By Steve Baxi — I’m of two minds on this collection. On the one hand, I really applaud the skill on display here. On the other hand, I can’t say any of the short stories ultimately worked for me. The tension then is how much skill is really on display when the narrative doesn’t work? Or how much of the narrative is attempting to simply be a vehicle for technical achievements? The Crossroads at Midnight - a collection of five short horror stories by Abby Howard - is an interesting adventure into slice-of-life horror, not one I can say is completely successful but certainly admirable. 

I enjoyed reading these stories on the cusp of Spooky Season, even if I wasn’t completely satisfied by how they each ended. Horror anthologies, I think, are an evergreen format. Everything from The Twilight Zone and American Horror Story on television to Ice Cream Man and Razorblades in comics usually works for me. By that standard, these stories are more subtle, appropriately labeled slice-of-life horror as opposed to the scale of some of the other horror comics and horror anthologies out there. I think that works to its advantage, allowing each story to feel perfectly suitable for all ages and all sensibilities. However, I think your mileage will vary on how each tale concludes. My biggest problem is that I was all-in with the five stories for about the first half, but for each I found the ending to undercut the overall experience.

Each story focuses on a lead character dealing with the usual problems for their age; “The Boy From the Sea” is about neglect from your older siblings, “Mattress, Used” is about academic pressure in college, and “Kindred Spirits” is about growing old and isolated. Howard’s voice for each character is unique, and I was impressed at the range she demonstrates with each family dynamic and each element of horror, whether it be body, monster or existential. I think this collection shines as a showcase of Howard’s skills. All the dialogue is human, silent pages are given appropriate escalation to aid the horror elements, and if I didn’t know better, I would have thought each story was done by a different creative team. On a technical level, I think this is a great piece to hold up as a reason to search out more of Howard’s work.

The two strongest elements are the paneling and the letters. Howard has a very good instinct about how to letter eerie conversation, how to structure bubbles to trail off when sounds are at a distance, and how to fill space with each balloon's tail, often with it running across a panel in a curved path, almost as if its cutting the image into jagged halves. Similarly, as tensions rise, her panel gutters start to curve, and her ability to not only draw from awkward angles but to actually skew the perspective as our eyes bounce around the page captures the tension very well. Horror is often meant to take the familiar and slant it ever so slightly into the frightening, and I think Howard demonstrates a strong sense on how to convey that visually.

However, the fatale problem is that each story runs too long. “The Boy From the Sea” is a strong example here where it feels as though the emotional payoff and the subject of the haunting are complete but the story goes on for another 20 pages that I don’t feel add anything. Similarly, “Our Lake Monster” feels like it has a stark, Hereditary-esque moment that was terrifying, hard to read, and appropriate for the moral lesson of the story, only for it to go on to show us what our imaginations could have easily filled in.

Despite her clear technical ability and skillful character work, I feel underwhelmed by this collection on the whole. I can’t say I found any of the stories particularly satisfying on their own. However, I did have a good experience upon my first reading. The atmosphere is good, the style of horror is appropriate, and the scares are all creative. But only at first. The endings bring all of these down for me. The slightly padded epilogue of each story ruins any ability for the terror to leave an impression. The scary ideas don’t get to fester, they simply end by showing me all of the implications well after I should have put the book down to reflect on it. It's because of that I don’t feel like this has much re-read potential. The best I could do is actively choose not to finish the story where it truly ends, and instead stop where I think the ending is more appropriate.

I think Abby Howard is someone to look out for. Her style and strengths are on full display here, and I think this would be a great collection of horror comics for kids. I was motivated to look back at her previous work after reading this to learn more about her style of storytelling. While I was impressed by the creator, I was not by the stories told here. As a showcase for talent, this certainly works, but as something to get you into the impending halloween spirit, I don’t think it quite holds together.

GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: The Crossroads at Midnight

The Crossroads at Midnight
Writer and Artist: Abby Howard
Publisher: Iron Circus Comics
Price: $18.00
The Crossroads at Midnight is an all-new, one-woman anthology by critically-acclaimed cartoonist Abby Howard, full of evocative, unnerving, slice-of-life horror. The five stories in this 352-page volume explore the consequences of what happens when one is desperate enough to seek solace in the unnatural.
Publication Date: February 23, 2021
More Info: The Crossroads at Midnight

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Steve Baxi has a Masters in Ethics and Applied Philosophy, with focuses in 20th Century Aesthetics and Politics. Steve creates video essays and operates a subscription based blog where he writes on pop culture through a philosophy lens. He tweets through @SteveSBaxi.