Growing up watching movies as a teenager, some of the best that I remember were horror movies. These movies not only pushed the boundaries of imagination but sometimes were the stuff of nightmares. The ones that made your skin crawl and had you checking under your bed and all throughout your closet. As you get older, sometimes those same things don’t scare you as much, because you see them coming.

One of those movies that I remember, and actually makes my skin crawl up to today, as the situation, has some very realistic elements in it, is the movie, Strangeland. For those uninitiated, the movie, is about a former predator, who use to lure teenagers into painful traps, and eventually killing them. The movie follows that he gets caught by the police and then sent to a mental hospital to get reformed. Once released, the townspeople do not believe he is actually reformed, and torture him. This somehow triggers, that side was supposedly rehabilitated, back to crazy side, and he goes about terrorizing the townsfolk, one by one, especially those inflicted harm onto him.

This is exactly what Harrow County, reminded me of when I read the synopses and eventually, read the first issues that comprise the initial story arc, with one twist. In Harrow County, the townsfolk burn a witch, named Hester Beck, who proclaims that she will return , but in this story, she returns in the form of one of its own inhabitants. This is done through fiery images and strange occurrences, all devices of the genre, but done in a masterful way. By story’s end, it seems just like any horror movie, which is neither good or bad, but satisfactory, but I must say, the ending is one I did not expect.

Overall, a good story by one of the masters of the comics medium, even though I have seen him do better, and was hoping he would rise to new heights with this one. The story by Cullen Bunn, as compared to his other works, pedestrian, yet entertaining. The art by Tyler Crook is very much eerie and looks almost like illustrations forma Lovecraft novel. Altogether, an enjoyable ride, just one I wish had more twists and turns, than one hoped from the advertising.

Story: Cullen Bunn Artist: Tyler Crook
Story: 7 Art: 8 Overall: 8 Recommendation: Read

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review