Marvel ComicsΒ has frequently dabbled in horror throughout its lifetime. Before Marvel existed, its predecessor company, Atlas Comics, were well known for publishing hundreds of serial horror stories that could be likened to silverscreen monster movies and unsettlingly uncanny situational horror. When Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Steve Ditko embraced superheroes, Marvel did bring over many of Atlasβs pop-horror series, but ultimately fazed out the genre going into the 1980s.
However, in the last few decades, and especially in recent years, Marvel has once again embraced its roots in horror. Thanks to the disgustingly grotesque and unsettling talents of comicsβ best writers and artists, Marvel has successfully introduced what used to be a very controlled image to the unnatural and terrifying perversions that the horror genre provides. Fortunately for horror fans, there are many series that could have been pulled for this list, but these comics feature the mostΒ terrifying art styles in Marvel Comics history.
1Immortal Hulk
The Hulkβs savage brutalityΒ is nothing new, but prior to Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, and Paul MountsβsΒ Immortal HulkΒ series, the true face of the Gamma Goliathβs violent horror had never been fully explored. Bennettβs art isΒ a disgusting nightmareΒ of Cronenburgian monstrosities. As the series explores gamma-mutatesβ immortality and the cosmic Satan they are related to,Β the horrors only become more abstract.
While Marvel has allowed artists to step outside the traditional PG-13 guidelines, Bennettβs directionΒ completely broke modern-day standards.Β TheΒ Immortal HulkΒ is sickening and disturbing, perfect for a Hulk story. Throughout the story, as Bruce Bannerβs psyche fully reveals its true nature, the seriesβ art reflects that journey. Bruce is a broken man, struggling to find harmony within his dissociations. Al Ewing did a fantastic job at detailing Bannerβs struggles, but Joe Bennett fully articulated the scientistβs active trauma throughΒ the writhing and shifting inhuman forms of fleshΒ the series presents.
2Dead of Night Featuring Man-Thing
This MAX Comics limited series is one of the few modern comic series that expresses the horrifyingΒ monstrous nature of the Man-ThingΒ . While the character has turned into a semi-comedic puppy dog of sorts,Β his origins are significantly more petrifying.Β Written by Robert Aguirre-Sacasa with art by many talented artists, like Brian Denham, Nick Percival, June Chung, and Nic Klein,Β Dead of NightΒ fully explores the monstrosity that Ted Sallis had become. The creatureβs mindless and empathic cruelty and terror are built by the sporadic pauses of tension before deliveringΒ a climactic and disgusting visual experience.
Man-Thing is not a friend, it is a force of natureΒ unburdened by humansβ understanding of morality.Β It acts without malice unless acted upon first. It waits and processes its victims actions before meeting them with its own violent nature. The limited seriesβs many aritists each created a unified vision that properly portrays the Man-Thing asΒ a towering beast of natureΒ whose otherworldly powers seem like an inevitably gruesome and elongated death sentence before the creature ever approaches his victims.
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3Marvel Zombies (2005)
The very firstΒ Marvel ZombiesΒ series that would later result in multiple sequels, spin-offs, and a Disney+ animated series,Β the original Marvel ZombiesΒ was part of a wave of the mid-2000sβ heightened interest in undead horror. Robert Kirkman, Sean Phillips, and June Chungβs zombified miniseries showed that Marvel Comics were ready to furtherΒ venture into modern dark tonesΒ that had struggled to find its footing in the mainstream since the mid-1990s. In this series,Β the heroes arenβt surviving the plotβs horror, they are the horror.
The seriesβ art has a fairly consistent unity to it that remains recognizable despite theΒ obvious representations of decay and rot.Β Naturally, and for lack of better terms, this miniseries killed in. With the popular emergence of AMCβsΒ The Walking Dead, inspired by the comic series also written by Robert Kirkman,Β Marvel ZombiesΒ felt likeΒ another chapter of that eraβs obsession with zombiesΒ rather than just another cash grab at the topicβs popularity.
4Dark X-Men
While the X-Men do occasionally dabble in the mystic arts, no character better leads those adventures than Madelyne Pryor. This miniseries by Steve Foxe, Jonas Scharf, and Frank Martin, takes readers inΒ a significantly darker directionΒ than the Krakoa Era had traditionally offered. The art itself is clean and polished, butΒ its violent subject matterΒ is what fully delivers the visual horror.
Jonas Scharf and Frank Martin employ a wide variety of horrific subjects that are bound to attract just about every horror fanβs favorite medium. From waves of blood and gore, to infectious masses of fungus and insects, to matters of religious terror, this series has it all. The overall tone of the miniseries is so well done that by the timeΒ the more common X-MenΒ show up, they almost feel out of place after the brutality of it all.
5Ghost Rider (2022)
Ghost Rider has always been an easy subject to turn terrifying. Demons, brimstone, and hellfire make for obvious horror focal points. However, the 2022Β Ghost RiderΒ series, by Benjamin Percy, Cory Smith, and Bryan Valenza, really cemented howΒ agonizingly hellish Johnny Blazeβs life is.Β Blazeβs daily existence is more than Mephisto and his next-to-nothing leotard; itβsΒ a hellscape of mangled corpses and ruthless demonic killers.
Throughout the series, Blaze is haunted by a demon born from his own soul. The demon known as Exhaust is a brutally ruthless monster that suffocates his victims before infecting them with his demonic spawns. Rather than depending onΒ Ghost Riderβs traditional religious horrorΒ , which the series definitely makes use of, this comic series pushes the literary and visual bounds of the true torturous nature of Hell. The hell that Ghost Rider carries with him is more than just penance, itβs agony.
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6Hellstrom: Son of Satan
Daimon Hellstrom has always been a difficult character to stylistically peg down. Just about every writer and artist has taken the character in their own direction. However, Alex Irvine, Russell Braun, and Giulia BruscoβsΒ Hellstorm: Son of SatanΒ series properly utilized the extra freedomΒ MAX ComicsΒ gave horror creators at the time. No longer subject to Marvelβs stricter standards, this miniseries was able toΒ push the limits of βappropriateβ artistic expression, making the overall product feel specifically designed for adults.
WhileΒ HellstormΒ makes use of many of the same stylistic standards that other entries on this list use, Russell Braun and Giulia BruscoβsΒ use of dynamic shadingΒ is what pulls the overall aesthetic off. Itβs a simple tactic but an effective one. In combination with theΒ frequent use of ambient lighting, the seriesβs art is full of rich visual textures, making the overall piece feel more real than the prominent flat colored comic art of the time.
7Incredible Hulk (2023)
AΒ spiritual successor to theΒ Immortal HulkΒ series, theΒ Incredible Hulk,Β by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Nic Klein, and Matt Wilson, reintroduces the Hulk to the horror genre. However, this time Klein chose to explore a different type of horror.Β Incredible HulkΒ Incredible Hulk is a terrifying taleΒ is a terrifying tale that places the Hulk right in the middle of the folk horror and cosmic horror genres. The monsters have become less amorphous, instead embracing theΒ twisted visage of monsters from folk talesΒ and urban legends.
Klein leans heavily on size as a means of displaying terror. Normally, the Hulk is the biggest monster in the room. However, the seriesβ boss-like enemies tower over the Hulk. It would be remiss to talk about this series without mentioning its colorist, Matt Wilson.Β Incredible Hulkβs matte painting styleΒ gives the series an aged feel.Β Just like the horrors the Hulk is forced to face, the seriesβs coloring exudesΒ a sense of weathered ageΒ and an artistic era long past.
8The Darkhold
Whenever Marvel embraces connected anthologies, it always becomes a great opportunity to highlight various writers and artists while keeping the reader engaged with an overarching throughline.Β The DarkholdΒ explores six stories split between six different styles and artforms. While not every issue maintains the same level of horror as the next, the overall collective givesΒ enough to satisfy any type of Marvel horror fan.Β βTales of Suspense,βΒ by Ryan North, Guillermo Sanna, & Ian Herring, andΒ βTensile StrengthβΒ by Alex Paknadel, DiΓ³genes Neves, and Jim Charalampidis, especiallyΒ deliver an unsettling horror experience.
βTales of SuspenseβΒ makes use of a 1960s retro-futuristic style of art that, while visually simple, stylistically accentuates the storyβs slow build toward its shocking climax.Β Meanwhile,Β βTensile StrengthβΒ employs more modern takes on zombie and body horror, that immediately establishes its grotesque tone. Overall,Β the entirety of The DarkholdΒ provides readers with a soft array of what Marvelβs horror comics are capable of and is another piece of Marvelβs continuing promise to bring more terror into its comics.
9Ghost Rider: Road to Damnation
TheΒ Road to DamnationΒ arc features some of Ghost Riderβs mostΒ overly saturated and headache-inducing artistic chaosΒ that the character has ever seen;Β but it works. Another series that leans into the use of dynamic shading and ambient light, the comics are rich with dark shadows broken up the Ghost Riderβs constant flaming aura. The pictures almost feel 3D, makingΒ the on-page horrors feel actively present in the readerβs space.
Garth Ennisβs writing helps establish a crueler environment than is normally used in Ghost Rider stories, but Clayton Crainβs art and coloring are what make the series stand out. It cannot be understated howΒ realistic, yet horrifically uncanny,Β Crainβs work makes the comics. Embracing significantly bolder adult tones, both in its writing and its art, the 2006Β Ghost RiderΒ series almost stands as its own independent piece of art, separate from Marvelβs other works. Similar to MAX Comics,Β the Marvel Knights imprintsΒ pulled many of Marvelβs heroes toward darker and βedgierβ directions, but this Ghost Rider series was completely unafraid to push the bounds ofΒ Marvelβs allowance of unsettling adult horror.
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10Sub-Mariner
One of Marvelβs most stylistically distinct series to date,Β Sub-Mariner: The Depths,Β by Peter Milligan and Esad RibiΔ, is another addition to the Marvel Knights imprints. By far, this series isΒ Marvelβs most uncanny and unsettling visual experience to date. Uniquely leaning into the same stylistic direction as theΒ AlienΒ franchise or 2020βsΒ Underwater,Β this series places readers inΒ a compact, isolated environment,Β far from any sense of humanity. Trapped underneath miles of water, a team of submariners fight for survival while being hunted by the demon of the deep, Namor.
Despite being the focal topic of the series, this abnormally emotionless version of Namor is rarely seen. Instead, the true horror is built into the anxiety represented in the compact nature of the charactersβ environment andΒ the fear that gradually buildsΒ throughout each issue. Esad RibiΔ does a fantastic job at placing readers intoΒ the claustrophobic confines the submariners are trapped in,Β especially in his simple use of darkness as a means to perpetuate the seriesβ feeling of panicked isolation. WhenΒ Namor finally does show upΒ , his horror is moreΒ the product of anxious tensionΒ than it is through outright spectacle.
Credit: screenrant
