By d. emerson eddy — It's officially spooky season. As the days grow shorter and we gear up for Halloween. This year may be strange, may be harrowing, and may be downright awful for many of us and it may seem like we're living in a horror film that's constantly on fire right now. So, I wanted to spend this month taking a look at some of my favorite horror comics that might at least take our minds off of the actual horrors in front of us right now. And I was going to start with a comic that touches on something a lot of us probably want a lot more of right now in “Hold Me” by Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, Daniel Vozzo, and Todd Klein in Hellblazer #27.

This single issue story followed on the heels of a 2-part guest arc from Grant Morrison and David Lloyd, just before Jamie Delano returned to deliver the final third of his run on the series. It's the kind of John Constantine story where the horror is incidental, rather than sought, that John's otherwise normally going on about his business and the horror just finds him. Slice-of-life more than magical adventure. It's that kind of ordinary day approach that makes the heart of the story all the more harrowing. In amongst a party, encounters with a person on the streets that looks suspiciously like Neil Gaiman himself, and potentially being set up as a surrogate father again, there's someone or something out there draining the heat and life from people around it. There's even a bit of humor as it ties back to Constantine being a father in Swamp Thing.

The cold and desolation of the streets of London, of the interactions between people who know longer seem to know how to communicate their thoughts or emotions, are beautifully realized by Dave McKean and Daniel Vozzo. It's kind of rare to get McKean interior art, so it's always fascinating to see what style he uses. Here, it's a stylized pen and ink, reminiscent of what he uses through the black and white sections of his own Cages. It has hints of John Ridgway, mixed with elements of Barron Storey, and it works wonderfully for the story. Coupled with the spare colors of blue and beige spotted throughout the story, it makes it feel like McKean and Vozzo's colors have likewise been drained by the horror lurking in the background of the tale.

Despite appearances, and initial reactions from other characters in the story, the horror isn't really the “monster”. Gaiman makes this point rather beautifully as he points out that sometimes all that we need is a hug. We love to be loved. We need to be needed. Without that, there's an emptiness sucking heat and warmth into the void. And maybe all that we need in order to combat that emptiness is a little bit of compassion.

Overall, Hellblazer #27 from Gaiman, McKean, Vozzo, and Klein is not only one of my favorite stories featuring John Constantine, but one of my favorite horror stories overall. It's an important rumination on the human condition, using a creeping cold killer as a stand-in for the loneliness that can enter our lives and leave us hollow. Reminding us to reach out to the people that we love.

Hellblazer #27 - Classic Comic of the Week

Hellblazer #27
Writer: Neil Gaiman
Artist: Dave McKean
Colorists: Dave McKean & Daniel Vozzo
Letterer: Todd Klein
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: January 25, 1990
A dead homeless man is wandering around London! But John Constantine has his own problems in this hard-to-find stand-alone issue, which brought SANDMAN creator Neil Gaiman and his longtime artistic collaborator Dave McKean to the title for a haunting story of fear and loneliness.
Price: $1.99 on Comixology | Also collected in John Constantine, Hellblazer: 30th Anniversary Celebration ($29.99), Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days ($16.99), & John Constantine, Hellblazer – Volume 4: The Family Man ($12.99)

Check out more classic comics of the week from d. emerson eddy!

d. emerson eddy is a student and writer of things. He fell in love with comics during Moore, Bissette, & Totleben's run on Swamp Thing and it has been a torrid affair ever since. His madness typically manifests itself on Twitter @93418.