butler to The Goon’s resident mad sci- entist, Dr. Hieronymous Alloy. How- ever, his finest hour was his first appearance back in The Goon #6; the Eisner Award-nominated story “El Hombre Del Lagarto!” is a glorious tribute to classic giant monster movies, pitting a monstrous Goon against an enormous, rampaging lizard. AS
Fiona Staples Franken-Castle
A-list status of Spidey or The Hulk, Doc has managed to carve a nice niche for himself due to his epic bat- tles with the dread Dormammu, Night- mare, demons Mephisto and Satannus, and even Dracula himself. PC
Dylan Dog
Though only a handful of Dylan Dog collections have made it to North America, Italy’s best-selling comic
Batman More than any other superhero, Bat-
man was tailor-made for the horror genre. After all, this is a man who de- cided to dress himself like a giant bat in order to strike terror into the hearts of criminals. “To me, the best horror is where the
monster or the killer isn’t just something coming after us but also a projection of the things we’re afraid of the most in our own personalities. And Batman is all about that,” says Scott Snyder, creator of American Vampire and the latest scribe to heed the Bat’s call when he takes over the writing chores on Detec- tive Comics this November. While early Batman stories may not have dealt with the psychological
book series is approaching its 300th issue. In spite of its familiar set-up – a paranormal investigator who takes on cases the police can’t handle – the series makes ingenious use of genre conventions, drawing inspiration from silent movies, Sherlock Holmes and Italian giallo films. AS
El Lagarto Hombre
The heavily medicated, Spanish- speaking lizard periodically serves as
She’s only been working in comics since 2006, but Fiona Staples is al- ready becoming one of the industry’s favourite go-to girls. Her angular line work, dusty colours and intensely cin- ematic layouts make her a perfect fit for genre titles. Besides her contribu- tions to last year’s Trick ’r Treat graphic novel, she has attracted hor- ror fans with her superb work on Wild- storm’s Lovecraft-inspired horror/ action miniseries North 40. Equally adept at pencils, inks and colours, the versatile young artist is currently
trauma of witnessing his parents’ mur- der, they certainly didn’t skimp on vis- cera, offering up vampires, giant monsters, cutthroat assassins and mad scientists with a penchant for torture. Even the addition of Robin the Boy Wonder in 1940 didn’t halt the horror, with villains becoming more garish and sadistic: Clayface, Scarecrow, Two-Face and, of course, The Joker. The Comics Code eventually put a
stop to Batman’s tales of terror and the ’50s and ’60s were dominated by sci- fi and high camp. However, in the early 1970s, Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams took Batman back to his horror roots. They brought back many of the gothic elements prevalent in the ’40s and even pitted Bats against the odd super- natural foe. At the same time, they ex-
showcased in Steve Niles and Ashley Wood’s Mystery Society. AS
Franken-Castle
(a.k.a. The Character Formerly Known as The Punisher) Years from now, people will remember Rick Remender’s re-imagining of The Punisher as a cybernetic Frankenstein monster in 2009 as a work of genius. Screw the diehards! Remender’s saga is a fun, crazy love letter to Marvel’s past horror works, with appearances by Morbius, the Legion of Monsters and more creatures than you can shake an M-16 rifle at. PC
Gene Colan
Gene Colan’s moody, atmospheric drawing style lends itself perfectly to horror and has graced the pages of many genre books including Marvel’s classic The Tomb of Dracula, Doctor Strange and Brother Voodoo. His best, however, is his outstanding run on Batman and Detective Comics in the
panded his rogue’s gallery by introduc- ing characters such as the monstrous Man-Bat and the demonic Ra’s al Ghul. Since then, Batman has continued
to embrace horror, with many of the major storylines of the last few decades containing strong ele- ments of terror: the sadistic vio- lence of Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the psy- chological bru- tality of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, the insanity of Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum, the ghoulishness of Jeph Loeb’s Batman: The Long Halloween and the urban nastiness of Brian Azzarello’s Joker. “He’s a creature purely driven by
obsession,” explains Snyder. “He really is as maniacal about what he does as The Joker, which is why I think The Killing Joke is so bril- liant. He really veers to- wards somebody who belongs in Arkham Asylum.” PC
RM32
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128