The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings

by Scott Allie

Book Overview

Dark Horse's horror line launches its new prestige format with this hardcover book filled with original short stories by some of the most respected names in comics. The longest story in The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings is also Mike Mignola's only new Hellboy adventure in 2003!

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569719586
• ISBN13: 9781569719589
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Dark Horse Books
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.4"
• Age Range: 14 years and up

Customer Reviews

Uneven Collection, Beautifully Illustrated

Like the other reviewer, I picked this one up for "Thurnley Abbey" which is one of the scariest ghost tales going. While I was disappointed (at first) that it was the straight story with a few illustrations, I will say the illustrations were well done and I am glad to have the story permamently in my collection. The other stories varied wildly. My favorite was "Gone" which is subtly creepy: no gore, no blood and NO EXPLANATION. You are left to your own devices as to what happened and the story is the more bone chilling for it. On the other hand, that story in which a man tells a young boy a story about a haunted house was ho-hum while the Tattoo story was disturbing. (And, in a perverse way, quite amusing.)I'm not a fan of all the styles of artwork here--some of it was too dark and hard to look at. On the overall, though, if you like ghosts and the creepies, you'll want this in your collection.

Gorgeous artwork, spooky/poignant stories...

You've got to love a book that's dedicated to "Hans Holzer, Edward Gorey, and the Fox Sisters"! This was a very enjoyable collection, overall. It was the lovely skeletal figure on the cover of this book that caught my eye, and when I found that "Thurnley Abbey" is one of the stories included, I had to pick it up. It turns out that "Thurnley Abbey," an old favorite of mine, is presented here in text form with a few handsome illustrations, while the rest of the stories are original works by several different graphic novelists, including a "Hellboy" adventure by Mike Mignola. The illustrated stories range from "exceedingly creepy" to "subtly disturbing" to "heart-warming" (not necessarily in that order). These are all ghost stories in the classic mold - very little gore or explicit gruesomeness, but lots of shadows and shudders. I've read stronger tales (and would have given a 4.5 rating if I could), but these were quite enjoyable, and the old classic "Thurnley Abbey" is just as chilling as I remember. This book would make a handsome addition to anyone's ghost-story collection.