Joe Hill—the mastermind behind N0S4A2 and Locke & Key—has arrived at DC, curating his own cutting-edge horror comics pop-up! Hill House Comics will terrify readers with a smart, subversive and scary lineup of five original limited series. Hill House Comics debuted with Basketful of Heads, written by Hill and illustrated by Leomacs. The chills continued in the following months with The Low, Low Woods; The Dollhouse Family; Daphne Byrne and Plunge, from some of the biggest names in horror storytelling. Enter to win the entire chill-filled line!
Gothic Sidebar
Gothic is a word that gets thrown around a lot and means different things in different contexts. Still, I want to put a few parameters on it. In the west, gothic literature’s rise coincided with the Enlightenment. It was a time when many people stopped sincerely fearing supernatural entities. That, in turn, made ghosts and monsters suitable for entertainment purposes. Gothic novels can have supernatural elements, or they may have seemingly supernatural happenings with more mundane explanations. Think of the Scooby Doo gang pulling the mask off the “ghost.” Gothic literature is often exposing the everyday horrors in domestic situations, brought about by sinister forces. These sinister forces shift depending on who’s writing the novel and where we are in history. The earliest English gothic novels reveal animosity between various groups, like Catholics and Protestants, or the English and the Welsh. The gothic romance craze of the mid 20th century was notable for the books featuring women fleeing houses. That timed nicely with second wave feminism, a time when many women were trying to literally flee domestic life and join the work force. Southern gothic novels frequently reckon with the specter looming over American history, centuries of chattel slavery. Despite the deep history and heavy themes, gothic literature is expansive. The best writers can deftly expose monsters both literal and metaphorical while delivering a thrilling reading experience that can suit a variety of moods. Here are nine varied Gothic novels so you can read what you need.
Love
Justice
Thrills
Nightmares
Laughs
Truth
Friendship
Mystery
Action
