CBR15Passport, Different genre horror in graphic novel Okay, I know I keep saying it, but I am not really into horror as a genre. However, I have noticed that there are some terribly clever works out there that fall into horror as a category. Now, I am revamping my thoughts and feeling about horror to say, “I do not like gore for gore sake horror, but a good, not too graphicly gross, thoughtful and/or thought provoking story I am good with.” Mostly.
And with Haunthology by Jeremy Haun, I am mostly good with the some spooky, some odd and some make no sense at all stories. However, some of the stories make way too much sense. You see, Haun gives you a mind frack so hard, you thank him and ask for more. Or you are so totally freaked out you run screaming (which I am assuming if you meet them that you should do because I can see how this author and illustrator is one very messed up puppy!) The stories are individually felt, you really cannot talk about them without giving things away. The works are separate stories that do have some connections. Themes range from love, death and the end of the world. Written during the pandemic, much of what Haun was feeling must have come out in this collection. You can feel the hopelessness, but the hopefulness, too. And yet, sometimes the demons win.
There are triggers all over. This is a mental horror collection as much as traditional gore horror (and there is gore). And that mental screw Haun gives is not nice. And there are such things as murder, death in various forms, missing people, creepy aliens, drinking, demons, exposed sexuality, and you name it. I skipped reading the introductions, and maybe that would have made more sense of things, but at the same time I really had a raw experience and no real preconceived notions on the text and art.
The images I picked have no real rhyme or rhythm, but since I read this on Edelweiss, I was unable to take some of my favorite illustrations off the screen. Due in May 2023 I am curious about the final product.
“Each of these tales grabs you somewhere uncomfortable and doesn’t let go till it has to. Knowing Jeremy, it’s easy to see within these pages how personal this project is to him…Most of all I’m just glad I made it out of the final page alive.” –Mitch Gerads, Strange Adventures, Mister Miracle, Batman
“Jeremy Haun’s Haunthology marries a meticulously detailed artistic style to a series of vignettes gruesome, strange, and disturbing…. John Langan, Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies
“Jeremy Haun has crafted something truly unsettling here, and I can’t recommend it enough.” –Alex Grecian, The Yard, Rasputin