Christmas is synonymous with things like snowmen, caroling, and putting presents under the tree, but Syzygy Publishing is bringing a little horror to the holiday season. Today we’ve got your first look at a new one-shot titled Dread the Halls, which will feature four terrifying tales from the stellar team of Jordan Hart (Ripple Effects, The Cabinet), Chris Ryall (Zombies vs. Robots), Lee Ferguson (Gone Fishing), Jimmy Kucaj (Krampus Hunters), Walter Pax (Northerners), and Fabio Veras (Dead Notes), and is set to hit stores at the beginning of December. You can check out an exclusive preview of the new one-shot straight from Krampus’ workshop in the gallery below, and you can pick up the full issue when it hits comic stores on December 4th.
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Hart revealed that the inspiration for these stories was his grandmother, and when combined with his hopes to get to a Krampus story, was a match made in heaven. “As a displaced person following World War II, my grandmother spent time all over Europe,” Hart said. “One of her last stops before immigrating to America was a small Bavarian town where two villagers dressed as St. Nicholas and Krampus and went door-to-door to determine if each child was good or bad.”
“Since hearing her retelling of that night, I’ve wanted to write a Krampus story where kids fight back. I was introduced to Jimmy Kucaj this spring at C2E2 and immediately learned this premise was a perfect fit for his kinetic art style and ability to convey action. His ideas, creativity, and talent turned a rough idea into something incredible,” Hart said.
“Dread the Halls is our gift to everyone who might expect to see their name on Santa’s Naughty List, although anyone on the ‘Nice List’ who like their holiday season to have some added spice is invited to partake, too,” Ryall said. “As a comic reader, I’ve always loved comic-book stories that fuse elements of Halloween and Christmas together in sweet and scary ways, and that’s what we set out to do here as well.” You can find the official description of Dread the Halls below.
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“The perfect holiday stocking stuffer – a collection of horror tales to read curled up by the light of the Yule log ‘Be of Good Fear!’ Long before Americans celebrated horror on Halloween, the Victorians did it gathered around a fireplace on Christmas Eve. Dread the Halls honors this macabre tradition by wishing you and yours “Happy Holidays” with stories of ghosts, ghastly abominations, and vile creatures.”
Dread the Halls will feature covers by artists Maria The Wolf, Marguerite Sauvage, a wrapping-paper variant by Jordan Hart, and a holiday homage cover by Lee Ferguson. You can pre-order from Diamond Distribution, Lunar, and Syzygy Publishing and Image Comics, and the one-shot will hit comic stores as the Christmas season hits overdrive on December 4th.
Are you excited for Dread the Halls? You can talk all things comics and Christmas with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb and on Bluesky @knightofoa!
