What a delight this horror anthology is. All the stories are just about perfectly paced, each panel intensifying the tension, deftly guiding the reader along a creepy passage. Horror comics are exceedingly difficult to do well. It, therefore, is a real treat to read something that is as refined as this. What Howard does with Crossroads at Midnight is put sympathetic well-written characters at the centre of each of the stories. Horror has a terrible reputation for being exploitative yet this is anything but that. The tales range from the body horror of someone having their skin stolen to a chiller about feuding siblings.

The linework is fluid and some of the creature designs evoke Junji Ito and some David Clowes creepier stuff. You can almost see the scratch mark of the pencils, cleverly using crosshatching and shadows to give us enough light to the characters and creatures in the comic. The Boy at the beach is one of the most disturbing antagonists I have seen on a page in some time. While the monsters are sinister and weird I think most of the praise should be aimed at how Howard depicts the emotions that the more human characters are feeling. Howard is able to frame the realisations of characters understanding how much trouble they have got themselves and more action-heavy sequences with equal aplomb.

For those looking for their next horror fix, this is superior stuff. Exactly the sort of thing that needs to be read late at night under the bedsheets with a torch. Howard is a graphic novelist to keep an eye out for.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Please consider using this link to but the book.