“Those were the best days of my life,” says the narrator. Tintin, Phantom, Mandrake, and a slew of other characters populate my comic book universe. Films, novels, and e-books cannot compare to the charm and unique storytelling power of comic books. Through comics, the world has witnessed some of the best horror and fantasy stories ever created.
In addition, the year 2021 has witnessed some fantastic examples of epic adventures and body horror, showing some of the most inventive works ever made. Marvelous Videos has compiled a number of top-rated film and television series rankings for the year 2021. We have compiled a list of the best ten horror comic books for 2021.
Monstress
”Monstress” is an award-winning ongoing comic series written by Marjorie Liu, and drawings are done by Sana Takeda. This dark fantasy is a masterpiece combining East Asian Folklore with Lovecraftian horror.
The story of the comic series is set in the matriarchal world where the protagonist, Maika Halfwolf, is an Arcanic teenager with a mystical psychic connection to a powerful monster. There has been a prolonged war between the Arcanists and the Cumaea, a group of murderous sorceresses who consume the Arcanics for power. Maika appears human and is all set to avenge her mother.
Her left arm is severed, which is the source of the emergence of a demon, Zinn, who is extremely powerful, but Maika finds it challenging to control. The monster bursts out of her body whenever she’s threatened. The gorgeous visuals of the comic series provide vital support to Liu’s storytelling. Takeda has used everything from contemporary manga to ancient Egyptian art to create an overwhelming surface for the story.
The Arcanists are wonderful creatures, but the prolonged war has made them pessimistic. Liu has successfully created the characters, displaying the conflict between the good and the bad. It is never clear which among the two tribes is morally correct. Takeda’s artwork is absolutely vital for the moral uncertainty that Liu portrays in her characters, though Takeda has shown all the characters with beautiful, doll-like faces.
”Monstress” has won many awards, including the Harvey Awards for being the Book of the Year in 2018.
Nocterra
Welcome to the apocalyptic world of darkness with Nocterra.”Nocterra is written by Scott Snyder, also known for writing some of the iconic D.C. Comics books like Dark Nights: Metal, Batman Endgame, Justice League, and many more. The artwork is created by Tony S. Daniel, setting the perfect stage for the story.
”Nocterra” is set in the dystopian future where the earth has plunged into perpetual darkness, and every living creature has turned into monstrous creatures called shades. The only hope of survival is to stay close to some form of artificial light. This sci-fi adventure follows the story of a skilled ferryman, Val Riggs, driving her heavily illuminated eighteen-wheeler and transporting people and goods across the dangerous, dark roads.
It has been ten years since the darkness prevails on the planet, and Riggs has witnessed nearly every nearest and dearest one be converted to hideous shades. Just beyond the glowing artificial lights, the monstrous creatures eagerly await to destroy all that is left of humanity.
Riggs is ready to take on any challenge or evil that crosses her path while transporting goods and people. Life takes a turn for her when she learns of an illuminated sanctuary. But the destination will set her on a journey far beyond the limits ever heard before. With her loved one under the clutches of infection, her time is running out.
The exciting newest villain appearing in the series is Blacktop Hill, who has been mentioned in Nocterra #4. He has been known to be specialized in killing hitmen, and his murders for entertainment are absolutely horrifying. The series has been adapted into a Netflix show under the direction of James Wan.
Shadowman
Ever since his introduction in May 1992, Shadowman has dominated Valiant Comics selling millions of copies and being translated into a number of languages all over the world. The character faced the change of hands from Valiant to Acclaim Comics and back to Valiant again.
The recent relaunch of the Shadowman series by Valiant Entertainment takes over the public once again. Created by Cullen Bunn and Jon-Davis Hunt, the relaunch was initially intended to be in 2020 but was delayed due to the pandemic. Bunn and Hunt are off to a flying start as Valiant gets its most wanted hero back on track.
Things in New Orleans turn more horrifying to Jack Boniface, the superhero Shadowman. Jack is a musician and a museum curator during the daytime, and at night he is the superhero empowered by voodooism. The dark cloud of horror hovers over the city as Jack realizes that the separation between the mortal realm and the spirits of Deadside has become dangerously thin.
On investigating, Jack discovers that there has been a terrible invasion by the Deadside monsters, as bloodthirsty creatures seem to prowl over the mortal world. Jack has to travel across the globe to stop these monsters from further invasion.
Bunn has managed to deliver just the right terror and horror for the readers with due respect to everything that has occurred before. Bunn has absorbed the past strength of the superhero, blending it with his own magical touch, presenting a bloody story with increasing dread as Shadowman gets more and more involved with the Deadside incursion. On the other hand, the artwork of Hunt, together with the colorist Jordie Bellaire creates the perfect atmosphere of menace.
The Autumnal
Autumn is a special season for horror fans, as it brings with it a sense of darkness, presenting the perfect environment for scary stories. With this environment, Vault Comics presents their new horror series, Autumnal. The series uses the most fundamental aspect of fall –- fallen leaves on the ground and turns them into something terrifying.
Daniel Kraus, who is very well known for stories like ”The Living Dead” and ”The Shape of Water” steps into comics with ”Autumnal” along with Chris Shehan, as the artist, and Jason Wordie as the colorist. Kraus has woven something very spooky, where the leaves are the pathways for monsters and a trail that takes us back to the small town’s dark secrets in New England.
The extreme horror and terror depicted in the story by Kraus have been the first of their kind. The small town of the story is Comfort Notch in New Hampshire, which is a great place where all the colors of fall are displayed. Yet the town seems to hide something that makes the locals anxious when the outsiders mess with the leaves.
The main characters of the series are the single mom Kat and her daughter Sybil, struggling with their lives in Chicago. Kat hears that her estranged mother, a notorious resident of Comfort Notch, has died, leaving behind an inheritance for Kat, which she accepted, thus ending her big city life and settling in Comfort Notch. Soon, they find that the townspeople were strangely eager to keep them away from the leaves and somewhat kept aloof from them.
The cover page of the comics is so scary that Amazon has refused to promote the book, though it is available for sale on the site. ”The Autumnal” has gained the appreciation of the critics and popularity among the readers.
I Breathed a Body
”I breathed a Body” is another science fiction horror series about social media, technology, and influencer culture, written by Zac Thompson, illustrated by Andy MacDonald, and published by AfterShock Comics.
In his story, Zac Thompson has highlighted the relation between technology and us while pairing body horror with it considerably. Sometimes in horror stories, a monster doesn’t always mean a literal monster, but rather a villain or fear of society. ”I breathed a Body” is such a story where there is no literal monster, but the villain is the technology and how we are related to it. To be more specific, this horror series centers around social media and our lives entangled with it.
The series is an eye-opener about how the Big Tech Companies benefit from the provocative content that keeps us outraged and fearful. Anne Stewart is the social media manager of a highly successful online personality, Mylo Caliban, who has posted something unspeakably horrific. It is now Anne’s responsibility to deal with the situation and control the consequences while it pushes her towards a more terrible situation. The practical experience of Zac Thompson as a YouTube influencer has, in fact, a tremendous influence on his work.
The series has been illustrated by MacDonald, which has been highly appreciated by Thompson, while the colors from Triona Farrell create the perfect environment of the story. The bright sunny world of San Fransisco and the dark horror beneath it is magnificently displayed in MacDonald’s artwork. The series displays truly body horror with blood, guts, and mutilated bodies.
The Me You Love in the Dark
”The Me You Love in the Dark” is a unique series by Image Comics, combining horror with romance. Despite being a romantic horror, it is one of the scariest comics series released last year. Skottie Young writes the series while Jorge Corona does the artwork, and the colorist is Jean-Francois Beaulieu.
The horror story follows Ro, an artist who is fed up with the busy city life and moved to the countryside for tranquility and to concentrate on her work. She goes to live in a large farmhouse which eventually turns out to be haunted. But strangely, the ghost lurking within the premises develops a liking towards Ro, and they slowly attached themselves to a romantic relationship.
They are together throughout the day and night, but Ro never really understood how the creature exactly looked. Jorge Corona doesn’t mind giving us a glimpse of the entity’s image, which gets scarier every time. The ghost is fairly ready and capable of consuming Ro pretty much alive, but the lady in love is in no position to realize that. She becomes more and more involved with it until the final encounter, where everything is revealed before her.
Corona and Beaulieu create the perfect balance of space and fear, providing the tonal emptiness that compliments the theme of the story. The light and darkness residing in the house apply the perfect touch to highlight the two characters. We know that ”love is blind”. But how can Robe be so blind that she ignores the bloodshed and dead bodies piling up? I really don’t know!
The Silver Coin
Artist Michael Walsh joins hands with top-rated talents like Jeff Lemire, Kelly Thompson, Chip Zdarsky, Ed Brisson for the horror series, ”The Silver Coin” that equally terrifies the guilty and the innocent. Michael Walsh also joins the artwork with Gavin Fullerton and colors with Marie Griffin. Image Comics publishes the series.
Horror history has witnessed many mystical objects associated with a curse. The titular object of the story ”The Silver Coin” haunts everyone who touches it. The first story, called ”The Ticket”, written by Zdarsky focuses on an aspiring rockstar who acquires the coin while going through his mother’s stuff and eventually decides to use it as a guitar pick. From that moment, the tension rises until it reaches a terrifying conclusion.
Zdarsky’s script successfully explores the psychological impacts emerging from the dark and powerful object. We have another enthralling plot titled ”Girls of Summer” by Kelly Thompson. Here Thompson depicts one of the most challenging and unnerving plots of her career. Fiona, a young girl, finds the coin in a deserted cabin in a summer camp. Consequently, the curse of the coin targets her and her fellow campers, following the storyline of slashers like ”Friday the 13th”.
The innovative and striking aspect of ”The Silver Coin” is the versatility of the concept. The unification of various ideas surrounding one object is worth appreciation. ”The Silver Coin” creates a unique perspective about how one idea of horror can be applied and taken to so many terrifying directions. The mutated colors and dark shadows have increased the sense of evil amidst the stories.
The Nice House on the Lake
”The Nice House on the Lake” brings us another apocalypse story, scripted by present Batman writer James Tynion IV. The artwork is presented by Alvaro Martinez Bueno, getting its colors from Jordie Bellaire. The comics series is published by D.C. Comics.
The least expectations from the opening pages lead the readers towards the mysterious destination as the plot slowly unfolds. Every guest invited to the Nice House knows little about Walter, their host. Some are his childhood friends, while some guests have known him only for a few months. But no one was ready to turn down his invitation despite Walter being a little weird.
It was an absolutely magnificent house overlooking a picturesque sylvan lake. Everyone was ready to accept some weirdness in Walter in exchange for a vacation of a lifetime. Each guest in their early thirties has a defined career and distinctive personality. Thus, the twelve friends are busy enjoying the time of their life when the world outside collapses. The story uses social media and isolation to highlight the helplessness and terror of the loss faced by the characters.
The story is brilliantly complemented by the designs and expressions by the Bueno, defining the characters perfectly. Bueno and Bellaire have established a tense mood throughout the plot. The story touches the right cord, echoing the helpless moments of our lives in quarantine.
Abbott: 1973
Abbott 1973 is the sequel of the previous volume Abbott, written by Saladin Ahmed, and artwork created by Sami Kivela. The story was published by Boom! Studios take off exactly where it has left before following Elena Abbott on her lone battle against the evil Umbra.
Abbott: 1973 finds its protagonist, Elena struggling to come out of the traumatic events of 1972. On the one hand, Elena tries to maintain her relationship with her girlfriend while she struggles to adjust to the sexist new owner of the newspaper she works for. She tries to focus and cover a monumental election that could result in a new mayor’s election.
But a new group has emerged to destroy the new candidate and anyone supporting his campaign. With these challenges, Elena found evidence of evil magic called Umbra, spreading all over the city. It is understood that a wizard, known as the hunter, has been assigned to kill her. Abbott once again tries to protect Detroit and her closest ones with the help of her former husband, her girlfriend, and her estranged brother.
In a fantastic way, Ahmed presents the social tensions prevalent in the 1970s. Elena has to struggle and fight against sexism and racism around every nook and corner, even from the evil source preparing to attack her. All the challenges make Elena even more strictly devoted to her close people and reporting as she prepares to use her supernatural power as the Lightbringer.
The beauty of Detroit is finely captured by Kivela. His artworks make action-packed or magic-oriented scenes fascinating and visually engaging. Depictions of magical possessions are very striking: as kind, and soft characters transform into terrifying aggressors.
Maw
Another comics series by Boom! Studios, ” Maw” is written by Jude Ellison S Doyle, while the artist is A.L. Kaplan and the colorist is Fabian Mascolo. ”Maw” is a powerful series blending real-world horror with the supernatural.
The series follows Marion while she is dragged to a female retreat with her sister, Wendy, looking for some relief after she suffered from extreme humiliation. Despite her being the victim, the attackers proved her to be the culprit and dragged her name through the mud. As soon as they reached the isolated beach, there was a hint of something sinister lurking under the surface despite the peaceful atmosphere.
Other women of the retreat seem to be positively affected by Miranda, who is in charge of the retreat. Miranda teaches them many exercises that help them to control their anger and overcome the trauma of their past.
Marion felt left out and went to the bar to get a drink. Someone approaches her and offers to buy her a drink. Marion is eventually drugged, made unconscious, and later finds herself on the beach. Later, she goes to her sister and informs her about her assault, but her sister suggests not to inform the police as they are not bothered about the victim. When Marion enters the shower, something changes.
Maw is filled with gruesome horrors and twists and turns that compel us to think whether the dormant monster inside us is scarier than the unknown monsters roaming outside or vice-versa. Which do you think is more difficult to deal with?