We have endured a long and awful summer to get to the best season of all — spooky season. The weather has finally started to cool down and the creepy coffee mugs are in full rotation. I don’t know what it is about 2022 but I want more witches and ghosts and I want them all of the time. I read a lot of thrillers earlier in the year but the time is ripe for autumn spookies.
I have been reading stacks of spooky graphic novels (with my library card thanks to Hoopla and Libby). This also means I’ve started a list of the ones I need to get physical copies of because I love them so much and they’re beautiful. Such is life. Here are my faves from the stack of spooky graphic novels I’ve read so far.
Jette’s Top 5 Spooky Graphic Novels
1. The Me You Love In The Dark by Skottie Young and Jorge Corona
This was the graphic novel that got me reading this spooky season. An artist leaves the city and rents an old Victorian mansion in hopes of finding new inspiration. That she does, and not in the way she expected. The artwork is beautiful. The story is filled with love and angst. I too want to be an artist running away to a giant old house in rural Massachusetts to find my muse!
2. The Autumnal by Daniel Krausand and Chris Shehan
Kat Somerville and her daughter head back to her childhood town after the death of her mother. Everyone’s obsession with autumn and the falling leaves seems quaint at first. Kat quickly realizes there may have been a reason her mother sent her a way all those years ago. This one had me hooked so fast. I LOVE autumn and leaves changing colour. To give one of my favourite things a spooky vibe made it extra scary for me.
3. Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Book 1: The Crucible by Robert Aguirre-Sacasa with Robert Hack
You know I love adaptations so I’m actually surprised that it took me this long to dive into The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. While it differs from the show, it doesn’t change the story. You actually get a bit more detail and it’s even spookier. The show was visually stunning and the artwork here doesn’t disappoint. If you’re a fan of Sabrina in any form, you’ll want to check this out.
4. The Nice House on the Lake by James Tynion IV with Alvaro Martinez
Gah! Warning — this ends on a cliffhanger and now I’m desperately waiting for volume 2 to be released next spring. In the collected first six issues, we follow a group of people who end up at a lake house together. Everyone was invited by a mutual friend, Walt. Some have known him since high school, others only recently met him. But it’s very quickly noted that something isn’t right. The world around them is plunged into chaos while they are safe. But why are they safe? I don’t want to spoil anything but I highly recommend this wild ride. James Tynion IV also wrote Something is Killing the Children, which we will be discussing in an upcoming episode.
5. The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado with DaNi
You know we both love In The Dream House by Machado so when I saw she also wrote a graphic novel, I was sold. I mean the town in the story is called Shudder-to-Think, Pennsylvania. It’s been on fire for years in the depths of the old coal mine. There are skinless men and deer stalking the girls. My curiosity was piqued in the beginning when the two main characters woke up with no memory of the past two hours. The girls not only have to navigate through typical teenage things, like deciding where to go to college, but they also deal with the spooky history they’ve grown up in.
It’s Spooky Season, Witches!
Get your brooms. Get your black cats. Let’s do this. Send me the spirits and haints (a new word I learned for ghosts). Light your candles and dust off the stack of spooky graphic novels that are now ready to be enjoyed on a brisk fall evening.
And what’s on your Spooky Season Reading list?
