MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark, and Mysterious: The Graphic Stories

Drawing on his YouTube channel and eponymous podcast, Jonathan “MrBallen” Allen adapts reputedly true (or at least documented) horror stories from around the world to satisfyingly chilling effect. The entries take readers to a valley in Canada’s Northwest Territories with a history of unexplained deaths and disappearances, through a reputedly haunted ghost town in Spain, into the middle of a Siberian tiger attack in Russia, and on the hunt for the man-eating Beast of Gevaudan in 18th-century France, among other escapades. MrBallen’s lurid narration brings to mind old EC horror comics: “It doesn’t matter how far he goes. It doesn’t matter how fast. Somewhere out there in the forest... the man is lurking.” Mutti’s lush art excels at creating eerie atmosphere, shocking the reader with moments of gore, and making the supernatural and mundane menaces feel equally plausible. Most of the tales take place in the great outdoors, and the art successfully evokes shadowy forests, snowbound mountains, blistering deserts, and isolated cabins. This spooky collection of campfire tales will appeal to horror and true crime fans. Agent: Byrd Leavell, UTA. (Oct.)