Haunthology

Haun (the Red Mother series) delivers a wickedly clever, if fragmented, collection of flash horror comics. Most of the tales are two or three pages, and often begin and end in medias res. In one piece, for example, a haunted protagonist catches a glimpse of a masked killer lingering outside, while in “The Arsenal,” a woman who’d previously been averse to guns starts stockpiling them; where she’s going with all the firepower or why is not made explicit. Haun’s brief evocations are a spine-tingling exercise, as readers must guess at the context and imagine their own worst nightmare scenario. Highlight piece “Hastur,” for instance, sees a guy leave his lover in bed after being beckoned by the call of someone—or something—else. For better or worse, Haun’s final panels often feel like punch lines. The black-and-white art is eerily mesmerizing and as desolate and detailed as a police sketch. Devotees and students of horror writing will be tantalized by what can feel like an R-rated spin on Chris Van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, but readers looking for fulsome storytelling will be left a bit cold. (May)