Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Scary Stuff Podcast is focused on horror movies, but that doesn’t mean that’s where our love of horror stops. We are a full-service horror shop here at TSSP HQ. We love comics and books almost as much as we love the movies we discuss. We recently did a livestream with our local comic shop and massive supporter of the pod, Captain Blue Hen Comics. Today on the blog, I wanted to highlight a few of the comics that didn’t come up that day. More specifically, I wanted to talk about three books currently being put out by Boom! Studios, one of our favorite comic publishers.
I first dipped my toe into Boom comics with the fabulous “Giant Days” and have since become a devotee, having fallen in love with books like “Something is Killing the Children,” “Heavy Vinyl,” “Once and Future,” “Folklords,” “Sparrowhawk,” and many more. I’ve definitely hit the point where I’ll try almost anything they put out. One of my favorites that recently ended, “Ghosted in L.A.,” and left me looking for more supernatural coming of age stories. Boom immediately stepped up to the plate with two new titles.
The Last Witch #1
First up is “The Last Witch.” Written by Conor McCreery, perhaps best known for his work on IDW’s “Kill Shakespeare,” drawn by V.V. Glass, who has worked with Titan, Oni, and more. Colors are done by Natalia Nesterenko and letters by Jim Campbell. Not a traditional horror book, “The Last Witch” would be better described as dark fantasy. It tells the story of Saoirse who’s family befalls a horrible tragedy, but in the midst of it, discovers that she has magical powers, including the ability to absorb witch's magic and take it for her own. She sets out on an adventure to save Ireland and get her revenge.
It feels weird to describe the book as “great fun” when it deals with quite a lot of tragedy, but it is, in fact, great fun. The story mixes the best themes of coming of age tales with fantasy and a big helping of Irish folklore. Each issue so far builds and adds to the story in neat ways while also being absolutely stunning. The art and colors in the book pop off the page while also telling the story in a clear and easy-to-follow manner. It’s just an all-around terrific book and one that I look forward to each month. It’s part of Boom’s “Boom Box” imprint, designed for “gleeful” and all-ages books.
Specter Inspectors #2
The second book on the menu is also from the Boom Box imprint, “Specter Inspectors.” The book is done by Bowen McCurdy, best known for “The Long Way Home,” and Kaitlyn Musto, with letters from Jim Campbell. Musto describes the series on the Boom website as “SPECTER INSPECTORS is an exciting mix of paranormal shenanigans, cryptic mysteries, and a queer love story to give you the warm fuzzies—after all the horror,” and that does an excellent job of summing it up.
The story follows a group of young twenty-somethings, and one teenager, to the town of Cape Grace, one of the “most haunted towns in America.” They are there to film a ghost-hunter-style show called “Specter Inspectors,” and while in town, they run into a bit more than they expected, finding ghosts, cults, demons, and in the middle of it all, romance. As a person who loves both found footage and “ghost hunters who find more than they bargained for” type movies like “Grave Encounters,” “Deadtectives,” or the show “Truth Seekers,” I adore “Specter Inspectors.” Each issue thus far tackles a new challenge and location in the town as the mystery slowly unfolds. The romance feels organic, the characters are fun, and the art is dynamite.
Proctor Valley Road #1
The last of the books I want to talk about is “Proctor Valley Road.” From Boom studios proper, this one is written by the great Grant Morrison, best known for too many things to list but let's just say “The Invisibles” and “Klaus” for fun, and Alex Child, who has written for the BBC's Holby City. Art is from Naomi Franquiz, who has worked on “Tales from Harrow County.” The colors are done by Tamra Bonvillain, and letters are by Jim Campbell.
This one is a bit different from the first two. First off, it’s much darker and more traditional horror. The story follows a group of high schoolers in the early ’70s who decide to start a “spook tour” of a haunted stretch of highway outside of town in order to earn enough money to go see Janis Joplin. It seems innocuous enough until their first tour ends in tragedy, and everything spirals out of control. The book puts the supernatural at the center but spins out from there to explore life in the 70s for young people in America. It’s a bit grim on occasion but still firmly in the “barrel of fun” category.
On top of being a great comic, the series is also simultaneously being developed by NBCUniversal for TV, so this is a good chance to get in on the ground floor of what I have a feeling will quickly become a pretty fun TV series.
All three series are early in their runs, between two and four issues at the time of this writing, and all are worth jumping on board with. You can find them at your local comic shop or at Captain Blue Hen Comics if you’re reading this in the vicinity of northern Delaware. They might be off the beaten path from most other horror comics, but you won’t regret picking them up.