Chronicles of Terror 2016 Halloween Special

WP Comics Ltd

81 Pages

With 75 pages of storytelling, this horror anthology promised to be an excellent read for a dark, dreary night. The British publication features stories from horror writers and artists from around the world. There are a total of 15 stories and 2 artist spotlights (pin-ups), which make for an average page count of 4-5 pages per story, and they vary from color to black-and-white.. 

Despite Cthulhu being featured on the cover, unfortunately he doesn't make an appearance, and none of the stories are really of a cosmic horror quality. Many stories feature monsters, many feature demons, and a few focus on psychological horror and madness. It is a bit disappointing, though, in that some of the stories are not really well fleshed-out —pardon the pun!—) due to page constraints, and some are just bland and predictable. There are some true gems, like the opening story, "Candle Man", about a legendary creature that haunts a small town, a fun story with few words about two skeletons playing poker in a sunken submarine titled "The Deep", and a very strange tale about a demonic cult that takes a totally unexpected twist.

The rest of the stories are rather forgettable, and some variety in the subject matter would have been a benefit to the overall work. I give it 3 stars out of 5.

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