For Halloween season, here is a selection of new spooky tales that include end-of-the-world scenarios, evil puppets and an ax-wielding Santa Claus.
Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
In this graphic novel based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy, disaster has stricken the world and a father and son fight to stay alive. (McCarthy approved the adaptation before his death in 2023.) The story is bleak, and the artist Manu Larcenet conveys it with spare dialogue and swaths of blacks and grays. When color bursts in, it is usually to signify new danger. (Abrams ComicArts. Available now.)
Dying Inside
This is an oddly uplifting story given that it is about a depressed 16-year-old, Ash. Oct. 21 is the day that Ash’s idol, the songwriter Elliott Smith, died, and she has tragic plans for its anniversary. Thanks to a mystical knife, disaster is averted. Written by Pete Wentz and Hannah Klein; drawn by Lisa Sterle. (Vault Comics. Available now.)
Hyde Street, Issue No. 1
It is hard to know who to root for in Hyde Street. The comic is about the street, a passage into a world populated by questionable residents. In the opening scene, a boy scout, Pranky, aids an older woman. But when he asks what she is hiding, a murderous past is revealed. It is all part of a competition that Pranky and others participate in, for a chance to return to the real world. Written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Ivan Reis. (Image Comics. Available now.)
John Carpenter’s Tales for a HalloweeNight, Vol. 10
This anthology offers 12 stories by various writers and artists. In the first, astronauts explore a space station whose crew members lost contact with Earth after an explosion a decade earlier, but whose homing beacon activates once a year. In other stories, a Punch and Judy show becomes a yearslong tale of revenge; new neighbors are invited to a not-so-innocent welcome dinner; and a son tries to upend a family curse. (Storm King Comics. Available now.)
Dead Samurai, Issue No. 1
There is no lack of action in this first issue, which opens with zombies feasting amok in 16th-century feudal Japan. Readers learn more about the non-flesh-eating characters at the center of the story in a three-page flashback. Will a samurai named Shinzu protect Akii, the surviving daughter of his lord? Let the journey begin. Written by John Dolmayan and drawn by Ryan Benjamin. (Wake Entertainment. Available Wednesday.)
The Deviant, Vol. 1
An ax-wielding Santa Claus kills two young boys in Milwaukee in 1972. The case leaves a police officer severely injured and a suspect, known as the Deviant Killer, behind bars (though professing innocence). Decades later, a writer researching a book interviews the inmate and soon the murders begin again. Is the right person imprisoned? Written by James Tynion IV and drawn by Joshua Hixson. (Image Comics. Oct. 16.)
We Called Them Giants
A young woman, Lori, wakes up to a world in which most of the population has vanished. Those remaining soon find themselves at odds as they vie for limited resources, including food. Then colorful lights in the sky herald the arrival of immense beings — aliens? angels? — and everyone’s chance for survival changes again. Written by Kieron Gillen and drawn by Stephanie Hans. (Image Comics. Oct. 30.)
One for Sorrow, Issue No. 1
It seems like everyone in London in 1900 has a secret. Can a Russian medium really speak to the dead? Will a barmaid get caught up in organized crime? And how is the Magpie, a nocturnal figure stalking criminals, and related to the work of Ignatius Thorn, a retired detective? The final few pages of this first issue provide answers to some questions and pose others. Written and drawn by Jamie McKelvie. (DSTLRY. Nov. 6.)
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