Wraith # 6

Written by Joe Hill
Illustrated by Charles Paul Wilson III
Colours by Jay Fotos
Letters by Robbie Robbins
Published by IDW

This comic series serves as a prequel to Joe Hill's 2013 horror novel NOS4A2, which tells the story of the monstrous Charlie Manx who travels America in a haunted 1938 Rolls Royce Wraith and kidnaps children who he takes to a supernatural theme-park called Christmasland where it is Christmas all year round and the children can do whatever they want, at the cost of losing their souls and turning into homicidal vampire monsters.

In the comic Manx is enlisted to help a group of escaped criminals escape, and brings them to Christmasland, while sympathetic convict Chester Llewellyn tries to escape with captured prison guard Agnes Claibourne, the psychotic King Geek is determined to seize the powers of Manx's Wraith for himself.

The comic is a fun mix of shocks and suspense with some flashes of comedy.  The artwork is fantastically detailed and perfectly creates the horrific and bizarre world if Christmasland, in fact at it's best the comic is genuinely nightmarish, and inventive (the highlight is a fantastic centrepiece where Agnes and Chester try to escape a maze).

The comic can be enjoyed even if you haven't read the book, although obviously it is better if you have done (and the book is well worth reading anyway).

    Cover art by Gabriel Rodriguez