One of this publisher’s earliest specials, titled Drawing on Your Nightmares Halloween Special (2003), featured stories from Steve Niles, Ben Templesmith, Eric Powell, Brett Matthews, and many more. To track this publisher’s history with the coming of the All Hallow’s Eve is a joy, and I’m glad to learn they are going to release a regular anthology starting this year!
This new release features tales introduced by the Dark Equestrian, and I think he’s the cousin to the famous ghost from Sleepy Hollow. And as for what readers will find are a wide range of Halloween related works from the likes of Lukas Ketner, Angela Slatter, Christie Porter, Olivia Stephens and David Dastmalchian. These multi-talented individuals not only penned the work, but also illustrated them too. Additional names include Valeria Burzo, Lukas Ketner, Phillip Sevy and Tyler Crook. They round out the crew who also provide the finishes to the individual tales at hand, and the type of worlds presented range from Fantasy to Brothers Grimm.
Not every protagonist is guaranteed to lose their head, as the title of this series suggests. Instead, it’s about the surprise and who helps whom. Standout stories include “Some Wander,” by Slatter and “The Muse,” by Stephens. The former is a beautiful variation of the Red Riding Hood story, and the latter concerns the illustrative style this creator uses about a young lady getting accepted at a writing academy. With no surprise, there’s a cost, and the tale that’s presented even gives me goosebumps!
This anthology shows promise because it introduces talents who may not be as familiar. I can’t wait to see how it’ll develop in the following years, since already, I’d love to see this comic book publisher release a statue of the host. They take after Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and that’s good enough for me!
But as for what else they got, there’s the following two titles which are now out on comic book shelves.
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In this one-shot, Usagi Yujimo must face off against a full gallery of Japan’s most famous yokai and yurei! Here, he’s helping a family get back their daughter, and when they tell him she’s been spirited away to a haunted castle, he shows no fear.
When Stan Sakai offers a story within a story, I wasn’t sure if he’d finish it. When considering the action abruptly ends, I’m left yearning for more! The way he interprets the supernatural world is similar to Gegege no Kitaro. Maybe it’ll get addressed in Space Usagi: Death and Honour, which releases next month.
After LEGO Star Wars offered its own seasonal animated specials, I often wondered if there would be more. After the holiday special, terrifying tales and summer vacation, Dark Horse Comics is taking the reins and will soon offer their own take on this tried and true formula. Instead of humour, what’s presented is very chilling.
There are five spooky narratives in total. Unlike other releases which include a title to introduce each chapter, there’s none here. Fortunately, the segway from one story to another is easy to spot. Intertitles are used to introduce each new chapter, and I get to see how the Empire has taken over other new worlds.
Those citizens are put in chains and put into slave labour camps! The brilliant part of this anthology concerns looking at just how bad the Empire is. But as for those who’ve died, there are two ways they can return to the realm of the living. As a result, I’m curious if the spectres featured here are Force ghosts or something else! I suspect they aren’t.
There are plenty of glorious moments of tension, delivered much like Ridley Scott’s Alien. When considering there’s even a zombie style flick, perhaps Resident Evil (the original) film can be considered too. The two stand out tales involve how that one-eyed garbage monster got into the trash compactor’ and what may have gone on in Grand Moff Tarkin’s head prior to arriving at Yavin. His backstory is one I’ve been waiting a long time for!
When considering all the deaths that not only he and The Empire handled, I’m rather surprised that what’s offered in this story didn’t happen sooner! The trope of spirits coming back for vengeance is nothing new in any narrative. However, to finally read about angry ghosts haunting this universe certainly took its time. Writer Cavin Scott gets to address it as though it was like an episode of The Clone Wars.
In Conclusion:
Although these three issues are official Halloween releases, there are plenty of other titles that sort of fits in the spooky release schedule. To wrap up this list, readers might also want to consider Canary, a narrative set in the weird west concerning a collapse of a mine; The Midnite Show, where the monsters of cinema emerge out of the projection; and The Many Deaths of Barnaby James trade paperback. Oh, and the fourth volume of Vampire Hunter D Omnibus will soon be out too!