What an outstanding Horror Week at Capes and Tights! We discussed comics, novels, movies and so much more in the expansive horror genre and it was a thrill. Horror Week 2023 took place from Monday, October 30 – Sunday, November 5.
Podcasts with Horror Creators
Jeremy Dauber // Author
Jeremy Dauber is a professor of Jewish literature and American Studies at Columbia University, where he has also served as director of its Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. He has penned books such as In the Demon’s Bedroom: Yiddish Literature and the Early Modern, also Antonio’s Devils: Writers of the Jewish Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature, The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem, and Jewish Comedy: A Serious History; the last two were finalists for the National Jewish Book Award.
As J.A. Dauber, he is also the author of the YA novel Mayhem and Madness: Chronicles of a Teenaged Supervillain, which was a Young Adults’ Choice of the Children’s Book Council. He frequently lectures on topics related to American popular culture, Jewish literature, history, and humor at venues throughout the United States and internationally.
More recently Dauber has written books including American Comics: A History and Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew. He is currently researching and writing a book on what scares us by watching horror movies, reading horror books and so much more.
Joseph Schmalke // Comic Book Writer and Artist
Joseph Schmalke is the creator of such titles as Murder Hobo, We Don’t Kill Spiders, Electric Black, Seven Years In Darkness and many more.
The first volume of Seven Years In Darkness recently wrapped up with the one-shot Seven Years In Darkness: The Shamir Worm coming in January 2024 from CEX Publishing. The first volume will be collected together in a “progress report” in early 2024 and in a trade paperback coming later in 2024.
Adam Cesare // Horror Author
Adam Cesare is the author of the Bram Stoker Award-winning Clown in a Cornfield series, the graphic novel Dead Mall, and several other novels and novellas including the cult hit Video Night. His Clown in a Cornfield series gets a third installment coming sometime in 2024 subtitled Church of Friendo.
Cesare also released, Influencer, his latest novel via Audible Originals on Amazon today (November 2). Adam describes it as a young adult American Psycho mixed with Silence of the Lambs. While the book is an Audible Original, it will make its way to paperback in the future.
Conversation with Horror Creators
Kyle Starks // Horror Comic Writer
Kyle Starks is a two-time Eisner nominated comic creator from Southern Indiana. He is best known as the longest tenured writer and occasional artist for Oni Press Rick and Morty comic. He was nominated for Eisners for Sexcastle and Rock Candy Mountain for best humor publication.
More recently Kyle Starks has written comics like I Hate This Place and Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton at Image Comics, and Where Monsters Lie at Dark Horse Comics. He also has an original graphic novel entitled Old Head which released in August 2021 at Image Comics, Skybound’s Assassin Nation with Erica Henderson, Dynamite Comics Mars Attacks with Chris Schweizer and Oni Press’ Dead of Winter.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH KYLE STARKS
Andrea Mutti // Horror Comic Book Artist
Andrea Mutti is an Italian comic book artist. After obtaining his degree in geometry, Mutti attended the Comics School in Brescia, led by Ruben Sosa. He began his career illustrating the superheroes comic DNAction for Xenia Edizioni. He then illustrated horror comics for Fenix. Andrea moved over to Star Comics, where he drew stories for Lazarus Ledd and some episodes of Hammer. Since then he’s worked with DC, Vertigo, Marvel, Mad Cave Studios, Dark Horse and IDW Publishing.
More recently Andrea Mutti has released comics such as A Legacy of Violence and Parasomnia with Cullen Bunn, Haunt You Till The End with Ryan Cady, Maniac of New York with Elliot Kalan, and many more. Andrea Mutti has an upcoming series at Mad Cave Studios with Anthony Cleveland entitled Charred Remains hitting local comic shops on December 13, 2023.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH ANDREA MUTTI
Tyler Crook // Horror Comic Book Artist
Tyler Crook is an American artist living in the 21st century. For twelve years he toiled in an unlit cubicle making art for sports video games. This left him bearded and almost completely translucent. Then in 2011 he struck gold, comic book gold, with the release of Petrograd an original graphic novel written by Philip Gelatt and published by Oni Press. He is survived by his wife and many pets… but he’s not dead… yet. In fact, he is very busy working on titles like Witchfinder, Badblood, B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth, 6th Gun and Harrow County. And oh yeah, he won a Russ Manning award in 2012 which is kind of an Eisner Award… but not really.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH TYLER CROOK
Piotr Kowalski // Horror Comic Book Artist
Piotr Kowalski started his professional career in Europe working on series such as Gail, La Branche Lincoln, Urban Vampires, Dracula L’immortel and Badlands. He published his first comic series in the American market in 2010 and since then his output has grown to nearly 170 issues. His most popular titles are Sex, Marvel Knights: Hulk, The Dark Tower, Bloodborne, The Witcher, Steam Man, God of Tremors, Join The Future, Wellington and Wolfenstein. He lives in Warsaw and in Brussels. He is a big horror and death metal fan.
Recently Kowalski illustrated Where Monsters Lie and All Eight Eyes at Dark Horse and The Karman Line at Mad Cave Studios.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH PIOTR KOWALSKI
Lukas Ketner // Horror Comic Book Artist
Lukas Ketner is the artist and co-creator of Witch Doctor, the hit launch title for Robert Kirkman’s Skybound imprint at Image Comics. He was a 2009 nominee for the Russ Manning Award for his Witch Doctor work, which has earned praise from fans and creators alike. Other work includes stories for Dark Horse Comics’ Creepy Comics and Supersized: Strange Tales From a Fast-Food Culture, along with covers for BOOM! Studios’ Hellraiser. He has twice won entry into the Communication Arts Illustration Annual for his album artwork. He survived a successful full-body transplant from his hometown in Anchorage, AK to Portland, OR in 2000 where he currently resides.
More recently Ketner has illustrated the Count Crowley series of comics written by David Dastmalchian at Dark Horse.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH LUKAS KETNER
Damien Leone and David Howard Thornton // Terrifier Films
We discussed the Terrifier films with filmmaker Damien Leone and the actor who fills some big shoes as Art The Clown, David Howard Thornton.
Horror Comic Book Reviews
Canary #1
In 1891 a mine collapsed into itself. What was the dark substance found 666 feet underground? Blending modern horror, historical fact and Western lore, Scott Snyder and Dan Panosian have created a uniquely terrifying thriller with Canary. During the final days of the Gold Rush, one mining company in Colorado, pulled up radioactive Uranium, and then the mine then collapsed in on itself. Legends sprung up about the mine being cursed or even haunted.
Now the Frontier is closed, the gold and silver mines have dried up. The country is becoming “civilized,” and yet, in one stretch of the Rocky Mountains, a terrifying, new kind of violence is suddenly emerging. Random killings. People going mad and murdering neighbors, classmates without real cause. When a schoolboy kills his teacher with a hatchet, a famous federal marshal named Azrael William Holt is called in to investigate the killings. What hea brilliant young geologistis stranger and more horrifying than anything they could have ever imagined.
Blood Commandment #1
Living an isolated life in a shadowed valley surrounded by mountains and a thick forest, a father and son are terrorized by a dangerous supernatural presence. Only the father’s dark secrets can save them…or damn their souls for all eternity!
Being a single father can be tough, but for Ezra Connolly, it’s a duty he doesn’t take lightly. Living off-grid, away from prying eyes, in the heart of forest country, he spends his days teaching his teenage son Wil survival skills. But Wil has questions, questions Ezra fears to answer-about his past, and about why they never leave the valley before sundown…
READ OUR REVIEW OF BLOOD COMMANDMENT #1
Nightwalkers TP
Seren is an addict in recovery at a rehabilitation center secluded in the mountains, COMPLETELY ISOLATED from the outside world. When Seren and the other patients wake to find themselves locked inside and abandoned by the center’s staff, they must decide whether to wait or break out. The decision is made for them when a blood thirsty monster enters the center, and begins to tear through them to satiate its lust for blood.
READ OUR REVIEW OF NIGHTWALKERS TRADE PAPERBACK
Breath of Shadows TP
It’s the mid-1960s, and Jimmy Meadows should be on top of the world. His band’s most recent album just went gold, and they’re riding a wave to international fame. But Jimmy is driven by only one thing: where to get his next fix. With his bandmates at the end of their ropes and his life falling apart, Jimmy thinks he may be finished, until a friend tells him about a controversial method deep in the jungles of South America that can help him kick his addiction for good. But is clean living actually in Jimmy’s future, or will he instead unleash horrors beyond his wildest nightmares?
READ OUR REVIEW OF BREATH OF SHADOWS TRADE PAPERBACK
Lamenation TP
After weeks of grueling rehearsals, a new production is set to begin at the famed Requiem theatre: Razide’s Lament, three acts of gothic horror set inside a haunted castle with a story that some say is more than mere fantasy. Under the stern rule of a dedicated but temperamental director, the script seems to be ever-changing, and, more mysterious still, our lead actress has found herself cast in the role of a lifetime without so much as an audition. Her grand debut is fast approaching-and, with it, a barrage of razors in the night that will terrorize audiences and actors alike. There is no exit, no escape, and when the curtain finally rises, Razide himself will take center stage to cross the threshold into the unholy darkness that lies just beyond…
READ OUR REVIEW OF LAMENTATION TRADE PAPERBACK
W0RLDTR33 Vol. 1 TP
In 1999, Gabriel and his friends discovered the Undernet-a secret architecture to the internet. They charted their exploration on a message board called W0RLDTR33.
Then they lost control. Someone broke into W0RLDTR33-someone who welcomed the violent hold the Undernet had on them. At great personal cost, Gabriel and the others thought they sealed the Undernet away for good.
They were wrong. And now the whole world will know the meaning of PH34R.
READ OUR REVIEW OF W0RLDTR33 VOL. 1
Ghostlore Vol. 1 TP
What ghost stories do ghosts tell, and what can they tell us about ourselves?
An estranged daughter and her father wander a haunted land; they only have the restless spirits, each with its own story to tell, as company along the way.
After a deadly accident of which they are the only survivors, Lucas and Harmony Agate can see the dead-an overwhelming amount of the deceased, all with their own warnings, cries for help, and malevolence alike.
But Lucas and Harmony aren’t the only ones with this ability; there are other nearly-deads, some of which have malicious motivations…
READ OUR REVIEW OF GHOSTLORE VOL. 1
Horror Movie Reviews
Pet Sematary: Bloodlines
In 1969, a young Jud Crandall has dreams of leaving his hometown of Ludlow, Maine behind, but soon discovers sinister secrets buried within and is forced to confront a dark family history that will forever keep him connected to Ludlow. Banding together, Jud and his childhood friends must fight an ancient evil that has gripped Ludlow since its founding, and once unearthed has the power to destroy everything in its path. Based on the untold chapter from Pet Sematary, Stephen King’s chilling novel, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines is a terrifying prequel and the untold story of why sometimes dead is better….
READ OUR REVIEW OF PET SEMATARY: BLOODLINES
Saw X
John Kramer is back. The most chilling installment of the SAW franchise yet explores the untold chapter of Jigsaw’s most personal game. Set between the events of Saw I and Saw II, a sick and desperate John travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedure in hopes of a miracle cure for his cancer — only to discover the entire operation is a scam to defraud the most vulnerable. Armed with a newfound purpose, John returns to his work, turning the tables on the con artists in his signature visceral way through a series of ingenious and terrifying traps.
The Exorcist: Believer
Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding has raised their daughter, Angela on his own. But when Angela and her friend Katherine, disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before: Chris MacNeil.
READ OUR REVIEW OF THE EXORCIST: BELIEVER
Five Nights at Freddy’s
The film follows a troubled security guard as he begins working at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. While spending his first night on the job, he realizes the night shift at Freddy’s won’t be so easy to make it through.
READ OUR REVIEW OF FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S
Killer Klowns from Outer Space // Podcast Episode #135
When teenagers Mike and Debbie see a comet crash outside their sleepy small town, they investigate and discover a pack of murderous aliens who look very much like circus clowns. They try to warn the local authorities, but everyone assumes their story is a prank. Meanwhile, the clowns set about harvesting and eating as many people as they can. It’s not until they kidnap Debbie that Mike decides it’s up to him to stop the clowns’ bloody rampage.
LISTEN TO OUR REVIEW OF KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE
Horror Book Reviews
A Haunting on the Hill
From three-time Shirley Jackson, World Fantasy, and Nebula Award-winning author Elizabeth Hand comes the first-ever authorized novel to return to the world of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House: a suspenseful, contemporary, and terrifying story of longing and isolation all its own.
Holly Sherwin has been a struggling playwright for years, but now, after receiving a grant to develop her play, The Witch of Edmonton, she may finally be close to her big break. All she needs is time and space to bring her vision to life. When she stumbles across Hill House on a weekend getaway upstate, she is immediately taken in by the ornate, if crumbling, gothic mansion, nearly hidden outside a remote village. It’s enormous, old, and ever-so eerie—the perfect place to develop and rehearse her play.
Despite her own hesitations, Holly’s girlfriend, Nisa, agrees to join Holly in renting the house out for a month, and soon a troupe of actors, each with ghosts of their own, arrive. Yet as they settle in, the house’s peculiarities are made known: strange creatures stalk the grounds, disturbing sounds echo throughout the halls, and time itself seems to shift. All too soon, Holly and her friends find themselves at odds not just with one another, but with the house itself. It seems something has been waiting in Hill House all these years, and it no longer intends to walk alone…
READ OUR REVIEW OF A HAUNTING ON THE HILL
Creature Feature
Gather round as today’s most diabolically clever authors twist simple moments into otherworldly horrors. An empty baby stroller. A scratching underneath the bed. A farmhouse in the moonlight. With an unnerving sense of the macabre, these stories transform our greatest fears into bone-chilling realities.
The six books include The Pram By Joe Hill; Ankle Snatcher By Grady Hendrix; It Waits in the Woods By Josh Malerman; In Bloom By Paul Tremblay; Best of Luck By Jason Mott; and Big Bad By Chandler Baker.
READ OUR REVIEW OF THE CREATURE FEATURES
Influencer
Aaron Fortin is new in town. He drives a brand-new Acura—a gift from his parents for uprooting him in the middle of senior year. Showing up on his first day at the local public school in that nice of a car? He knows he’ll never blend in, and he doesn’t care to try. The car, the new kid mystique, he can use all that…
Crystal Giordano carpools to the same school in her friend Trevor’s beat-up van. In the van along with Crystal and Trevor are Paul, Harmony, and Gayle. Crystal’s technically part of their misfit group, but most of the time, she feels like she’s the only one who doesn’tfit.
When Aaron Fortin sits at their lunch table, Crystal can see he’s not who he says he is. But how big of a fraud is Aaron Fortin? Crystal clumsily exposes Aaron and becomes his target, falling victim to his insidious campaign to erase her. Only then does she discover who he truly is—and it’s so much worse than she thought.
As her friends begin to follow him one by one, Crystal wonders if she can protect them or if his influence is just too strong.
Top Horror Lists
Favorite Horror Movies
Over the years hundreds of horror movies have been produced and the list of films to watch could go on for days, but we decided to pick our favorite 30 horror movies for this years special week!
PEEK AT OUR FAVORITE HORROR MOVIES
Favorite Horror Comics
Some of these comics are new and we are super into them right now, others are older and we cannot get enough. Either way its a great list, in our opinion, to read if you are into the horror genre.
PEEK AT OUR FAVORITE HORROR COMICS
Favorite Horror Novels
This collection of books are what we are super into now, plus some classics that needed to make the list! We have a few horror novels on our to-read list for the rest of 2023 and 2024, so we can imagine next year’s list will look different!
PEEK AT OUR FAVORITE HORROR NOVELS
Top 5 Horror Novels of 2023
The list of great horror novels released in 2023 is extensive. A lot of wonderful books dropped this year, but these are the ones that jumped out at us in no particular order.
PEEK AT OUR FAVORITE HORROR NOVELS OF 2023
Best Goosebumps Books of All-Time
In total, 62 books were published under the Goosebumps umbrella title from 1992 to 1997; the first was Welcome to Dead House; the last was Monster Blood IV. Sense 1992, Stine has grown the Goosebumps brand to include many more novels, comics, tv shows, movies and so much more.
Goosebumps were a staple growing up and for Horror Week we wanted to check-in on our favorite 10 Goosebumps books in no particular order.
PEEK AT OUR FAVORITE GOOSEBUMPS BOOKS
Top Stephen King Horror Novels
While King now spends most of his time away from his 47 West Broadway home, he still is consider by most our neighbor. When we were discussing horror novels during Horror Week at Capes and Tights, we felt it only fitting to countdown our favorite horror novels by the New York Times bestselling author and our spiritual neighbor, Stephen King.
King is the author over over 60 novels and many more short stories, so nailing down 15 horror novels wasn’t easy, but here they are.
PEEK AT OUR FAVORITE STEPHEN KING HORROR NOVELS
Award Winning Authors Give Book Recommendations
We have been grateful enough to host a few award winning horror authors on the Capes and Tights Podcast over the years including Daniel Kraus, Adam Cesare and Stephen Graham Jones. For Horror Week we reached out and asked which horror novels they recommend.
