I received an e-copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

This graphic novel had 9 mini stories from different teams of creators.
I loved how bizarre/sinister the stories all were, perfect October/Halloween read.
My favourite was Hand Me Down. But all in all, every story was unique and the graphics/illustrations really help set the tone for crappy/spooky vibe each story had.

Perfect for the month of October, in all its scary guises.
There are 9 stories within this graphic novel. Not all work at being horror, but they do work.
Nor did I like all 9. Some fell under the sci-fi mantel and while that’s fine, don’t call it horror just cus there’s a little blood.
There were a few that stood out;
Father of all Things; A WWI tale about a young German soldier who expected the war to be honorable and maybe even a little fun. He found death and destruction instead, and maybe even the God if War himself.
Dame from the Dark; A nice play on the private detective noir. Involves a detective who had no idea what he signed on for, and a ghost from the 20/30’s, who wants to be sure no one else ends up like she did. A good story with a great ending.
Killiamsburg; The blizzard of the century hits Brooklyn. As usual. Instead of leaving as suggested, typical New Yorkers decide to party. But of course, there is something alive in the snow...something that wants us gone.
Now it may be me, but I swear a few characters made me think of Kardashian and RuPaul...don’t judge.
Hand me Down; hands down the best of the lot! Good story and a killer ending you will NOT see coming!
Thanks to @Netgalley, TKO Studios, and all the various artists who have contributed to this graphic novel.

This illustrated volume contains a selection of sinister stories on various themes and across a variety of genres, all proving to make perfect reading for the month of October

Seeds of Eden - 4/5 stars
This futuristic space tale involved a sentient AI and much human death. It was immediately clear what was occurring but that didn't make the gory scenes any less gruesome to peruse.

The Father of All Things - 4.5/5 stars
The future was followed by the past, as this second story was set during WWI. The horrors of war were depicted but so too was a supernatural occurrence that painted all events in an even more sinister light than what they are cast in alone.

Night Train - 4/5 stars
This story focuses on a big brother's fateful decision when faced with childhood insomnia and a new baby brother who just won't stop crying. Were aliens involved? A supernatural entity? Or was everything a product of the protagonist's own mind? My inability to decipher exactly what occurred is where the power of this tale lay.

Roofstompers -No Rating
Unfortunately the text was illegible for this story, in my e-copy arc, and I was unable to grasp a full understanding of events from the pictures alone.

River of Sin - 4/5 stars
A bruja and a horde of angry townsfolk, who deem her responsible for their missing children, centre this story. Their visit didn't turn out quite how they expected and what was uncovered afterwards took me entirely by surprise to.

Dame From the Dark - 2/5 stars
A ghost, a private detective, and a TikTok famous illusionist walk into a bar... This is the only story in the collection that didn't really work for me, mainly because it took me too long to understand anything that occurred.

The Walk - 4/5 stars
A group of scientists and explorers venture to the sea floor in an attempt to find an answer or possible reversal for the climate alterations that have ravaged our planet. Unfortunately for them, and the future of humanity, something else finds them first. This was a tragically sad tale, mainly due to the seeming inevitability of the future world it featured. The 'something' that also lurks within this story is there as a consequence for human mistake and to right the skewed order of the world.

Killiamsburg - 3/5 stars
A frozen Brooklyn is being evacuated and those who stay are soon to find something sinister lurking beside the swirling snowflakes. This had the feel of a cheesy 80's/90's slasher movie. The horror was kinda tacky and placed alongside some cheap humour. I had such fun reading it though!

Hand Me Down - 3.5/5 stars
A tale of possession that had a sweet ending? Surely not. I'm not quite clear how the contents of this story managed to work but they did!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the various authors and the publisher, TKO Studios, for this opportunity.

I love graphic novels and what better way to welcome sppoktober with some creepy tales! This includes eight stories with very original ideas and spooky themes, and superb graphics. Each story and graphics put together by a different team of creators. Some stories worked more than the others for me but the artworks were spot on and just perfect. My top two from this collection were The Night Train, and The Walk. Loved it. Thanks so much to Netgalley and publishers for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Generally, it has to be said, the horror comic is the opposite of a tautology – you so rarely get both descriptors applying to the same thing. We start with quite a competent set-up, but it's not a great story the way we see it – a woman goes to a terraforming station near Jupiter and finds things wrong, gets out, the end. Yes it would count as a nightmare scenario in any sane mind, but as a horror comic in many fewer. Much more suitable and much more developed is what comes next, even if it is merely a visit to the God of War in the WWI trenches – you can tell the lead character, and us, sees more horror here than she did in the opener.

Domesticity is the name of the game thirdly, as a young kid is drawn to despair by his mewling, shitting noise-bag of a baby brother. The old biddy in the woods isn't what she seems; a thoroughly ignorable scene takes place backstage of a magic act; a subterranean mission goes tits-up, as does the story when it carefully ignores the fact we need to be able to tell one character from another; a piece with the potential to be as chilling as Jo Nesbo's Snowman breakout proves to be unreadably shit; and an attempt at a modern-day Ira Levin suburbia hell, playing-the-boss's-line, story falls flat on its face. That ignores the story that was bizarrely formatted so it was literally unreadable (that bad, huh?).

Yes, the hit rate is low here, with the editors more to fault in letting in lax efforts at horror than the creators who think they're on to something suitably dark. In fact, I'd only declare two of these nine efforts a success, and I think it's obvious which ones. Such a result doesn't look like this is a good choice, but in a category of books where so many fall at so many hurdles, this doesn't act as a stand-out failure. Far from it, for two memorable pieces in nine is not too far from the norm. Fans of the grim anthology should still come here, for they know not to expect out-and-out successes. Or if they don't, I'd rather not venture into their hellish lack of discernment...

Great tales of terror. Amazing, fun, cool style and just a blast to read from every horror fan, especially in this fall/Halloween season! Love it!

3.5 stars

A collection of 9 short story format graphic novels (I enjoyed 8 of the 9) all in the horror genre but with a nice variety of themes & settings: Sci-Fi/space, classic horror/gothic (vampires, zombies, etc.), creepy cabin in the woods, mystical takes on real-life horrific situations, witches, ghosts, dystopian futures, etc.

[What I liked:]

•Seeds Of Eden: Brief delivery, building sense of dread, & confronting art make for a punchy story

•Father Of All Things: A creative take on the horror of war, it evocatively communicates the senselessness of humanity‘s propensity for repetitive cycles of self-destructive

•Night Train: A creative twist on familiar folktales (boogeymen, fey bargains with unexpected but inevitable consequences, the Pied Piper of Hamelin, etc.). The ending is quite satisfying and eerie

•Roofstompers: I think a woman injured in the woods gets trapped by an isolated family, but I honestly couldn’t follow the story because the text was unreadable 🤷‍♀️ (See notes in the next section below)

•River Of Sin: The art does a good job of depicting creepy woods

•Dame From The Dark: I love the femme fatale/neo-noir vibe! Also it has a great ending

•The Walk: I like how an outer space-esque narrative is refigured as a deep sea exploration. The central conflict of a leader with noble intentions getting obsessed & losing track of reality fits the exploration narrative well; it has the feel of a doomed Arctic expedition. The ending is quite good!

•Killiamsburg: This has some satirical commentary (sometimes effective, sometimes clumsy) on how some people experience desperate situations, versus how the privileged have the option (& callousness) to make the same experience into a shallow party, into a grotesque spectacle. I think it sort of references Wendigo folklore?

•Hand Me Down: Hahaha the ending is gold, & so not what I expected! :)


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•Seeds Of Eden: Not the most original plot/execution

•Father Of All Things: I’m not quite sure what the antagonist in the story was meant to represent, & if it was meant allegorically or not. We’re told what it/he is not, but we only get vague hints of what it/he is, which is a bit anticlimactic

•Night Train: The art is a bit lackluster, & doesn’t contribute as much to the story as it could (it’s not bad or lazy, it’s just not great)

•Roofstompers: The text is super glitchy looking & pixelated, practically illegible because letters are missing & what’s there blurs together. I can’t tell if it’s intentional or just an issue with the images loading on screen, but I think it’s intentional since the images aren’t blurry or pixelated, just the text, and since all the other stories in this collection have readable text. Also, the ending/big reveal made no sense to me

•River Of Sin: The ending is a bit unclear

•Dame From The Dark: The conflict was very easily resolved without too much effort by the protagonists

•The Walk: I think I know what happens to Alice, but I’m not entirely sure. The art on that page was kinda vague

•Killiamsburg: Okay, it started out strong, but the climax was pretty clichéd & on the nose. The very ending, while a bit hokey, seemed like it was going to be hopeful & meaningful but then the last line sorta ruined it in an eye roll worthy manner

•Hand Me Down: The revenge is a bit much, at least juxtaposed with the (almost cutesy & wholesome?) resolution at the very end

CW: body horror, graphic violence, war, child neglect/abuse, medical abuse, mental illness, murder, cannibalism, negative portrayals of minority cultures/non-Christian spirituality (though the narrative itself doesn’t endorse/condone this), organ harvesting, human trafficking, human sacrifice, racism

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

I want to thank NetGalley for the E-ARC in exchange for an honest review
This is a book I wanted to like because I love horror and short horror is always a fun time, But most of these stories felt very meh to me and while the art for most was wonderful and show real talent in that area, the stories just never caught my attention and in many cases felt too short.
The ending of stories like The Train found in the collection seemed to end right when something interesting started to happen and a few times I left stories not feeling spooked or uneasy, but confused. And confused in not a fun way but A frustrating way.
It's not a terrible book at all and some readers I could see loving these stories but this collection was not for me