13 Killer Slasher Comics And How To Get Started Reading Them

Created by Tim Seeley & Stefano Caselli
Published by Image Comics  

Twenty-three years ago, writer Tim Seeley (Revival) and artist Stefano Caselli (Ultimate Black Panther) introduced the world to Cassie Hack and her hulking partner, Vlad. The former is a final girl whose battle with undead, murderous revenants began when she was forced to kill her own mother, who had become a slasher known as the Lunch Lady. Vlad is like a living Jason Voorhees if he were kind and had the power of speech. Together, they travel the country eliminating slashers. 

Cassie and Vlad's adventures are an homage to all the great slasher films as well as all the delightfully bad ones. So, they're often quite funny. 

They're also jam packed with memorable, original killers, but Seeley's protagonists have also run afoul of some iconic horror movie characters as well. Over the course of Hack/Slash's run, they've fought against and alongside the killer doll Chucky, Victor Crowley from the Hatchet films, Herbert West from the Re-Animator franchise, and Evil Dead's Ash Williams.

Where to start: For the past few years, Seeley and Image Comics have been releasing beautiful hardcover graphic novels that collect Hack/Slash in order. You'll want to pick up Hack/Slash: Deluxe Edition Volume 1, which collects the series' initial one-shots, including Hack/Slash Vs. Chucky. 

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Filming in New York City is expensive. That's not something that writer Elliott Kalan (Mystery Science Theater 3000) and artist Andrea Mutti (Haunt You to the End) had to worry about in the medium of comics, though. In this series, they unleash an unkillable, masked, murderous, maniac named Harry on the Big Apple. He's proven to be such an unstoppable force that NYC's citizens, law enforcement, and government have chosen to ignore and adapt to his rampages.  

The initial volume of the series follows Harry into New York's subway system. It also chronicles the exploits of a traumatized political aide and a police detective trying to stop Harry's underground rampage. 

Where to Start: Maniac of New York Vol. 1: The Death Train is a trade paperback collection of the series' initial story. 

What if someone combined the murderous, one night set up of The Purge franchise with a whole town of monstrous, supernatural slashers?  If the potential answer to that question excites you, check out this series from writer Cavan Scott (Star Wars Adventures: Tales From Vader's Castle) and artist Paul Fry (Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca).  It follows a group of high school seniors whose bus breaks down in a seemingly idyllic small town. Unfortunately for them, they've arrived on the day that the town's entire populace transforms into bloodthirsty killers when the sun goes down. 

Where to start: The entire four-issue mini-series is collected in the trade paperback, Night of the Slashers Vol. 1 

This slasher deconstruction from writer Justin Jordan (Luther Strode) and artist Brahm Revel (Guerillas) is set in a small town where the titular killer is more than just a boogeyman. He's a very real, unkillable force who's wreaked puritanical vengeance on the unrighteous for generations. In this series, a teenage girl, obsessed with the Harrower, and her friends set out to uncover the secrets of their town and the masked killer that menaces it. 

 Where to start:  Harrower collects all four issues of the series in one trade paperback. 

This currently unfolding series from the creative team behind Vault Comics' Finger Guns, writer Justin Richards and artist Val Halverson, is a love letter to the slasher genre. It follows the exploits of a podcast host out to help her favorite slasher, the lion-masked Hopton Valley Killer, regain notoriety. She also hopes that HVK will show her the ropes of the bloody slasher trade.

Where to start: Currently, three of The Slasher's Apprentice's five issues have been released. Your local comic store might still have them or be able to order them for you. If you prefer to read the series in collected form, a trade paperback collection is set to be released on October 28 and is available for pre-order now.

This series, written by Joshua Williamson (Dark Ride) and illustrated by Mike Henderson (The Hive), plays like a combination of Twin Peaks and the movie Se7en. It tells the story of an NSA agent searching for his missing friend, as he ventures into and investigates a small town in Oregon. The town is infamous for being the birthplace of 16 different serial killers, many of them masked. His investigation brings him face-to-face with a number of these murderers, including the series' titular killer, whom he'll have to team up with to find his friend. 

Where to start: The series ran for 30 issues from 2014-2017 and then returned for a 10-issue second volume in 2020, so there are several ways to get started. If you're curious, try Nailbiter Volume 1: There Will Be Blood, which collects the series' first five issues in trade paperback. If you're excited about the book, try Nailbiter: The Murder Edition Volume 1, a hardcover collection of the series' first ten issues.  And if you're sure you'll love it, you can go all in and get Nailbiter Compendium One, which collects the series' initial 30-issue volume and the special Nailbiter/Hack/Slash one-shot comic all in a deluxe hardcover. 

In this series set in their Beyond Mortal comics universe, which blends superheroes with eldritch horror, writer Cullen Bunn and artist Danny Luckert give slasher fans something they never knew they needed: their very own everywoman-style superhero! Her name is Allie Perry, and she's a horror movie fan who uses superpowers, such as the ability to teleport short distances when no one is looking, and recreating the weapons of any horror movie she's ever seen, to battle both human and supernatural monsters. She operates under the nom de guerre of Jumpscare.

The book reveals the supernatural origins of Jumpscare's powers, shows her navigating fractured familial relationships and cutting a bloody swathe through street criminals and a monstrous cult.

Where to start: All four issues of Jumpscare have been released. Your local comic store might still have some copies or be able to order some issues for you. A collected trade paperback of the series will be released on October 14 and is available for pre-order now.

Comics is a medium where writers and artists can take big, wild, creative swings, and with this horror comedy writer John Lees (Hotell) and artist Adam Cahoon (Origin House: Spa and Retreat) do just that. They tell a tale that combines elements of One Cut of the Dead with “cursed“ movies like Antrum, an imaginary friend that looks like a hulking '80s slasher, and the political climate of the UK's “Video Nasty“ era.

The series is set in Scotland in 1994. It follows a horror loving teenager who spends his time watching scary VHS rentals with his friends in the “Murder Club.“ When the Murder Club obtains a copy of an infamous film on the “Video Nasty“ list, they attract the attention of moral crusaders, people in their small town, and otherworldly forces.

Where to start: The Nasty: The Complete Series is a trade paperback collection containing every issue of the book.

This horror comedy from writer Kyle Starks (I Hate This Place) and artist Piotr Kowalski (Let This One Be a Devil) is a hilarious send up of various horror sub-genres, but especially slashers. Fans of the Halloween franchises will appreciate the book's Shape-inspired figure.

Where Monsters Lie is the story of a gated community and the people who live there; slasher style killers, monsters, and other fiendish entities. The residents dwell there in between murder sprees, but unbeknownst to them, a survivor from their past attacks has found where they live and is about to turn their quaint neighborhood into a noisy war zone.

Where to start: The first series is collected in the trade paperback Where Monsters Lie Volume 1. A trade paperback collection of the second volume of the series, Where Monsters Lie Volume 2: Cull-De-Sac became available recently.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of this legendary holiday slasher writers James Kuhoric (Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash) and S.A. Check (Cartoon Puppet Horror Theater) teamed with artist Puis Calzada (FANGORIA, Metallica) to create an original comic story set after the events of the titular 1984 film.

Where to Start: The entire four-issue mini-series and the Silent Night Deadly Night special issue are available in one trade paperback titled Silent Night Deadly Night: 40th Anniversary Collection.

At the beginning of Stranger Things' third season, we see Dustin arriving home from a summer science camp. This mini-series from writer Jody Houser (Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons: The Rise of Hellfire) and artist Edgar Salazar (X-23: Deadly Regenesis) chronicles his adventures at that camp which include trying to create his own D&D campaign, getting to know his future girlfriend Suzy, and confronting a mysterious figure in an Albert Einstein mask that's menacing the camp's counselors. The series has a lot of fun with the conventions of summer camp slashers.

Where to start: The entire four-issue mini-series is collected in the Stranger Things: Science Camp trade paperback.

This horror comedy from writer Fred Van Lente (Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games) and artist Chris Panda (Headless Horseman Halloween Annual) was primarily inspired by Van Lente's love for Giallo films, but it does feature many elements of the slasher genre as well including a masked killer who offs their victims in over-the-top ways. 

It makes the most of the comic medium's budget-free visuals to create a fully realized, fictional, Florida theme park. The series follows a behind-the-scenes park employee who is thrust into the spotlight when she's forced to play a princess in public and stumbles upon a mysterious killer murdering her colleagues in ways inspired by the original Grimm's Fairy Tales. She is then forced to play detective and travel across the park's various “realms“ to protect her coworkers and unmask the killer who's preying upon them.

Where to start: The entire five-issue mini-series is collected in the Murder Kingdom trade paperback.

In this series, writer James Kuhoric teams with artist Andrew Magnum (Alice Cooper: Crossroads) to bring comic readers brand new, blood-soaked tales of another fan favorite cinematic slasher; Victor Crowley from Adam Green's Hatchet series.

Where to start: Adam Green's Hatchet Vol. 1 is a trade paperback collection of the first four issues of American Mythology's Hatchet comics. The initial story is set in the '80s and follows a crew of aspiring filmmakers who make the unfortunate choice to film their movie in Victor Crowley's swamp.