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Rachel is a writer from Arkansas, most at home surrounded by forests and animals much like a Disney Princess. She spends most of her time writing stories and playing around in imaginary worlds. You can follow her writing at rachelbrittain.com. Twitter and Instagram: @rachelsbrittain
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Houses of the Unholy is a riveting horror thrill-ride from bestselling creators Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, the award-winning team behind CRIMINAL (soon to be a TV series on Amazon Prime), RECKLESS, NIGHT FEVER and WHERE THE BODY WAS.
In this new tale, an FBI agent from the cult crime beat and a woman with a past linked to the Satanic Panic are drawn into a terrifying hunt for an insane killer hiding in the shadows of the underworld.
This pulse-pounding story asks: can you ever escape your past, or are all your bad decisions just more ghosts to haunt you, wherever you go?
When I tell people I like comics, I think a lot of them assume I’m talking superheroes: DC, Marvel, Golden Age classics. They’re not wrong exactly — I got my comic book start reading The Astonishing X-Men — but they’re not right either. The world of comics and graphic novels is so much wider than heroes and super powers. In fact, some of my favorite comics explore fantasy (Monstress), science fiction (Cosmoknights, Sentient, Saga), romance (Heartstopper), and even coming of age stories (The Magic Fish). Any genre you’re interested in can be found in comic book form, and that includes mysteries and thrillers.
Mystery and thriller comics can be traced back to the very beginning of comic book creation. Marvel had a specific Marvel Mystery Comics series that ran from 1939 to 1949, and DC is actually an acronym for “Detective Comics.” So, I guess you could say mysteries and comics have been linked from the start. Today, you can find mystery and thriller comics from almost every imprint, from Image to Dark Horse. The stories range from funny capers to dark and bloody thrillers with an every-escalating body count. There’s intrigue, mayhem, investigations, and murder galore. All the things that make mystery and thriller stories shine. So let your inner sleuth loose and set out on a journey to discover the who, what, when, where, and why of it all in these ten new mystery and thriller comics.
The Great British Bump-Off by John Allison, Max Sarin, Sammy Borras, and Jim Campbell
When a contestant is poisoned on the nation’s most beloved cooking show, UK Bakery Tent, Shauna decides to take matters into her own hands. Trying not to get eliminated is hard enough with the likes of Pete Holyrood and Fanny Cradock judging your bakes, but when you’re also trying to solve a murder, well, things really start to heat up. This wacky murder mystery graphic novel doesn’t take itself seriously, and that’s one of the best things about it. It’s just a murder of a good time.
Dark Spaces: Good Deeds by Che Grayson, Kelsey Ramsay, Ronda Pattison, Rus Wooton, and Shawn Lee
Two newcomers to St. Augustine, Florida find themselves in the middle of a supernatural conspiracy when the town’s 450th anniversary ends in bloodshed — bloodshed disgraced journalist Jean McKnight believes is linked to St. Augustine’s colonial past. The deeper they dig, the more disturbing their discoveries. But where is the line between investigation and vengeance?
Cat Fight by Andrew Wheeler and Ilias Kyriazis
A master thief in desperate need of paying off some debts learns that the grandmother who raised him is actually an infamous cat burglar herself — and she wants him to join her team. But when Nana is attacked by the same mysterious man who has been trying to get Felix to join his own crime syndicate, Felix finds himself on the run from thieves and crime bosses on every side. Can he clear his name before Schrodinger or his grandmother’s Kit Kat Crime Syndicate catch up with him?
Klik Klik Boom by Doug Wagner, Doug Dabbs, and Matt Wilson
A investigative podcaster and the woman she’s investigating become an unlikely duo in this action thriller about finding your family and getting revenge. Sprout uses polaroid photographs to communicate, leaving them behind at her crime scenes. Serena wants to know why. Unfortunately, her investigation now has her in the crosshairs of the very people Sprout is trying to take down. Good thing Sprout’s not about to let anyone she cares about get hurt.
Devour by Jazmine Joyner and Anthony Pugh
In this dark, thriller reimagining of the West African folklore of Anansi, a family returns to Alabama to care for their aging matriarch, Vassie, who’s suffering from dementia. But Vassie is more than she appears; she’s the last in a long line of root women caring for the community since they were enslaved on a local plantation. The eldest Turner daughter, Patsy, is suspicious. Why is the town so fearful of her grandmother? What she finds is far worse than she ever could’ve imagined.
Antarctica Vol. 1 by Simon Daniel Birks, Lyndon White, and Willi Roberts
A missing father and a mysterious Antarctic research base are at the heart of this graphic novel exploring a multiverse of possibilities. Hannah never got over the disappearance of her father. She’s been chasing after him in one way or another ever sense. Now, that search has brought her to a research base in Antarctica where she believes he was once stationed. But when an identical base shows up shortly after her arrival, it appears that the mystery — and danger — run far deeper than she ever could’ve imagined.
Barnstormers: A Ballad of Love and Murder by Scott Snyder and Tula Lotay
In this Bonnie and Clyde tale of post WWI aviation, two young barnstormers meet and fall in love. But their story isn’t quite that simple. When they’re suspected of a horrific crime, Hawk and Tillie only grow closer together, sharing their secrets and running from the law. Can they keep up the death-defying act when everyone is after them or will their story come to a fiery end?
Rare Flavours by Ram V and Filipe Andrade
Following their collaboration on The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, Ram V and Filipe Andrade are back together again for a supernatural romp about a demonic entity who wants to become the next Anthony Bourdain and the filmmaker he ropes into following him around. Little does Mo know he’s working for a being with inhuman tastes. With detectives and assassins alike after them, how long will Rubin be able to keep up his celebrity chef facade? And how long will Mo stick around once he realizes exactly who’s he working for?
Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Release date: September 17, 2024
In a small cozy town filled with animals, serial killer bear Samantha Strong is incensed when another killer breaks her cardinal rule: don’t kill the locals. Now, Samantha will have to track down her rival and put a stop to their killing spree before chaos rips apart her beloved town — or worse: the sheriff starts to sniff her out.
Jill and the Killers by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs, Roberta Ingranata, Waria K. Sahadewa, and Haley Rose Lyon
Release date: November 19, 2024
When Jill returns to school after her mother’s disappearance, everyone is obsessed with a new true crime subscription box. Each box is personally curated. But Jill’s seems a little too personal. The clues seem to relate to some very real disappearances in Jill’s hometown, and it might just lead to a killer. Can Jill and her friends connect the clues before one of them goes missing next?
For more mystery and thriller comics, check out these 10 Murder Mystery Comics and 20 Genre-Blending Graphic Novels.