As spooky season comes down to a close, as always, I’m not ready just yet to let go of the ghastly stories, and the ghouls that have accompanied me during this month.
So I decided to mark the closing of the season with the release of Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein, which comes out next Friday , November 7. What better way to celebrate this month long marathon than with two of my favorite things, a film by the brilliant director and one of my favorite books of all time, just the cherry on top of the cake. And as usual I’ll be enjoying it with my in-house horror expert and partner in crime for all the future endeavors of this blog.
I tell you, it’s priceless to have someone to share with, who has that same energy and love for the spooky season, it just made it extra special and fun.
In the meantime, I’ll continue to go thru some stories that caught my eye and send chills down my spine. In that note, the current book on the queue is The Ritual, the most recognized work by English writer Adam L.G. Nevill. I jump right into after thoroughly enjoying The Reddening, it was quite the experience, the book grabs you and keeps you tense all through out, that ancient evil that permeates on a seemingly quiet coastal town, just chills you down to the bones, and makes it very clear that us, as humanity are truly the most vicious creatures in the world.
The Ritual has that same vibe to it, but the setting changes quite a bit. The story, without any spoilers, takes place in the Scandinavian wilderness, where four friends, of English origin, decide to take a hiking trip to reconnect with each other, things go really wrong, really fast. I’m just 80 pages in, and you can feel atmosphere getting denser and darker with each page.
On the comic book front, there are some stories that were recommended in a few post from other avid readers of horror comics, which I’m fairly new to, but one stand out. The Autumnal, written by Daniel Kraus and beautifully illustrated by C. Shehan, follow the story of Kat and Sybil Somerville, mother and daughter respectively,as they return to Comfort Notch, this in wake of Kat’s estranged mother passing away. This seemly idyllic town holds a darker secret, there’s something in the trees, and escape is not and option.
The other two stories I have been working on is one of the local creators from my region, 656 comics, a group of artist and writers that work on both sides of the border of Juárez-El Paso. This time, I have started reading the series Cryptidnals, written by Ray Ramos and illustrated by Dario Rodriguez, imagine that a secret war has just unleashed between legendary creatures, and it’s up to figures like The Goatman, La Llorona, and Quetzalcoatl to stop it, the first issue was amazing, and I can wait to keep on reading.
And to close out the current comic book on my queue, I m taking on an iconic character, Batman, written and illustrated by two legends, Jim Starlin and Bernie Wrightson.The Cult, finds Batman captured by an delusional cult leader, Deacon Blackfire, with the sole purpose of using The Caped Crusader on his deviant plans. In my opinion, one of the essential stories of The Dark Knight and it’s always a delight to see Mr. Wrightson’s work.
Still a lot of chills and thrills left on the extended spooky season, and with that culmination of the week with the much anticipated adaptation of Frankenstein, there’s a lot of fuel to make this an amazing week of reading.
For now, I’m off to read
Azriel
lostinamillionpages.com 
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