The Coward’s Guide to Horror Comics

⚓ Books    📅 2025-08-06    👤 surdeus    👁️ 5      

surdeus

Are you a chicken? Do you have a low threshold for disturbing imagery and gore, but still find yourself tempted by the dark themes and concepts behind certain horror comics? Great, me too! For all of my fellow weenies, I took the plunge, read some horror comics, and reported the results below.

This isn’t about whether I liked the book or thought it was good: this is purely a reference guide for sensitive readers who are curious about horror comics. I assessed each comic based on the following criteria:

  • Thematic elements: Does the comic deal with potentially upsetting subjects? How much detail does it go into, and how much does it leave to the imagination?
  • Gore: Is there a lot of blood and guts?
  • Imagery: Does the comic explicitly show horrible or frightening things happening? Are there disturbing images that are likely to stick in your head for a long time?

Obviously, such judgments are subjective, but since this guide is by and for cowards, you can bet I’m erring on the side of caution.

While I try to keep spoilers as generalized as possible, there are spoilers here, because I really can’t provide proper warnings without them. Consider yourself, um, warned.

The Nice House on the Lake cover - a frightened person peeking their head above water, surrounded by skeletons

The Nice House on the Lake by James Tynion IV and
Álvaro Martínez Bueno

Themes: There’s both discussion of an apocalypse and an actual apocalypse, with all of the violence, death, trauma, and emotional distress (including suicidal ideation) that go with it.

Gore: Some blood and dead bodies, including both human and animal bodies.

Imagery: Walter’s true form is bizarre and may be unnerving. Even when he looks normal, light and shadow are used to make his Clark Kent-y face look unsettling. The art in general can be very stark (see: that cover). Images of people dying during the apocalypse are brief but graphic.

The Low Low Woods book cover

The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado and Dani

Themes: The entire story revolves around sexual assault, although none is seen on-panel.

Gore: There is some blood in at least one scene.

Imagery: SO much disturbing imagery, wow. There is body horror throughout the comic, including skinned men, “sinkhole women,” and animals that don’t look quite right.

The Night Eaters cover

The Night Eaters Volume One: She Eats the Night by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

Themes: This is a haunted house story with death, demons, and murder everywhere.

Gore: It gets bloodier and gorier as it goes on. At its worst, it is quite gruesome. That said, the story is very funny, which may help you through the grosser parts.

Imagery: Very creepy dolls!! Also, some body horror in terms of body parts not being in the right places. There are weird tentacle monsters that you never see in full.

Downlands cover

Downlands by Norm Konyu

Themes: There are several dark themes, including child death, domestic abuse, and grief.

Gore: There is little to no gore here. Instead, the book relies on an eerie, haunted atmosphere to keep things tense.

Imagery: All of the worst, most disturbing acts are kept off-screen, although a dead body does show up at least once.

Hello Sunshine cover

Hello Sunshine by Keezy Young (Out Sept 23)

Themes: The story is about mental illness and demons. Two characters’ mother allegedly died by suicide years ago, and her death is a central mystery to be solved. Some Christianity-based homophobia.

Gore: A skeleton and some bloody teeth are about it.

Imagery: The demons are pretty creepy. Chapter 4 is very intense and depicts one character losing his grasp on reality through increasingly distorted, upsetting imagery and intrusive thoughts. Chapter 5 takes place in a dark world that this character created.

If you’re feeling emboldened, maybe venture into some more horror with this list of new horror books.

🏷️ Books_feed