BY TRISTA EDWARDS
A few fantastical and ghastly comics from female writers and illustrators to indulge in this Halloween:
Coffin Hill (Vertigo Comics)—Writer/Creator, Caitlin Kittredge; Artist/Creator: Inaki Miranda
Image via Gallery Comics
From Vertigo Comics:
“In her youth, Eve Coffin was a defiant, teenage lowlife from a high-society family—a family that lives under a curse that dates back to the Salem Witch trials. After a wild night of sex, drugs and witchcraft in the woods, Eve awoke to find that she was naked, covered in blood and completely unable to remember how she got there. One of her fellow revelers was missing, one was in a mental ward—and one knew that Eve was responsible.
Now, Eve works as a cop in Boston. But when she’s shot in the head and undergoes neural surgery, Eve must leave her job behind and return to Coffin Hill. There she’ll discover that the darkness she unleashed ten years ago in the woods was never contained. It continues to seep through the town, cursing the very soul of the once sleepy Massachusetts hollow, spilling secrets and enacting its revenge. Set against the haunted backdrop of New England, Coffin Hill is a work of horror that explores what people will do for power and retribution and lays bare the danger and futility of running away from the past.”
Eating Vampires (Lockett Down Productions)—Writer/Creator, Regine Sawyer; Illustrator, Delia Gable
From Peep Game Comix:
“Rigel Alexa is a Battle Guardian, one of the many protectors of the Sect of Purifiers. When the realm’s worst nightmare comes true and all that remains of their once powerful nation is an eleven year old girl named Evelyn; Rigel must find a way to keep her safe, even if it means traveling to the most dangerous of places. But with a mysterious band of mystical women at Rigel’s disposal, she will do whatever it is that is necessary to ensure that the Purifier line continues, even if it costs her the one thing she has always wanted; a cure.”
Through the Woods (Margaret K. McElderry Books)—Writer/Illustrator, Emily Carroll
Image via Simon & Schuster
From Simon & Schuster:
“Discover a terrifying world in the woods in this collection of five hauntingly beautiful graphic stories that includes the online webcomic sensation “His Face All Red,” in print for the first time.
Journey through the woods in this sinister, compellingly spooky collection that features four brand-new stories and one phenomenally popular tale in print for the first time. These are fairy tales gone seriously wrong, where you can travel to “Our Neighbor’s House”—though coming back might be a problem. Or find yourself a young bride in a house that holds a terrible secret in “A Lady’s Hands Are Cold.” You might try to figure out what is haunting “My Friend Janna,” or discover that your brother’s fiancée may not be what she seems in “The Nesting Place.” And of course you must revisit the horror of “His Face All Red,” the breakout webcomic hit that has been gorgeously translated to the printed page.”
Lumberjanes (Boom! Studios)— Writer/Creator, Noelle Stevenson; Writer/Creator, Shannon Watters; Illustrator, Brooke A Allen
Image via Comics Alliance
From Boom! Studios:
“Five best friends spending the summer at Lumberjane scout camp...defeating yetis, three-eyed wolves, and giant falcons...what’s not to love?!
It’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Gravity Falls and features five butt-kicking, rad teenage girls wailing on monsters and solving a mystery with the whole world at stake.
Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley are five best pals determined to have an awesome summer together...and they’re not gonna let any insane quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way!”
Bitch Planet (Image Comics)—Writer/Creator, Kelly Sue DeConnick; Illustrator, Valentine De Landro
Image via Image Comics
From The Guardian:
“In the near future, troublesome women are marked “noncompliant” and trucked off to a space age Auxiliary Compliance Outpost – aka Bitch Planet.
It doesn’t take much to become noncompliant. Maybe you’ve committed murder, but maybe you’re just fat. The prison itself is one part Black Mirror, one part Orange is the New Black. Incarcerated women are stripped naked and greeted by a holographic corseted nun (simulation name “The Catholic”) before they’re given uniforms. There are also holographic rooms with pornography and crying babies, and a politically controlled bloodsport that’s gladiator-catharsis-meets-CNN.
After that, who knows. As in our reality, most of the inmates are women of color. Although there can be repeat offenders, one gets the sense that NCs (noncompliants) are interned for the long term, and that their labor and thoughts are massaged, not just patrolled.”
Trista Edwards is a poet, traveller, crafter, creator, mermaid, and an old soul. She currently serves as Co-Director of Kraken, an independent poetry reading series in Denton, Texas. Her poems and reviews are published or forthcoming in The Journal, Mid-American Review, 32 Poems, American Literary Review, Stirring: A Literary Collection, Birmingham Poetry Review, The Rumpus, Sout’wester, Moon City Review, and more. She recently edited an anthology, Till the Tide: An Anthology of Mermaid Poetry (2015).