.
W0RLDTR33
Release Date - 4/26
Publisher - Image
Writer - James Tynion IV
Artist - Fernando Blanco
Colorist - Jordie Bellaire
Letterer - Aditya Bidikar
With how quickly the internet took off, many of those surfing the world wide web as it grew had almost unlimited access to so many things once hidden behind red tape. People had access to truly horrible things right at their fingertips. Real-world horrors you would never imagine seeing on TV were just a few clicks away. Websites like Liveleak and 4Chan took off as communities around that type of terrible content. W0rldtr33 is a series that looks at the relationship between technology and violence in a new way. A king of horror comics, James Tynion IV, has created a world with the Undernet which is the secret architecture of the internet. It is similar to the real world's dark web but so much more sinister, with the power to warp minds. The first issue is a very scary reflection of things we often see in our own lives. This will be one of the biggest horror comics of the year, and you truly do not want to miss this debut.
EXORCISTS NEVER DIE
Publisher - Mad Cave Studios
Release Date - 4/12
Writer - Steve Orlando
Artist - Sebastián Piriz
Letterer - Carlos M. Mangual
Exorcists Never Die coined a new sub-genre which I am dubbing "Buddy Exorcist Stories" because the story plays out like a buddy cop movie but with monsters. The series revolves around two witty combat exorcists, former partners who had an explosive breakup years ago. Now they are reunited to stop the biggest soul auction, which is taking place in the HELLSCRAPPER, an inverse skyscraper pushing down into the Earth. Along the way, they will have to fight the seven deadly sins who Sebastian Píriz incredibly illustrates. With Steve Orlando's dynamic writing filled with snide remarks and humor, you will want to check out this entertaining supernatural action book.
ALL EIGHT EYES
Publisher - Dark Horse
Release Date - 4/19
Writer - Steve Foxe
Artist - Piotr Kowalski
Colorist - Brad Simpson
Letterer - Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Giant Spiders. New York City.
Do I really need to say more than that? This book comes out swinging for the title of best creature feature comic of all time. It spins out of a short story Razorblades: The Horror Magazine, which Foxe co-created with James Tynion IV. Horrific secrets lurk in the forgotten corners of NYC… and those secrets are giant killer spiders. The series lead is Vin Spencer, a college dropout floating through life in a haze of drugs and partying. Who better than to be plunged headfirst into the secret war against the onslaught of arachnids under the big apple? Piotr Kowalski's art with Brad Simpson's colors depicts some truly gnarly grotesque spiders that will surely burrow into your mind for months to come.
Current Ongoing Horror Titles:
Where Monsters Lie #3 - Dark Horse - Out Now
Dark Ride #5 - Image/Skybound - 4/12
Know Your Station #5 - 4/12
Nightfall Double Feature #3 Vault - 4/12
House of Slaughter #14 - Boom - 4/19
Harrower #3 - Boom Studios - 4/19
Door to Door Night by Night #5 - Vault - 4/26
