Comics

My Top Thirty Must Read Comics

30. Afterlife with Archie

A horrific accident sets off a series of grim events and Sabrina the Teenage Witch must try to repair the unspeakable evil her spell has unleashed. Gasp in horror as Riverdale faces an impending zombie Arch-pocalypse in this spine-tingling ongoing series. Be warned, kiddies, this is not for the faint of heart!

29. Delphine

In this chiller, the tale of Snow White is taken to the dark side and retold from Prince Charming’s perspective in a contemporary setting. This twisted tale includes all the elements of terror from the original fairy tale, with none of the “happy ending” crap. Yes, there will be blood… a lot of blood.

28. Harrow County

Harrow County follows Emmy Crawford, as her world is turned upside down on the eve of her eighteenth birthday. She is thrust into the terrifying world of adulthood and the supernatural, a dangerous combination. She struggles to reconcile with her strange heritage and the darkness within her.

27. B.P.R.D.

B.P.R.D. is about the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense organization. It is a spin-off of the Hellboy series. Unlike other Hellboy spin-offs, there is no central character.

Plague of Frogs stories: This story  primarily deals with the B.P.R.D.’s conflict with the frog monsters, the Sub-terranian race, and Memnan Saa.

Hell on Earth stories: The plague of frogs has ended, but earth will never be the same, and the fractured B.P.R.D. struggles to battle dangerous monsters and humans alike. There are side stories with a shift of focus on the regular B.P.R.D. agents.

The Devil You Know stories: Lovecraftian monsters ravage an apocalyptic earth as the B.P.R.D. fights to save what little of humanity they can. But even Hellboy is not who he once was, and whether anyone survives Varvara and the long-awaited Ragna Rok remains to be seen.

26. Lobo

“I killed every living thing on Czarnia fer fun. I killed Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny an’ things that don’t even exist, an’ so help me, I tried ta follow th’ triple-fold path o’ peace. I tried my best… but frag me for a bastich, even I got limits!” 
~Lobo

Lobo is an intergalactic bounty hunter, the last Czarnian. Known for his colorful speech and rapid regeneration, he has been a nuissance more than a threat.

Origin
Lobo, whose name comes from a Khund dialect and means “one who devours your entrails and thoroughly enjoys it,” is the last of his people for one reason: he killed them all. He hailed from the planet Czarnia which was a virtual paradise that knew nothing of war and the Czarnians were almost immortal. When Lobo was born, his evil was so frighteningly apparent, the nurse who delivered him went insane and became the planet’s first mental patient in ten millennia after the infant Lobo chewed off four of her fingers. Lobo knew he was one of a kind, but he wanted even more. Inspired by the idea of genocide, Lobo created a swarm of lethal scorpion-like creatures, he set them on his people wiping out his entire species but himself. He claimed it was a science project and gave himself an ‘A’. Since then he has traveled the galaxies collecting bounties. Despite his ruthless nature, Lobo has a strict code of honor when it comes to these agreements. Along the way he has met and battled a number of superheroes.

25. Johnny the Homicidal Maniac

The series tells the story of a young man named Johnny “Nny” C. as he explores the psychological and possibly supernatural forces which compel him to commit a string of murders with which he always seems to get away with.  Throughout the series, there is no case where the authorities or the police are looking for Johnny, and seem unaware of his existence. A later part of the story takes place in the afterlife. After accidentally shooting himself, Johnny journeys first to Heaven and then to Hell, and both turn out to have more in common with Earth than he expected.

24. Locke & Key

During the American Revolution, a group of Rebels finds a portal to another dimension. When the demons enter the real world, they turn into whispering iron, which is used to fashion magic keys for Keyhouse Manor. The keys grant access to powers as well as other dimensions. By age 18, children familiar with the magic of the keys forget about it.

The keys that are the most important: the OmegaKey  (the original one and opens the demonic door), Anywhere Key (will open a door to anywhere the holder can visually imagine), Ghost Key (separates the soul from the body of the person who goes through the Ghost Door), and Head Key (inserts into a person’s head and allows the bearer to toy around with memories).

23. NOS4A2

A tale about a vampire, a slayer, and the boy caught between them. NOS4A2 is  its own dark, vicious tale spreading through decades and lives.  NOS4A2 isn’t just horror fiction, it’s dark fantasy and Sci-fi.

22. Outcast

A supernatural horror story that chronicles Kyle Barnes, a man whose loved ones have been involved in demonic possession since his childhood. With the help of a clergyman, he tries as an adult to unveil what lies behind the supernatural manifestations and why he seems to carry special peculiarities.

21. Fatale

Fatale chronicles the life of Josephine, or “Jo”, an archetypal femme fatale who is seemingly immortal, having survived from the 1930s to the modern day unaged, and also has a supernatural ability to hypnotize men into becoming intensely infatuated with her, whether she wants them to be or not.

20. Tomb of Dracula

Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula weaved an ongoing saga plotting its title’s vampire against a group of vampire hunters in gothic atmosphere.  Tomb of Dracula is Marvel’s outstanding contribution to the genre and a classic in its own right.

19. Hellblazer

John Constantine is an unconcerned, somewhat amoral occultist with a British working class background. He’s a hero, of sorts, who manages to come out on top through a combination of luck, trickery, and genuine magical skill. Constantine was at his best and at his worst, all at the same time.

18. Preacher

Preacher tells the story of Jesse Custer, a preacher in the small Texas town of Annville. He is accidentally possessed by the supernatural creature, Genesis. It  is composed of both pure good and pure evil. Its power might rival that of God Himself, making Jesse the most powerful being in the universe. He is joined by his girlfriend Tulip and a hard drinking Irish vampire named Cassidy.

17. From Hell

From Hell is a comic book series speculating upon the identity and motives of Jack the Ripper. The title is taken from the first words of the “From Hell” letter, which some authorities believe was an authentic message sent from the killer in 1888. 

16. Creepy (1964-1983) Eerie (1966-1983)

Creepy was an American horror-comics magazine. It was a black-and-white newsstand publication and did not carry the seal of the Comics Code Authority. Each issue’s stories were introduced by the host character, Uncle Creepy. Its sister publications were Eerie and Vampirella.

15. Hellraiser

Kirsty, and Tiffany have formed a group known as The Harrowers, an esoteric team dedicated to ridding the world of the Lament Configuration and all of its many differing forms. The Lament Configuration is not limited to the box alone, but has several different incarnations, each one opening a new door to an altered dimension in the many levels of Hell. This story also continues the peculiar dynamic between Kirsty and the Hell Priest. It ties the beautiful cord between both Kirsty and Pinhead, entwining their bizarre connection even tighter. The Hell Priest has disciples of his own. Lost souls locked away inside the decaying husk of humanity, desperate and eager to gain the favors of Hell, shedding as much innocent blood as Pinhead may require. 

14. Edgar Allan Poe’s Spirits of the Dead

“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.” Spirits of the Dead is a collection of Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories which carry the central themes of death, misery, loss and identity. It is a dark and brooding comic of mystery and suspense. 

13. The October Faction

October Faction is the story of the Allan family. A faction falling apart at the seems from events in their past that are beginning to come full circle. Frederick (a retired monster hunter) has been more focused on teaching his lessons and lectures about things that go bump in the night rather than being a father.

12. Ghosted

Jackson T. Winters is one of the greatest criminal masterminds to ever live… except he’s rotting in jail after his last, doomed score. But when a filthy rich collector breaks him out, he’s tasked with putting together an elite team of paranormal experts to do the impossible: Steal a ghost from a haunted house of horrors!

11. Wulf & Batsy

The adventures of a big bad Werewolf named Wulf and a feisty little Vampiress named Batsy as they wander the earth in search of a place to call home and companions to call friends. Wulf and Batsy have no guilt about feeding on human beings, that’s simply their nature. But such behavior makes them outcasts everywhere they go. It’s not an easy thing to be a monster.

10. Dead Ahead

Nine survivors of a zombie holocaust, caught out at sea during a day of fun in the sun, realize that they can no longer go back to land. After eighteen months out at sea bouncing around and facing starvation, fate dangles salvation in their face with a luxury liner appearing on the horizon….

9. Broken Girls

In a nutshell Broken Girls are badass schoolgirls fighting mutated hordes of blood crazed lunatics. The story takes place in a secret boarding school for the troubled, violent kids of influential families. The kind of place where they ship the worst of the worst, a dysfunctional high school, drug rehab, and mental hospital all rolled into one nightmarish facility.

8. Fun House of Horror

This is the story of Jacob Stone, a city kid from N.Y. that takes a scenic day trip upstate with his mother and cousins. They stop off at a roadside fruit stand for lunch and suddenly a game of tag turns into the discovery of this young boy’s life. An encounter with  The House Of Horrors! “A one night only Haunted House in the middle of nowhere!”

7. Asylum of Horrors

A classic horror anthology. There is a mad doctor as host and a series of short horror tales. Lots of gore and guts. It will go above and beyond for gore fans. Plenty of entrails and the eating of rotted carcases. However, it isn’t just about the gore. There will be plenty of psychological horror tales, creep horror and shock horror. A little humor in the vein of Re-Animator and Evil Dead.

6. Screamland

It is unlike any other monster story. The monsters are very real and while they are  immortal, they are having a hell of a time making ends meet since the faded glory days of their monster movies in the 30s and 40s. When Screamland opens, it’s the Frankenstein monster is washed-up, bitter, drunk and broke. The Wolfman is working the Midwest doing third rate comic cons and sci-fi conventions (and trying to drown himself in booze or score some tail). The Mummy… well, it’s tough being Middle-Eastern and immortal in post 9-11 America. Dracula, however… Dracula’s doing fine.

5. Impaler

In the year 1460, a ferocious horde of vampires sweeps across Europe, and the only person that stands in their way is Vlad Tepes. Tepes goes through an arcane ceremony that grants him the supernatural powers he needs in order to defeat the vampires.

Fast forward to the present… An abandoned ship, named the Demetrius, is found drifting off the coast of Long Island. The ship was returning from an archeological dig in Morocco and the mutilated crew is discovered in the ship’s hold. Police officers, who were investigating the ghost ship, are attacked and killed by an ancient vampire, a vampire that was inadvertently released from its prison in Morocco by the Demetrius’ crew.

As darkness falls, an all-out vampire assault strikes Manhattan, the vicious beasts attacking with impunity. Humanity’s only hope rests with Vlad Tepes, who must defeat the vampires once and for all.

4. Tales From The Crypt

Tales From the Crypt, originally published in 1950,  featured classic horror stories of vampires, werewolves, ghouls and monsters in the vein of the early Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolf Man movies. The comic book has been revived several times, the last being 2016.

3. Vampirella

The story begins with the inhabitants of Drakulon being destroyed slowly by Satyr’s latest eruption. The last few lie dying when a spaceship from Earth crashes on the planet. Vampirella, sent to investigate, is attacked. As she retaliates, she discovers that the astronauts have blood in their veins. In order for her race to survive, she manages to pilot the ship back to Earth. Thus her adventures begin. Vampirella becomes a “good” vampire, and devotes her energy to ridding our world of the homegrown “evil” kind.

2. Lady Death

In the beginning, she had no real purpose, except to be the eye candy for Evil Ernie. She was only seen as the evil sadistic woman who would always give Ernie the incentive to kill. As the story progressed, Lady Death detached herself as the girlfriend of Evil Ernie, and began her own story. She changed from the sexual villain to a full blown hero.

 

1. Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter

The series is narrated by the character Anita Blake, and told exclusively from her point of view.  The novels follow Anita’s ongoing conflicts with the supernatural as she attempts to solve a variety of supernatural mysteries, come to terms with her own abilities and navigate an increasingly complex series of romantic and political relationships.