Review: Horror And Holidays Meet In ‘Dread The Halls’

With only a few exceptions, horror elements have traditionally been lacking from holiday stories. (Assuming, of course, you are at all concerned about the idea of an obese stranger breaking into your house.) But that’s the thrust of Image Comics’ holiday compilation Dread the Halls.

The collection begins with Dead Notes, written, colored, and lettered by Jordan Hart and penciled and inked by Fabio Veras. It’s the perfect tale if you find Christmas carolers at all bothersome.

In this story, the crooners’ songs possess unsuspecting people for some nefarious purposes. (And you thought your neighborhood had some kooks!) The text and art work well together to relate this creepy tale. But the story end so abruptly that readers are likely to think they missed a page while reading it. A stronger conclusion would have made it much better.

Writer Chris Ryall and artist Lee Ferguson tell the next tale called Gone Fishin’. In it, a pair of mischievous lads attempt to catch Santa Claus with some fishing wire, only to have the tables turned.

They end up learning Santa’s true backstory, which is considerably darker than anything previously presented. If you like holidays dark and unforgiving (it features a slain Rudolph), this one is for you.

In Northerners, a young man finds himself fighting a mysterious creature that appears only one day a year, around the Winter solstice. He’s assisted by one of the monster’s victims, who likewise can only materialize annually. Hart is back with his triple treat of writing, coloring, and lettering, with Walter Pax providing the amazing artwork.

Hart makes it a three-peat with Krampus Slayers, based loosely on his own grandmother’s history. While grandma confronted a villager in costume, the children in this story fight a monstrous Krampus. Jimmy Kucaj illustrates this time around and demonstrates a much different art style than the previous stories. Still, the variety is welcome.

Dread The Halls is available now.