Get in the Halloween spirit with comics and graphic novels! These reading recommendations range from chills and thrills to sweet autumnal treats. What's your favorite graphic novel, manga or comic to read for some Halloween feels?
For Readers
Waiting for the Great Pumpkin by Charles M. Schulz
Linus's proselytizing that on Halloween, the Great Pumpkin rises from the pumpkin patch and travels the world bringing presents to good little girls and boys are derided by his sister Lucy, laughed at by Charlie Brown, met with skepticism by baby Sally, and even causes "denominational squabbling" over who's better, the Great Pumpkin or Santa Claus. Year after year, Linus faces his persecution and inevitable disappointment with either blind faith or Quixotic perseverance.
Upside Down: A Vampire Tale by Jess Smart Smiley
Harold is a friendly young vampire - but he loves candy so much, the dentist might have to pull his teeth! Now, what if he and the dentist, plus a couple friendly bats, all get caught up in the evil plots of the local witch? It's a wild magical romp for all ages, just in time for Halloween.
The Graveyard Book by P Craig Russell
It Takes a Graveyard to Raise a Child.
Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a graveyard, being raised by ghosts, with a guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor the dead.
There are adventures in the graveyard for a boy—an ancient Indigo Man, a gateway to the abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, he will be in danger from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod's family.
Sheets by Brenna Thummler
Marjorie Glatt feels like a ghost. A practical thirteen year old in charge of the family laundry business, her daily routine features unforgiving customers, unbearable P.E. classes, and the fastidious Mr. Saubertuck who is committed to destroying everything she’s worked for.
Wendell is a ghost. A boy who lost his life much too young, his daily routine features ineffective death therapy, a sheet-dependent identity, and a dangerous need to seek purpose in the forbidden human world.
When their worlds collide, Marjorie is confronted by unexplainable disasters as Wendell transforms Glatt’s Laundry into his midnight playground, appearing as a mere sheet during the day. While Wendell attempts to create a new afterlife for himself, he unknowingly sabotages the life that Marjorie is struggling to maintain.
More Sweet Reads
For Teens
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell
Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.
Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1.
But this Halloween is different—Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye.
Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol
Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them. Especially not a new friend who’s been dead for a century.
Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya's normal life might actually be worse. She's embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she's pretty much given up on fitting in at school. A new friend—even a ghost—is just what she needs.
Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV
When the children of Archer's Peak—a sleepy town in the heart of America—begin to go missing, everything seems hopeless. Most children never return, but the ones that do have terrible stories—impossible details of terrifying creatures that live in the shadows. Their only hope of finding and eliminating the threat is the arrival of a mysterious stranger, one who believes the children and claims to be the only one who sees what they can see.
Her name is Erica Slaughter. She kills monsters. That is all she does, and she bears the cost because it must be done.
Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan
In the early hours after Halloween of 1988, four 12-year-old newspaper delivery girls uncover the most important story of all time. Suburban drama and otherworldly mysteries collide in this smash-hit series about nostalgia, first jobs, and the last days of childhood.
More Thrilling Reads
For Adults
Frankenstein Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito
Junji Ito meets Mary Shelley! The master of horror manga bends all his skill into bringing the anguished and solitary monster—and the fouler beast who created him—to life with the brilliantly detailed chiaroscuro he is known for.
Also included are six tales of Oshikiri—a high school student who lives in a decaying mansion connected to a haunted parallel world. Uncanny doppelgangers, unfortunately murdered friends, and a whole lot more are in store for him.
Anthony Bourdain's Hungry Ghosts by Anthony Bourdain
Featuring all-new original recipes prepared by Bourdain, plus a guide to the ghostly legendary spirits behind these horrifying tales. This horror anthology is sure to please--and scare!
On a dark, haunted night, a Russian Oligarch dares a circle of international chefs to play the samurai game of 100 Candles--where each storyteller tells a terrifying tale of ghosts, demons and unspeakable beings--and prays to survive the challenge.
Inspired by the Japanese Edo period game of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, Hungry Ghosts reimagines the classic stories of yokai, yorei, and obake, all tainted with the common thread of food.
Infidel by Pornsak Pichetshote
A haunted house story for the 21st century, Infidel follows an American Muslim woman and her multi-racial neighbors who move into a building haunted by entities that feed off xenophobia.
H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness by Gou Tanabe
January 25, 1931: an expedition team arrives at a campsite in Antarctica...to find its crew of men and sled dogs strewn and dead. Some are hideously mangled, as if in rage--some have been dissected in a curious and cold-blooded manner. Some are missing. But a still more horrific sight is the star-shaped mound of snow nearby...for under its five points is a grave--and what lies beneath is not human!
At the Mountains of Madness is a journey into the core of Lovecraft's mythos--the deep caverns and even deeper time of the inhospitable continent where the secret history of our planet is preserved--amidst the ruins of its first civilization, built by the alien Elder Things with the help of their bioengineered monstrosities, the shoggoths. Since it was first published in Astounding Stories during the classic pulp era, At the Mountains of Madness has influenced both horror and science fiction worldwide!
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