8 of the Best Horror Comics Published in the 2020s

I love this one partly for the creep factor and partly that it comes from an obscure indie house, one to keep an eye on. Francois is middle-aged, stunning, and ailing. So, she hires a halfwitted teenager to be a summer caretaker for her Louisiana mansion. It seems like an easy job for Kenny, except for the mysteriously locked attic.

Junji Ito is arguably the master of horror manga, and this manga that began in 2022 just reinforces that title. This first volume tells four separate tales, many pulling from Japanese folklore, and all are terrifying. Here’s an example: deciding to die together, a couple enters Aokigahara, the suicide forest. Once there, though, they come upon a mysterious force beyond their reckoning.

Carmen Maria Machado is best known as a short story writer and essayist, but here, she puts her significant skills to work in a great horror comic. In Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania, a mysterious illness is plaguing the people. They are losing their memories. When El and Octavia wake up in a movie theatre with no memory of their last few hours, they start digging into what, exactly, his happening to their town.

From the award-winning team behind Monstress comes this great, supernatural horror comic. Milly and Billy are Chinese-American twins just trying to make it, to keep their restaurant afloat. When their parents come to visit, aiming to help, they insist that the twins help clean up the house next door. The only problem? That house was the scene of a grisly murder, and they’re all in for a night of terror as a result.

No list of horror comics is complete without something from James Tynion IV, who has made a career out of the genre. For my money, this is his best. In the little town of Archer’s Peak, children are going missing, most never to return. Enter Erica Slaughter. Her job is to kill monsters no matter the cost, and bear the terrible price of her terrible job.

Based on Uketsu’s hit novel, this horror comic totally gives me those House of Leaves vibes I’m always looking for. This follows a protagonist who has always specialized in the occult, believing that they’re prepared for anything. That is, until they come upon a house designed for murder. There’s a room with no doors, no windows, but a horrifying body count.

Okay, not everything on this list has to require a strong stomach. Sometimes, horror can be adorable. Sophie is a dog who doesn’t remember how she got in this house. She doesn’t recognize the other dogs. In fact, she’s sure something bad happened, but can’t put her paw on it. And where is her human? Sophie needs to unravel this mystery if she wants to survive.

This one isn’t just a great horror comic, it’s also rather trippy and adventurous. Emilia is on the run, but she’s not alone. A man with a veil of smoke is with her. He might be Death. Emilia was supposed to die, but Death didn’t take her. So they’re on the run in a stolen truck. It would be romantic if it weren’t so terrifying.