Horror Graphic Novels

[twicefivemiles]

Hi all, you've given me some excellent recommendations in the past so I am putting this before the community once again.

I am trying to stretch a little outside my comfort zone and try reading a few graphic novels, see if it takes. But I don't want to go the superhero route (although I love X-Men, that's not going to keep me on the format), so I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations for horror graphic novels.

Not zombie/vampire gorefest horror, though, more eerie Stephen King or Lovecraftian stuff.

I am currently trying to get my hands on Locke & Key, Stephen King's N, The Fall of Cthulhu, and The Dunwich Horror but am having horrible luck with my library systems. I think Comixology may be my only hope.

But what else is there? Any other titles along this vein?

Even just reading the summaries of all these is making me want to go play The Secret World again!

[Kasper Hviid]

My favorite graphic horror is Uzumaki by Junji Ito. It is a 600 page epic consisting of several tales from a small village that suffers from a strange curse relating to the spiral shape.

You said you wont be interested in gore. Okay, I must admit that it got quite a lot of that! But it's always part of the story, not just thrown in, and the overall style is quite 'lovecraftian'. Junji Ito has dedicated himself to the horror genre, and this can really be seen on his graphic artwork.

The manga was made into a movie in 2000, one of the most original asian horror movies. It was made before the manga was finished, so the movie had to figure out its own ending.

Review of the manga:
http://weirdfictionreview.com/2013/1...-itos-uzumaki/

Google Image Search on Junji Ito:
https://www.google.com/search?q=junji+ito&tbm=isch

[Image exceeds guidelines for size - MODERATOR]

[Kasper Hviid]

Charles Burns award-winning Black Hole is good too, especially if you're into the seventies and body horror. Charles Burns is really mastering the ballance between darkness and light in his confident brush strokes.

Review: http://www.strangehorizons.com/revie...lack_hol.shtml

Google Image Search on Charles Burns:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Charles+Burns&tbm=isch

[Kasper Hviid]

If you want an anthology of random horror stories by various authors, see if you can get your hands on Saturday Morning Fly in my Eye or Daughters of Fly in my Eye. (I think the first one is best, though)

[Kasper Hviid]

Didier Comès had an amazing style, I really loved his artwork. His stories are a bit too intellektual for my taste, but they leaves an impression that won't go away. Unlike most other comic artist in the horror genre, he don't rely much on gross-out.

Google Image Search on Didier Comès:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Didi...3%A8s&tbm=isch

[Kasper Hviid]

I suddenly realize that every graphic novel that I have recomended is in black and white. To add a bit of color, I will mention the truly grisly When the Wind Blows (1982), which descripes a nuclear attack on Britain from the point of view of an elderly couple.
Review: http://www.forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blo...he-wind-blows/

Oh, and Hideshi Hino is worth checking out too - plenty of gross-out, though.

[rkomar]

Alan Moore's "The Saga of the Swamp Thing" fits into the Horror/Strange Tales genre. The writing and art work are great.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Alan Moore's "The Saga of the Swamp Thing" fits into the Horror/Strange Tales genre. The writing and art work are great.

I'll second the recommendation for any of Alan Moore's "Swamp Thing" collections. There's also a great graphic novel adaptation of Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. I could have sworn I got it as an ebook library lend, but I can't find it in Overdrive now.

[steven522]

You could always try out some public domain classic comics. Go to the Digital Comic Museum and pick a publisher and an interesting sounding comic and just read them online (or download a copy if you choose).

[Kasper Hviid]

archive.org also has a lot of comics, even if they're not in the cbr/cbz format. But their resolution is often much higher than the ones found in Digital Comic Museum.

[subashroy2020]

Try Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill, is one of the best among my collection of horror novels i read.

[morituri]

Locke and Key is a must read. It's like a horror TV mini series, really good. I'd recommend reading early Hellblazer and Sandman.

[taosaur]

Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and his run on Hellblazer (John Constantine, a character introduced in Swamp Thing) are outstanding. They launched DC's Vertigo imprint, which had a big part in the resurgence of adult-oriented occult titles in the '80s and '90s. Another classic under the Vertigo imprint is Neil Gaiman's Sandman. It's perhaps more dark fantasy than horror, but there's considerable overlap.

Those are all titles you'll see recommended left and right. A lesser known adaptation that impressed me a lot is Clive Barker's The Great and Secret Show. Having read the novels, there's a lot that you wouldn't think would translate visually, but the artist does a great job.

I've been planning to catch up on Locke & Key myself--read the first couple volumes years ago, and got the rest on sale on Comixology a few months back.

[taosaur]

I did start Locke & Key the other night, and it turns out the artist I appreciated from The Great and Secret Show is Gabriel Rodriguez from Locke & Key!

[jhempel24]

These are some great recommendations! I must get a hold of Locke & Key!