Chronicles Of Terror. Edited by Kim Roberts. WP Comics Ltd. (2016)

A very engaging and enjoyable anthology of horror stories. This anthology takes a big tent approach to horror stories, there is a very wide range of stories and styles and very impressively the anthology feel like a unified collection rather than stories randomly collected in the same place. This is a piece of very skillful editing, without the support of a unifying idea, other than the rather nebulous one of horror stories, there is a considerable chance that the stories will work against each other rather than together. They do not, the wide range is a pleasure rather than a distraction, the skills of the creators are showcased rather than buried.
In any anthology there is room for a considerable variation in the quality of the stories, with such a large number of stories it a real possibility. None of the stories are less than interesting and some are excellent. Short stories are a very difficult form to manage, there is just enough room for the idea, it has to be presented in action, the set up and the climax are very compressed. The contributors in this anthology have all exploited this compression very well, using varying lengths to get the story where it needs to be.
Shots between Fangs, Angelo Dias (Writer), Dann Franco (Art), Raq's Rodigues (Colours), Raphael Andrade (Letters). This story uses the compression to tremendous effect, it has a brutal momentum from the start to the ending, there is no context or explanation, just the action of the moment. The tremendous and assured confidence of the writing, the great idea is has and the sheer momentum all combine seamlessly. Dann Franco's art is angular, expressive and delivers action with real physical force and weight. The colors by Raq's Rodigues are pitch perfect, they bring out all the tones of the story without ever overloading it. The letters are quiet, they never draw undue attention, Raphael Andrade's sound effects on the other hand are a brutal joy, they are just as loud and squelchy as required.
Can We Come In? Michael Gordon (Writer), Brian Azcurra (Art), Nikki Sherman (Letters) is a really smart piece of writing that plays very nicely with reader's expectations. Brian Azcurra's beautiful black and white art is a pleasure to read, the physical context is strongly developed and the cast are astonishingly expressive. The second to last panel is a minor masterpiece of calmly presented horror and terror. the letters by Nikki Sherman are subtle and feel very natural within the panels.
Insanitarium Chris Gates (Writer & Letters), Haraldo (Art) is comprehensively and successfully in the readers face right up to the conclusion. Mixing mental health and splatter risks removing any tension from the story, Chris Gates has a sharp angle that brings it all horribly together. The slightly overheated art by Haraldo is exactly what the story needs to bring out the manic element that gives the story its tremendous energy.
The Mirror, Kim Roberts (Writer), Denis Vermesse (Art), Nikki Sherman (Letters) is a correctly dominated by the powerful art. The story is simple and effective, the art pulls every nuance and possibility up for the reader to relish. The colours are intense and verging on the claustrophobic,and they give the story the off -kilter atmosphere it needs to deliver.
No One Checks Out, Kim Roberts (Writer), Pietro Vaughan (Art), Nikki Sherman (Letters). The black and white art  is simply staggering, it engulfs the reader and gives the story the heavy physical presence that it needs. Nikki Sherman's letters are never swamped by the art, they are clear and natural.
Together Forever Alexander Altman (Writer), Borislav Maljenovic (Art), Angel Rd (Colours) , Cristian Docolomansky (Letters) is wonderfully paced, the reveals are cunningly staged and it is genuinely unnerving. The art by Borislav Maljenovic is a pleasure to read, the cast move through their context with expressive body language, the details of the house are all really strongly presented. The colours by Angel Rd give depth and weight to the situation and allow the situation emerge in its own right without every forewarning the reader. Cristian Docolomansky's letters are natural and easy to read.
This is a tremendous, generous anthology that is a pleasure to read.
Chief Wizard Note: This is a review copy kindly sent by JoJo King. To purchase a copy, you should it is tremendous value and a treasure of excellent comics, it is available here,  Chronicles of Terror - WP Comics Ltd. | DriveThruComics.com

The Beast with Five Fingers. W.F. Harvey. Wordsworth Editions (2009)

A great collection of stories, some supernatural, some crime and others from a unjustly neglected English writer. The mix of stories is very nicely judged by the editor David Stuart Davies, they show the breath of W.F. Harvey's writing. From the supernatural stories in the collection, the title story is a very enjoyable and straightforward story of a supernatural menace. The tension is nicely created and swiftly built upon, the climax sharp and to the point. A much more oblique story, "August Heat" uses a technique that W.F. Harvey liked, the conclusion is left strongly implied rather than delivered. The reader is not cheated, the climax is the least aspect of the story, the careful set up is the reason and it is done with such care and skill that it can carry off an open conclusion.
"The Man Who Hated Aspidistras" is more of a sliver than a story, it is not even an anecdote, still it slyly satisfying as a slightly bitter joke. on the other hand "The Fern" is savagely bitter, beautifully paced and the biting open conclusion offers no refuge for the cast or the reader. To show off his astonishing variety "The Angel of Stone" manages in three pages to remind the cast and reader that time is precious and small pleasures are among its greatest joys.
One of the stand out stories in the book is "A Middle-Class Tragedy", with a cruel economy and precision it skewers its leading character. The writing is beautiful, not a word is out of place, the conclusion is heartbreaking in its entirely justified smallness. A section in the book is titled "Twelve Strange Cases", these are stories narrated by a middle-aged nurse and are about some of the cases she has attended at. The greatest pleasure in these stories, each of which has a clever plot, fully realised and with very well judged reveals, is the narrator herself. Her personality sparkles off the page, she draws the reader in with the pleasure in the storytelling. She is given enough space to emerge as a serious, competent, curious and forceful personality. This is critical as the stories work because she is such a strong character, the plots draw their force because of her strength. The stories moreover are peppered with her salty observations on her patients, fellow nurses and hospitals, she has a cheerfully biting turn of phrase.
All in all this is a really enjoyable collection of stories, a pleasure to read.

ZombieWorld. Winter's Dregs and Other Stories. Dark Horse Books (2005)

This is a collection of four stories, one of which is absolutely outstanding, another excellent, the other two, while fine, suffer by comparison.
The title story, Winter's Dregs written by Bob Fingerman, art by Tommy Lee Edwards, Colours by Melissa Edwards and letters by John Workman, is astonishing. The large cast are introduced and established as credible individuals, from the Mayor of New York to a homeless man, then a zombie plague is unleashed. They all respond in surprising and unsurprising ways, they react like people in utterly insane situations probably would. The story is relentlessly grim and savage, the tension is driven to unbearable heights and the reader is completely involved in the actions of the cast. The ending is logical, savage, surprising and a genuine storytelling triumph.
Everything about this story work in harmony, the writing and structure of the narrative, the angular, often claustrophobic art, the subtle, dark palette of colours, the lettering that adds the volume and emphasis as required. This has the grip and grim force of the highest quality horror.
The two middle stories, Eat Your Heart out with story & art by Kelley Jones, colours by Stu Hiner and letters by Ken Bruzenak and Home For The Holidays written by Gordon Rennie, art by Gary Erskine, colours by Helen Bach, letters by Annie Parkhouse, suffer from similar problems. The central idea in each story is just not original enough in either case, nor are they pushed to any extreme that would pick up the slack. Both are well written, the art is lovely and the colours and letters are thoughtfully done and effective. They simply do not fly and suffer badly by comparison to the brutal brilliance of Winter's Dregs.
The final story, Tree of Death written by Pat Mills, art by J. Deadstock, colours by Dave Stewart and letters by Clem Robbins is essentially a direct sequel to the original Zombieworld story by Mike Mignola. This story explains why the zombie plague arose and the team working to remove it. Pat Mills is one of the best writers in comics and the story is fantastic. The details of the plot are a pleasure and the action is savage and blackly funny. The reveals are very well done and juicy, the secret behind the plague is not a let down. The art is mouthwatering, fluid and monstrous, the luscious colouring matches it with precision. The lettering is subtle and telling. Because the story is constrained by plot requirements it does not have the freedom enjoyed by Winter's Dregs, it is still a stunning achievement. Outstanding comics that prove even such a broken down cliche such as zombies only need the right talent to burst into dreadful,gripping,undead life again.

The Drive-In:A Double Feature Omnibus. Joe R. Lansdale. Carroll & Graf (1988)

A brilliantly written, deeply pessimistic, blackly funny and very savage horror story. A trip to the Orbit Drive-In for the regular Friday night horror film, cheap b-movie grade horror film, showing different features on each of the six giant screens playing to an audience of four thousand cars turns into a nightmare. The drive-in become isolated and the audience trapped in a deepening spiral of madness, cannibalism and demented horror. The escape from the drive-in proves to be a journey into a terrifying creature feature where death, madness and ceaseless cruelty rule right up to the brutally satisfactory conclusion. The story is superbly constructed, the reveals are done with a gory flourish, the narrative is beautifully crafted, it is as unrelentingly funny as it is horrific and gripping.
The subtitles for each book are beautifully concise and true, The Drive-In(A B-Movie with Blood and Popcorn, Made in Texas) and The Drive-In 2(Not Just One of Them Sequels). Joe R. Lansdale takes some of the conventions of the bucket of blood B-movies and uses them in fresh and ferocious ways to describe the horrific and speedy descent that people will take to savagery. The action is vividly described with the violence and passion of the first book nicely counterpointed by the despair of the second.
What lifts this story is the glittering brilliance of the writing, the first person narrative is a joy to read, it rings true and conveys the misguided optimism of the narrator right up to the stunning climax. The descriptive flourishes are funny and apt, the dialogue is natural and unforced, the cast are vivid and forceful. The total mix makes for an extraordinary reading experience where the unbearable is delivered with such panache that the reader is expertly swept along. This is a great story, read back to back the full force and quality of the writing and the astonishing imagination at work can be enjoyed to the full. Amazing and horrifying.

Stone Island. Ian Edginton (Writer), Simon Davis (Artist). Rebellion (2008)

Excellent horror comic with a great cast, sharp writing, stunning art and lots of gore being splattered about. Longbarrow Maximum Security Prison, set in a isolated and desolate moorland is where David Sorrell has been sent for the murder of his wife and her lover. Harry Rivers is his cellmate and somewhat mentor in the prison. When one of the inmates mutates into a hideous creature and starts to murder and devour other inmates and guards, Harry reveals his escape plan and he and David flee. They meet up with a few other survivors and find that they are trapped and under siege. The first part comes to an explosive conclusion, the second part takes the survivors and pitches them headlong into a plan to deal with the creatures at source. The action is fast, the cast determined and the story is willing to take a Ian Edginton has written a straightforward horror story with care and craft, the details are sharp and the threats are explicit and forceful. The central element of an isolated group facing an overwhelming threat is nicely managed in both parts, the different context in each case is superbly developed. There is a seam of black humour running through the story that gives the action an additional force and the cast a twist of life as they face their situations. With Sara McCandless, Ian Edginton has created a star, someone you would want at you back when flesh eating creatures are coming in through the window.
Simon Davis' art is stunning, it captures both the gore and the humour, the terrible transformations that some of the cast undergo with great verve, they are both realistic and impossible, just as they should be. The panel layout is dynamic and varied, it gives the story a great pace and allows the lurid colouring space to breathe and exert its influence.
This is a great fun comic, Ian Edginton refers to it a a "gore soaked guilty pleasure", any comic created with this level of care, craft and talent leaves no one with anything to be guilty about the abundant pleasure it provides.