Horror comics have had a hard time finding a foothold in America, especially since the fall of EC some 25 years ago. DC had a short-lived revival of interest with Alan Moore's Saga of the Swamp Thing; Marvel made a small splash with Marv Wolfman's Tomb of Dracula, which actually begat Blade, but both of those were a long time ago.
And though the majors have made many attempts since then, from Ghost Rider to The Creeper to Simon Dark to Shadowpact, nothing has really taken hold for the big boys.
The format in general seemed doomed to the "C" list, until Steve Niles and IDW (now the fourth largest comics publisher, after Dark Horse) came out of nowhere with the remarkable, bloody and mesmerizing 30 Days of Night. (Yes, the one that was made into that underwhelming film a couple of years ago.) Since then, the smaller independents, with original material and apatations, have had much success with the spooky stuff.
One of the best of the "new horror" comics by far is an original series written by Joe Hill and illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez: Locke and Key. It's a complex and enthralling story of the surviving members of a young family stalked by a high-school-age killer, who flee across country to the mysterious family manse Back East -- a funky old house that has nightmares -- and magic -- all its own.
Giving many details wouldn't be fair; it’s much more interesting to discover them as you go. Suffice to say that Hill is turning some very rich earth here, a kind of eerie daylight horror that can get violent and bloody in the blink of an eye, and then return to an almost whimsical character-level just as quickly. Just as interesting, Rodriguez' artwork owes nothing to the old look-and-feel of the EC Comics / Bill Gaines traditions, nor to the more recent and popular splotch-and-splatter look of the Bill Siencewicz-inspired 30 Days tradition. There is a clarity of line, an attention to detail, and almost sunny aspect to his line that makes the whole thing that much more realistic and chilling when the weird stuff starts to happen.
Hill, a Bram Stoker Award winner who wrote the well-received novel Heart-Shaped Box and is author of a number of really strong short stories collected in 20th Century Ghosts, is at his best here, both charming and creepy at the same time. Even top-drawer thriller author Robert Crais thinks so; he likes this stuff so much he supplied a forward for the collection of the first story arc, Welcome to Lovecraft. It's available in hardcover now. Meanwhile the second arc, Head Games, is currently into its third monthly issue, and it just keeps getting better and better.
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