Celebrating the Spooky Season With Our Top 5 Horror Comics of All Time!
Kat & Phil share some of their personal favorite Horror Comics are we settle into the spooky season! We also talk about our time at the Ringo Awards, and more!
Hi Lifeline Comics Readers!
As we enter the Spooky Season, we wanted to take a moment to talk about some of our favorite horror comics!
We’ll also talk about our experience at the Ringo Awards (where Hairology was nominated for Best Anthology), Agatha All Along, The Penguin, and more!
Let’s get into it!
Top 5 Horror Comics
There’s no shortage of amazing horror comics in the world — everything from zombies, to vampires, to monsters, to serial killers.
But what are our personal favorite horror comics? Read on to find out!
Phil’s #5 Pick: Something is Killing the Children (BOOM! Studios)
If you’re a fan of monster stories and badass monster hunter ladies, then Something is Killing the Children will be right up your alley.
James Tynion IV’s incredibly popular ongoing stars the enigmatic Erica Slaughter — a renegade monster hunter who has been killing the beasts that kill children since she was a kid herself. She’s a super interesting character with a kickass design that begs you to keep reading.
On top of the breakout character, SiKtC is also just a great monster story, with terrifying creature designs that does a great job of creating a sense of dread.
Kat’s #5 Pick: Red Mother (BOOM! Studios)
The best horror stories tell a deeper story about the human experience, and there are very few horror comics that have moved me like Jeremy Haun and Danny Luckert’s Red Mother.
It’s a story that takes a deep dive into what it feels like to live with PTSD when a woman witnesses her boyfriend die and loses her eye in the process. Now she sees a figure creeping in from her purview. A symbolically harrowing story that hits home the fact that you can never truly escape your past no matter how hard you try!
Phil’s #4 Pick: iZombie (Vertigo)
I first read iZombie back in 2015 shortly after the premiere of the CW TV series adaptation. I was really enjoying the TV show, so I figured I would probably like the comic it was based on as well. I had no idea just how different the comic and TV show versions of iZombie would be, nor that I would end up loving each of them for very different reasons.
While the TV show is a (somewhat) grounded police procedural that grounds their zombies in pseudoscience, the Vertigo comic series has a much more heavily supernatural lean. Gwen Dylan of the comics is a completely different protagonist to Liv more of the TV show. And the comic cast is filled out with lots of colorful and interesting characters — including 1960’s ghost Ellie and bisexual were-terrier Scott.
I love the humor, horror, and pop style of the comic. It feels both modern and of another era, all at the same — which is very fitting for a comic about the undead.
Kat’s #4 Pick: New 52’s Animal Man (DC Comics)
No matter what side of the fence you lay on, you have to admit that The New 52 was a movement. There was never and there never will be a comic book initiative like it! It brought so many new eyes to DC Comics and made lifelong comic book fans.
Before the New 52, Marvel comics were predominately the mainstay on my weekly pull list. But this initiative gave me the opportunity to try so many new characters I wouldn’t otherwise including Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman’s Animal Man.
Buddy’s connection to the red became a thread that made for a cohesive ongoing title, but his relationship with his family was the true backbone. It was Maxine’s journey of finding her own voice as a hero that made this book skyrocket as one of my favorites over a decade since its release.
Phil’s #3 Pick: Red Mother (BOOM! Studios)
The only comic that overlaps on both Kat’s and my lists! I love Red Mother for all of the reasons Kat listed — that it’s an incredibly relatable human story with a sympathetic lead that is very easy to root for.
On top of that, Red Mother makes such creative use of color — really living up to its name with its bold and very deliberate use of striking red in the horror sequences. And the monster design in Red Mother is absolutely terrifying. Truly the stuff of nightmares and the kind of thing that sticks with you long after you read the comic.
Kat’s #3 Pick: Basketful of Heads (DC Comics’ Black Label/Hill House Comics)
What if the dead talked back?
I’m a sucker for “the final girl” genre, especially when the final girl gets to crawl towards the villain instead of away from them. And damn does June get to fight back! She wields a magical ax that allows her victims to “talk back”, which she uses to gain intel on the villain leading to an explosive finale.
Joe Hill and Leomacs are a horror dream team as they build the perfect amount of tension in this cinematic masterpiece!
Phil’s #2 Pick: Saga of the Swamp Thing (Vertigo)
Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing run was the first non-Batman comic I ever read. In middle school, I remember discovering Moore’s run in my local library and reading it on a whim. I was absolutely mesmerized by the weird, horrific, and tragic story of the titular monster.
I revisited the run in college and was somehow even more impressed by it than I was when I was a tween. The expert way that Moore manages to weave an intricate character story amidst a globe-trotting adventure filled with guest stars that never overtake the book is nothing short of masterful.
The style, art, and lettering of the book are very ‘80s — but in a comforting way that contributes to the ease with which you can lose yourself in the world.
Kat’s #2 Pick: Immortal Hulk (Marvel)
Immortal Hulk isn’t a love letter. It’s a monster mash!
How do you redefine a character that has been continuously telling stories for decades? Al Ewing and Joe Bennett’s Immortal Hulk leans into the body horror that has always been in the DNA of hulk all while telling intriguing character stories about hate. The hate towards yourself and how that hate could bleed into your other relationships.
It expands the Hulk mythos by not just focusing on Bruce, but by exploring Betty new identity as not just a Red She Hulk, nut now a Harpie and even bringing Joe Fixit along for the ride! Immortal Hulk celebrates the past, while exploring a new tone for the franchise.
Phil’s #1 Pick: Wytches (Image Comics)
Scott Snyder’s Wytches has everything I love about a horror story. Terrifying monsters, a compelling lead (a family of them), a more-than-meets-the-eye mystery, and incredible pacing.
You can feel Snyder’s love for this story on every page, and you very quickly fall in love with each member of the Rook family as they navigate impossible situation after impossible situation.
Jock’s abstract paint-splattered art style in this book normally would be something that isn’t to my taste, but it works so well for this story right from the first issue.
Wytches is a comic that any horror fan should do themselves the favor of reading — especially in dark October evening.
Kat’s #1 Pick: American Vampire (Vertigo)
It’s a horror list, of course, we’re going to plug Scott Snyder more than once, and I’m glad he both made our top picks.
American Vampire isn’t just one of my favorite horror books, but one of my favorite comics PERIOD. Sure, we’ve seen plenty of vampire love stories, but very few that explore a relationship with a human THAT STAYS A HUMAN. Pearl has the urge to change him, but never does, and this becomes the true heart of most of the book.
Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque expertly craft Pearl as a woman of time. A wide eyed, up and coming actress who becomes jaded through decades of change. It’s a historical masterpiece that brings a new mythology to a centuries-old genre. The American Vampires look different, act different, and are the young spitfires the doctor ordered for the supernatural.
ENDING SOON: Our Own Horror Books
Indulge us in ending off our list of horror comics by plugging our own two horror books that are live right now (and ending soon).
HAUNTING #1-7: Return of the Possessed Ex-Girlfriend
“Has bratty teen Bram finally gotten a handle on his SUPERNATURAL POWERS? Can ghost hunter Hope save her POSSESSED GIRLFRIEND from the clutches of an EVIL SPIRIT?”
Check out “HAUNTING #1-7” here!
NIGHTMARE IN WONDERLAND #1-2: Sapphic Horror Romance
“Can Ex-Girlfriends ASSASSIN ALICE & SLEEPING BEAUTY survive the attack of the CHESHIRE CAT TIGER & the NIGHTMARE TEA PART?”
Check out “NIGHTMARE IN WONDERLAND” here!
What have we been up to?
Since our last post, we’ve been running around quite a lot. Let’s dive into what we’ve been up to!
The Ringo Awards
Phil: We had the pleasure of attending the Ringo Awards at Baltimore Comic Con last weekend to represent Hairology for its Best Anthology nomination!
We drove up Saturday afternoon to have a few hours to roam Artist Alley and catch up with friends. After a few hours of fun (actually getting to be a fan at a Con for a change), we had the pleasure of doing a one-hour Hairology signing.
After that, it was time to head to the Ringo Awards dinner! The team behind the awards certainly knows how to put on a good show. Everything from the cocktail hour to the dinner to the actual awards show was such a blast!
It was such an honor to see a small publisher like ourselves nominated in the same category as Image Comics, Oni Press, IDW, and DSTLRY.
And between the Ringo’s Goodie Bag and our own shopping in Artist Alley, we had a massive (back-breaking) haul at the end of the show! Carrying it all out to the car took a few trips 🤣
It was a long day, but so, so rewarding! We ended up getting home around 3am the next morning. If we find ourselves back at Baltimore and the Ringo’s next year, we need to remind ourselves to just stay the night haha.
Once Upon a Mattress on Broadway
Kat: Sutton Foster and Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls, Mrs. Maisel) SIGN ME UP! I didn’t need to know anything else…and I didn’t. I quickly learned that Once Upon a Time was a retelling of the Princess and the Pea…it takes a while to get to the big climax of the story (with a few slow spots and a song about a father’s love for shoes that could have easily been cut)
But all in all, Foster brings a lot of laughs with her comedic genius, especially her physical comedy. It’s a classic Sherman-Palladino piece with a heavy commentary of class and fast-talking characters that made this a fun night on Broadway.
Wanda Sykes
Kat: And to cap off the week, we had a few laughs by seeing the always consistent Wanda Sykes!
Media
And let’s discuss some non-comics media!
Agatha All Along - Episodes 1-2
Kat: The MCU is back! I miss the days we had a genre TV show we could all talk about on a weekly basis, and Agatha fills that void.
Did we need an Agatha show? I’m still not sold on that. But Kathryn Hahn can sell me a phone book - so here we are! She brings a jolt of energy that the Marvel universe (especially their Disney Plus shows) desperately needed.
The jury is still out for the other witches, but I’m interested to learn more about them as they picked a stellar cast to surround Haun. I was especially impressed with the chemistry with Joe Locke and Aubrey Plaza’s characters.
There are still remnants from Wanda/Vision that feels a bit repetitive here (like the detective TV homage), but I’m interested to see what they do with the witchy side of the MCU.
If you want an in depth chat about the premiere then check out my Legendary Ladies podcast!
Phil: As someone who hasn’t been a huge fan of any of the MCU TV shows since WandaVision, I was reservedly excited for Agatha All Along. I’m a big fan of Kathryn Hahn and her character in WandaVision. And I love me a good witchy movie/show in the fall.
And despite a bit of a slow start in Episode 1, I’m happy to report that I quite enjoyed the premiere of Agatha All Along. The titular witch makes for an incredibly fun and charismatic lead — one who still has the edge/attitude we saw from her as the antagonist of WandaVision. Joe Locke’s “The Teen” character is both intriguing and endearing and makes for a great secondary lead. And the coven of witches assembled in Episode 2 already have a lot of personality. And that song…I’ve listened to it every day since the premiere.
The “cop plot” of the Episode 1 dragged on a bit longer than I would have liked. But at least Aubrey Plaza’s character lurking on the sidelines of this plot kept it engaging enough before we got to the full-on witch story we were all here for. I’m excited to continue watching Agatha All Along weekly throughout the remainder of the spooky season!
The Penguin - Episode 1
Phil: Contrary to Agatha All Along, I wasn’t particularly excited for The Penguin. While Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha was an antagonist I quite enjoyed in WandaVision and was reservedly excited to see more of, Colin Farrell’s Penguin was probably the major character I enjoyed the least in The Batman.
But thankfully, HBO’s The Penguin manages to put a more interesting spin on Oz than the film had the time and space to. Pairing our lead mobster-in-waiting with street urchin Vic (played by The Runaways’ Rhenzy Feliz) was a very smart move that added both tension and heart to the show as the viewer (and Vic himself) wondered how Oz would react in any given moment while holding the teen hostage.
And I’m a BIG fan of Cristin Milioti, so having her as antagonist of the series, Sofia Falcone, increased my excitement levels exponentially. She makes a strong debut in the pilot as a wonderful mix of enigmatic and menacing as she tries to track down her brother. Milioti and the script make brilliant work of keeping the viewer guessing on exactly where her head is at at any given moment. And the Arkham backstory for the character adds an element of mystery that I’m excited to see more of as the series progresses.
On the negative side, the premiere of The Penguin does drag a little bit in places. You can really feel the 1-hour runtime in some of the more boring “middle” scenes of the pilot. But there is enough exciting material surrounding some of the less interesting ones to leave me walking away with enough interest to keep watching.
Kat: I’m one of the few that didn’t love The Batman. There were a lot of slow parts for me, and The Penguin was the center of most of those slow parts. So when it was revealed that they were making a Penguin TV show I had very little interest. But following some social media buzz I decided to give the pilot a shot.
…I like mobster stories, maybe this would surprise me.
Nut right off the bat, I have to say the pilot didn’t grab me. I think there’s a ton of potential with the introduction of Sofia Falcone and this off-beat relationship between Ozwald and Vic. From the look of the Season 1 trailer, it seems that these characters will be fleshed out as the show goes along, but there wasn’t enough in the pilot to guarantee a watcher to want to check out those future episodes.
It’s less interesting to see a mid-management mobster than someone climbing to the top or someone already there. Penguin is a bit too much of a slow burn for me to continue watching.
Veronica Mars - Season Three (2006-2007)
Phil: I’ve finally wrapped the original three season run of Veronica Mars before the 7-year hiatus leading to the movie and additional 5-year gap from there leading to the fourth-and-final season.
It’s been really fun visiting this time capsule of early 2000’s television. Veronica Mars is dated in a lot of ways (particularly in the way the show approaches sensitive topics like sexual assault and race), but is then ahead of its time in other ways. It’s a bizarre series that really only could have existed in the time when it did. And I’m happy to report that, while not perfect, I did still quite enjoy Season Three.
Much like the previous season, Season Three is not perfect. The series trades the “season-long big mystery” structure for a handful of “mini-mysteries” that span anywhere from 2-10 episodes - most often with even smaller “mysteries of the week” that contribute to larger mysteries. As has always been the case with Veronica Mars, the weekly mysteries vary significantly in quality. But I found myself enjoying more episodes than I didn’t. And while most of the “bigger” mysteries didn’t live up to the excitement of the Lilly Kane murder of Season One nor the Bus Crash of Season Two, they were each enjoyable in their own right…even if some of them (the murder/suicide(?) of the Dean) overstayed their welcome a little bit.
The biggest weakness of Veronica Mars Season Three compared to its previous seasons lies in its continuity. From what I can gather from very limited research, this last season of the original era struggled with its fair share of budgetary concerns. And that really shows in a lot of ways. Characters (including important ones, like Wallace, Mac, and Weevil) will disappear for long stretches of episodes at a time. Arcs are cut short and resolved hastily, if they’re resolved at all. Key character beats and resolutions are glossed over (i.e. the fallout of the killer reveal in Season two; Kendall’s death; the repercussions of the Hearst rapists’ capture). At least some of this can probably be explained by behind-the-scenes interference. But certainly not all of it.
New characters (most notably Piz and Parker) have strong introductions, but have the same problem of regularly disappearing from the story for episodes at a time. It makes it hard to invest in these characters - especially when their behaviors are sometimes incredibly inconsistent (looking at you, Parker).
And you can really feel the cut of episodes from what was planned (from 22 to 20 episodes) at the tail end of the season. An entirely new mystery is set up — one that would surely make for a really exciting season-long mystery of its own — and (mostly) resolved over the course of two episodes.
All that said, I still had a lot of fun with Veronica Mars Season Three. It’s at least almost as good as the second season. And Kristen Bell’s Veronica continues to be a fantastic and engaging lead who easily carries the show even when the supporting cast disappears for episodes at a time. Onward to the movie!
Comics
Let's discuss some comics we've enjoyed recently!
Since we already talked about tons of Direct Market Indie Books and DC/Marvel books in the main section of this newsletter, this week we’ll only be spotlighting a Kickstarter book and a Webcomic!
KICKSTARTER: unSEEN/unHEARD: Disability & Neurodivergence Comic Anthology
“A 64-page comic anthology amplifying underrepresented voices in the disability and neurodivergent communities.”
Phil: Lifeline Comics is all about visibility for underrepresented communities. And few communities are more unseen and unheard than the disabled and neurodivergent community. So seeing an anthology like this means the absolute world to us and made for one of the easiest Kickstarter backings to date.
Like any good anthology, unSEEN/unHEARD has a wide variety of art styles and genres featured in its 64 pages. And going through the page reading the synopses for these stories gives me the strong impression that there’s sure to be a story for everyone in this comic.
The editorial team is comprised of Anas Abdulhak, Aubrey Lyn Jeppson, and C.K. Carpenter — the latter of whom we had the pleasure of working with on Transphoria. We absolutely love C.K.’s writing and are so excited to see their editing skills in action in this anthology!
Check out “unSEEN/unHEARD” here!
WEBCOMIC: How To Be A Werewolf
Kat: Before WEBTOON and Tapas, web comics flooded the interwebs through their own domains, but in 2024 that’s become more of a rarity - so it was a pleasure to stumble upon Shawn Lenore’s How To Be a Werewolf.
The story follows a young adult who has been a werewolf for YEARS, but never knew how to be a true werewolf because she surrounded herself with her human family. The web comic opens her world to werewolves and other magical creatures, all while she tries to lead a normal life. It’s a comic with plenty of queer romances that nicely balances slice of life with supernatural mythology. A great comic to binge for the spooky season!
In Closing
Thank you for reading! Share your own favorite horror comics with us in the comments and our DMS!
And be sure to check out our current campaigns — HAUNTING #1-7 and Nightmare in Wonderland #1-2 — before they end in the next two weeks!
Subscribe above for biweekly updates on our future projects!
Current Kickstarters:
HAUNTING #1-7: Return of the Possessed Ex-Girlfriend (ending 10/03)
Nightmare in Wonderland #1-2: Exes-to-Lovers Sapphic Romance (ending 10/10)
Next Cons/Events: New York Comic Con (10/17-10/20) (Table D-11)
Thanks for another great newsletter! We’ve read more horror comics at the Comics Book Club than probably any other genre, including a few that made your lists. :) My personal favorites include Uzumaki (a classic!) and Ice Cream Man (slow start, but really won me over). Congrats on your Kickstarter campaigns being funded!!
Wytches was so terrifying. Loved it!