Zombies and Psychos and Ghosts, Oh My! Ten Comics Fit for Halloween Reading

I've stopped by YA Cafe many times before, but this time when the book club topic of scary reading was announced, I was like “Heck yeah! I’m doing this.” (Despite having confessed to being a big wimp.) I just so happened to have some graphic novels that met this criteria out from the library.

Since I opted to go the comics route, I read a few titles instead of just one…and then because I got carried away I decided to extend the list to some of my favorite scary graphic novels that I’ve read over the past couple of years. (And okay, some aren’t so much “scary” as “funny” but they’re about creatures of the night and such, so I figure it counts.)

Before I get on to my picks, a few words on comics and YA. While some comics publishers print a suggested age on the back of their books, I feel there isn’t as clear a line between adult and YA comics as there is with traditional books, where YA gets its own section in bookstores. Many folks who don’t read comics assume, erroneously, that just because it’s a comic it's kid’s stuff. So very not true. So so sooooo very not true. Some of these comics I wouldn’t want my mom reading, let alone a fourteen-year-old. Sometimes the only way to know the age appropriateness of a comic is to read it.

All this is to say that the graphic novels I chose aren’t specifically YA, but they aren’t specifically not YA either. For my additional list of “spooky” reads, though, I tried to stick with titles that could be considered YA.

Anyways, let’s get on to…

The Reading I Dun:

(Click on the pics of the books for the descriptions.)

Blackest Night by Ceoff Johns (writer), Ivan Reiss, Oclair Albert, and Joe Prado

Oh, yeah. Zombie superheroes. That's what I'm talking about. I had bunches of fun reading this one and it even managed to have some creepy moments in there. I mean, an undead Elongated Man i.e. a zombie with super stretch powers? That’s just all kinds of wrong.

Unlike some mainstream superhero graphic novels, I’d consider this story accessible to people who haven’t been reading DC comics from their first day out the womb. I’m not super familiar with the DC universe but never felt lost reading Blackest Night. If you’ve watched the occasional episode of a DC animated series, that helps. If not, there’s a quick conversation at the beginning that fills you in on the people-slash-history you need to know, and then it’s on to the undead superheroes. What I really appreciated about this book is that it takes the often-abused device of dead superheroes never staying dead and spins a story around it to explain exactly why that it so. Good times!

Locke and Key – Vol.1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

After losing their father, three siblings move into the old, New England family mansion. The mansion is in a town called Lovecraft. Yeah…this is going to work out well for them. On top of that, the psychopath who killed their father is very interested in unlocking the secrets of their new home.

So this one is definitely NOT for our younger YA readers due to the tendency toward bloody murders and a certain *ahem* adult situation/conversation. (Yeah, yeah. I know teens know all about everything concerning violence and sex and all that, but some parents probably still want a heads up about these things). The beginning was a little confusing because the time jumps and flashback weren’t clearly conveyed, but the ending left me intrigued. I look forward to continuing this series.

Tenken by Yumiko Shirai

A big giant snake looking for wifey in a post-apocalyptic Japan.

Of the three graphic novels I read, this one most successfully and consistently conveyed a dark, creepy tone throughout. Though there were unfortunately a lot of typos and it was sometimes confusing (both because of the differences in some of the ways the Japanese do comics and because of the way information is unveiled in the story), I still liked this. I just had to read the ending twice to understand what had happened. But that’s okay. Some things are meant to be read twice.

Some Favorite Past “Scary” Reads (click on pics for descriptions):

Creepy

Children of the Sea by Daisuke Igarashi

As far as I’m concerned, the ocean is scary anyway. I really had no business reading a series that sets out to make the ocean even more of a strange and mysterious place. I think I’m still traumatized from the events of one of these volumes. (I won't sat which one.)

Elk’s Run by Joshua Hale Failkov

This graphic novel made me feel claustrophobic at times. But you just know there are people like the man character’s dad out there, and that’s what earns this book a place in the creepy section of this list.

Cool

Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol

I loved Anya as a character. She came across as a real teenaged girl, not a hero or a saint, often selfish and surly, but also funny and smart.

Courtney Crumrin series and associated titles by Ted Naifeh

All ages can enjoy this one. What I love about it is that things don’t always turn out as you'd expect. Not everyone gets to have a happy ending.

Funny

Hipsters vs. Vampires by Adrian von Baur

It’s about dagone time somebody put these two together. Click hier to read this webcomic from the beginning. Hilarity ensues.

Life Sucks by Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria and Warren Pleece

I’ll admit. The ending was kinda anti-climatic, but the rest of the book made me laugh so much I don’t even care. I love this graphic novel. As a matter of fact, I'ma go read it now.

Death Jr. by Gary Whitta and Ted Naifeh

He may be the son of the Grim Reaper, but that doesn't stop him from having an optimistic outlook and a go-getter attitude.

Don’t Let Misconceptions Slow You Down

Don’t Forget to Pick Up Your Free Comics! (They’re Free!)

Free Comic Book Day, which takes place annually the first Saturday of May (TODAY!), comes as a response to one of the biggest questions facing the comic book industry: how to bring in new readers, which I’m pretty sure is an even bigger problem in comics than in book publishing. The event is all about giving new readers a chance to dip a toe into comics and check out their local comic book store. Free stuff is an awesome incentive, and just maybe while the newbies are in the store they’ll have a look around and find something on the shelves that interests them.

(In Bill Willinghams’ Fables, Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf, Pinocchio, and a whole community of fairy tales exiled from their homelands work, play, and plot against each other in modern-day New York City. Also, James Jean’s covers are abso-freakin’-lutely beautiful, especially as you move further into the series.)

There are quite a few misconceptions about comics that stop potential readers from considering giving graphic novels a try before the thought can even fully take root in their minds. I often still feel like a comics newbie myself because I came to comics later in life than a lot of diehards who were seemingly born with a comic book in hand. I don’t remember thinking about comics much before I got into them, so I can’t say what misconceptions I held about them, but I do know that once I started reading them I feel in love with comics as a medium for dynamic storytelling.

(Set in the 1920s, in Mat Johnson‘s Incognegro a fair-skinned Black man travels to Mississippi while passing as a white man in order to uncover the truth behind his brother’s arrest.)

One of the biggest misconceptions is that comics are only about superheroes. It’s true that in American comics, super heroes make up a big bulk of what gets published. According to Diamond Comic Distributors, Marvel and DC, from whence we get the majority of our most famous and beloved superheroes, accounted for 68.62% of the comics sold in 2010 (38.23% and 30.39% respectively). At 5.17%, comics publisher Dark Horse comes in at #3 on the market share list. But even Marvel and DC publish more than just superheroes. While superheroes dominate the Top 500 Comic Books list, if you look at the Top 500 Graphic Novels, you’ll find everything from zombies to organized crime.

(When people make the case that comics are able to cover serious material and should be read by adults, Maus in which the artist Art Spiegelman tells his father’s story of surviving the holocaust, inevitable will come into the conversation.)

Then there are the other publishers Dark Horse, Image, BOOM! Studios, Oni, Slave Labor Graphics, First Second, Top Shelf and others who have set specific goals to do things differently than the Marvel and DC way, and to offer comics readers more diversity.

(A group of teens take on L.A.’s nightclub scene in Poseurs by Deborah Vankin.)

Some folks reading this may already know what I’m talking about, but maybe the best way to illustrate my point is to mention some movies - the great equalizers, movies - adapted from comic books and graphic novels, keeping the list non-super hero. (Not that I have anything against superhero movies. I’m totally going to see Thor today!)

In alphabetical order:

30 Days of Night

300

American Splendor

Art School Confidential

Bullet Proof Monk

Constantine

Cowboys Vs. Aliens

The Crow

Dillon Dog

From Hell

Ghost World

A History of Violence

Human Target (TV show)

Jonah Hex

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

The Losers

The Mask

Men in Black

Red

Road to Perdition

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Sin City

The Surrogates

Swamp Thing

Tank Girl

V for Vendetta

The Walking Dead (TV show)

White Out

Quality of movie and faithfulness to original material aside, this list is just to say, hey, if you went and saw (or plan to see) any of these movies, there are comics out there for you. Or if you saw a preview for one of them and thought, “Hmm, that movie looks interesting. If only it looked like it had good writing, acting and directing,” the same can still be said—because everyone knows the original material is almost always better than the film or television adaption.

Then, of course, there’s manga. Japan simply has a completely different mindset when it comes to comics and because of that manga is wonderfully diverse. If Japanese comics were dispersed among all sections of a books store, you’d find something in every genre.

(In the suspense-filled Monster by Naoki Urasawa, surgeon Dr. Kenzo Tenma travels Germany hunting down the serial killer whose life he saved ten-years ago, uncovering many dark truths along away.]

I’d also like to briefly address the misconception that comics are just for kids/too graphic for kids. There are comics for ALL ages. From light and fun to dark and philosophical, there is literally something for everyone in comics.

(The Sandman aka Morpheus aka Dream peeks into the lives of everyone from the common man to the fading gods of old to Death, who is just one of his large-than-life siblings. Neil Gaiman’s Sandman is comics classic.)

All I’m asking, as someone who loves comics in all its forms, is that folks don’t let the misconception of “Comics aren’t about anything I’d ever read” be the reason for not giving comic books and graphic novels a try.

In the dystopian world of Ice, a webcomic by Faith Erin Hick, Great Britain is in a state of constant winter, and the divide between rich and poor has become a gaping chasm. Webcomics are especially awesome because they are always free!)

So if you do take advantage of Free Comic Book Day (C’mon! It’s FREE!), take a minute to look around the comics shop. You might find something you like.