Horror Comic Done Right… Scary as Hell

Crawl to Me is a four-part horror comic put out by IDW with the story, art and letters done by the one-man powerhouse Alan Robert (from the band Life of Agony and the creator of the Wire Hangers comics). Issue #2 is on the racks now and Issue #3 hitting the shops on September 21st.

Crawl to Me starts right out of the gate, lonely new home in the snow, nervous dog, everyman protagonist, Ryan, with loved ones on the phone revealing a wife and baby daughter, it’s like the Microsoft Office wizard template for “Horror Comic”. That’s not a bad thing by the way, but rather it invokes the right tropes to get you on your way in the story quickly. This decision gives the book a streamlined, fast-paced vibe to it that is fitting and welcome. A police raid gone bad next door draws our protagonist’s attention and when he goes over to investigate he finds his neighbor is a terrifying individual from his past. Then just as soon as they appeared, they disappear, no cops, no individual, just blood. It could all be in our protagonists head, or it could be disturbingly real. Ryan rushes home to take his psychiatric medicine to banish this “episode” when his loving wife calls. While talking with her on the phone he looks at the pill bottle and finds a new prescription: “Don’t Trust Her”.

A trail of dead animals and pests, a hole in the wall that bleeds blood, a disturbing artifact underneath the snow, a scarf that seems increasingly out of place and some unwelcome urges live in this house. You are quickly introduced to the idea that nothing you are seeing is guaranteed, some of it could be visions, others reality and there is no visual shorthand to help you tell the difference between the two. This effect leads you to be just as trapped in the mystifying muck as Ryan is. Friend, foe, family and stranger all look equally deranged and demonic making it hard to trust any of them (except the baby, she seems alright).

The monster isn’t clear, is it the house? Is it the man next door? Is it the wife? Is it Ryan himself? Heck, is it the dog? All are equally plausible.

There is a glut of horror comics right now as the comic book genres continue in their age old cycles, so it’s easy to lose something as fantastic as Crawl to Me in the heavy mix of gore, zombies and madmen on the racks. Equal parts The Amityville Horror, The Shining, and It, with art heavily influenced by the haunting style of 30 Days of Night artist Ben Templesmith blended with an unsettling photo-realistic edge. The writing lends itself to a quick, page-turning experience. Deeply unsettling, chaotic and yet somehow familiar, Crawl to Me is a book that should be picked up immediately if you like your scares to cut a bit more to the core.