Halloween may be over but comiXologist Shane-Michael Vidaurri recommends horror comics any time…

VAMPIRES WILL NEVER HURT YOU by Jude Vigants

Vampires Will Never Hurt you is a wonderful, chilling, short comic by Jude Vigants based on the My Chemical Romance song by the same name. It tells the story of Jamie, a non-binary teenager, and their best friend Vicky, who are being tormented by Travis, a sadistic bully who has been upping his threats as Halloween draws nearer. Vicky confesses that they don’t feel safe going out, but Jamie argues that they won’t let Travis ruin their Halloween fun, no matter what horror he threatens them with. It’s a sad reminder that for some people, the scariest thing about Halloween is the people who don’t have to wear masks. Vicky drops the costume they were planning on wearing to the ground, and says definitively that they aren’t going out.

Jamie decides to go anyway, it’s Halloween, damn it. So they are pleasantly surprised when they meet up with Vicky as they begin to trick or treat, or at least, someone wearing the same mask that Vicky had. It must be Vicky, right?
Who else could it be?

Jude Vigants’s pacing and bold inks set a creepy, dark mood in this short story that is impressive in it’s depth. The artwork has bold spot blacks that are reminiscent of The Long Halloween and Guy Davis’s work on B.P.R.D., but the story is more in line with the themes and stakes of more recent and socially conscious horror of films like Green Room and Get Out. For $2.99 this book provides a perfect Halloween scare full of gore and chills, as well as a frank reflection of our current social climate, from the perspective of the people who fight to survive the horror that lives everyday, not just Halloween. But maybe, it contains the hope that something out there in the dark would help us fight against it.