Top 10 Horror Comics Out For Halloween 2014

So I’m a huge fan of comics and, being the month of spook-tacular mirth, there are plenty of unique and much beloved titles getting a re-“vamp” just in-time for the best season of the year. I’m choosing to focus specifically on the top 10 horror comics that came out this month, October 2014,  as there are some incredible finds around pop-culture characters that I’m super stoked to see the return of, even if it is for a limited time only. And of course all the comics selected are based around the demonic and monster genres. You’re welcome.

Vampirella: Feary Tales

Vampirella Feary Tales #1 breaks down into three separate stories that involve the heroine after she gets sucked into a cursed storybook alternate reality.  This is taking place supposedly after issue #6 of the regular series. We get to see Vampirella deal with blue bearded demon spouses with key fixations, as well as a classic retelling of the Cinderella story with Vampirella in the lead role.  The outcomes of these stories? Let’s just say that Vampirella doesn’t like to be pushed around by anyone or anything. And, of course, she does it in her own dark, sexy fashion.

Wytches

I have to say, I absolutely loved Scott Snyder’s story-telling with this title as it felt so naturally creepy as if witches could actually exist. Well, Wytches is spelled with a “y” for a reason as this isn’t your typical telling around your typical witch. Scott Snyder does a wonderful telling of these supernatural beings that accept “pledges” in return of the evil forest demons helping humans out in several devious and gruesome ways. Scott draws from his childhood experiences while living in Pennsylvania as he would explore the woods during the long summer weekends and run into creepy beings that were hard to believe to be real. But he was so inspired by his experiences that he finally wrote down a story based around his experiences for the whole comic world to read. I loved it and you should check this one out!

Afterlife With Archie: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Archie has been coming back in a major way and, if you’ve been following the Sabrina television series like I have, you would be delighted to know that a new movie is in the works for our favorite television witch. In the meantime, there’s been a lot of buzz around the Afterlife With Archie series around Sabrina as this storyline has taken a much darker turn. This isn’t a direct spin-off of that series, which might disappoint some, but it is a spin-off in tone as this Sabrina story is set in the 1960’s. That said, this world is just as dark and twisted as anything you read in Afterlife and the characters are just as rich and interesting as those you’ve come to expect from Aguirre-Sacasa.

Empire of the Dead

The name George A. Romero bring with it a lot of “of the Dead” titles and, while some are ho-hum and others really good, his new comic Empire of the Dead is everything you would want in a new, inventive zombie comic storyline. And its aptly title as it is set in New York City. As mentioned on Comic Book Resources, some elements of Romero’s story are somewhat derivative of other recent stories from the genre, though; the mayor of a city of survivors using the undead for entertainment purposes sounds kind of familiar to viewers who watched The Governor saga on AMC’s The Walking Dead. Romero adds a nice surprise with a reveal that ties directly into the original Night of the Living Dead film, and then at the very end, throws in a surprising development that makes seeking out the second issue a given. And it’s finally here! Let me know what you think of this one.

Cutter

I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about the new Top Cow title Cutter and I finally got my hands on it while visiting my favorite comic shop the other day. It is a weekly four-issue mini-series running throughout October by Robert Napton, Seamus Kevin Fahey and Christian DiBari has a dark and disturbing tale at its core. Some of the interrogation scenes seem a bit forced as a man is trying to tell police that crimes committed years ago and being committed once a again, but the detectives don’t question him further only to ask his wife the questions they should of asked him. However, I like the art and the overall idea is very atmospheric and chilling. And perhaps you can weigh-in on this one too.

Army of Darkness: Ash Gets Married

Where do I start with the Army of Darkness? I loved everything about the movie including the Evil Dead movies, however I’ve been reading many reviews that this title falls short in the story department. However many have raved that this series picks up right where the Army of Darkness movie end which I was always hoping that some of my questions around that storyline would get answered like “What if Ash ruled the kingdom and defeated the ‘Deadites’ once and for all?” or “Would Ash ever get back with the fare maiden he left behind?” The entire Niles (writer) run feels like a direct sequel to the movie trilogy which means true Ash fans can’t miss this one. So the question you should ask yourself is – which cover are you going to get?

Evil Ernie

Here is the first issue of the new Evil Ernie series which, as I was perusing the comic book shop, I was intrigued by all the different covers as they all looked completely different. The story, reported by Comic Book Resources, is teen psychopath Evil Ernie is dead, resigned to Hell where he belongs. But when reality is threatened by an evil even the Devil can’t handle, he calls on the only weapon that can prevent total megadeath: Evil Ernie himself! Mistress Hel has found new love… three of them! And the antihero to end all antiheroes is the world of Chaos’ only hope. This title just came out this month, but the reviews are already in and many are happy that they are finally going back to the classic Ernie look instead of the strange undead cowboy look he had in the first series. But read-on and judge for yourself.

G.I. Zombie

I really like the art and title of this series which is why I was drawn to picking up and reading the comic. Where I first thought the story would be about flying off to far off lands and taking down terrorists, G.I. Zombie takes on threats here in the United States. In the first issue, we are introduced to Jared, a.k.a G.I. Zombie and his partner Carmen King, who is the “stone-cold killer of fortune.” These two characters couldn’t be less like each other. It creates some nice back and forth dialogue later in the issue as Carmen seems to be dealing with a lot and Jared is a zombie, and not just in the literal sense. He comes off flat and the type of guy who is very monotone which is interesting the see in several war-torn and espionage settings. I really enjoy reading this series and hope that DC will keep up the good work along with the writers and unconventional art style.

Dead Last

So this title is very near and dear to my heart. And that’s because it is a passion project of mine that was a year in the making and, with the help of artist Shaun Speight, became a reality. The idea was born from my experiences when I participated in a 5k Zombie race in real life and several things went seriously wrong. After jumping into mud puddles, I was forced to crawl through a house with hanging electrical wire that would sting you to the point where you would fall flat on your ass. And the zombies were too many, but also looked really real which kept my mind racing, “What if this was all just some sick military experiment to recruit civilians into a secret task force that takes care of ‘corpse anomalies’ around the world?” Yeah, my mind is just crazy like that. The comic is out this month on ComiXology only.

Klarion

This month, Klarion the Witch Boy makes his New 52 debut and stands for the forces of chaos in this new ongoing series. Klarion the character may be of a young age with dark tendencies, but this reboot feels like a title anyone can read. There’s a good idea of what to expect from this series down the road in terms of the plot and from Klarion as well since we see that there’s more to him than meets the eye. His place in this town can go good or bad depending on how he controls himself as he is just a boy witch after-all. it’s been suggested that the city Klarion has found himself in is Gotham, which opens up a whole world of possibility for an extended run. This is a title you can definitely keep an eye on for an extended run.

And that’s my picks for this month’s ghoulish releases. If you have any to add, feel free to comment below. As far as all the titles being released, as there’s many more I’m hoping to pick-up, one thing for sure is that I definitely have a lot of reading to do. Sometimes I wish there was story-time like back in grade school. But hey, that’s just me.