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Hello Darkness #5-8
Hello Darkness Vol. 2
Issues 5-8
176 pages, Paperback
Published July 15, 2025
2 people are currently reading
9 people want to read
About the author
Garth Ennis
2,614 books3,158 followersEnnis began his comic-writing career in 1989 with the series Troubled Souls. Appearing in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed British anthology Crisis and illustrated by McCrea, it told the story of a young, apolitical Protestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the Irish 'Troubles'. It spawned a sequel, For a Few Troubles More, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor, who would later get their own American comics series, Dicks, from Caliber in 1997, and several follow-ups from Avatar.
Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.
Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.
Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.
While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.
Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.
After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.
In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.
Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.
In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.
In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis
Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.
Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.
Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.
While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.
Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.
After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.
In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.
Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.
In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.
In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).
Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 27, 2025
To be fair, this deserves a 3.5 star rating, but I wasn't going to put 4 stars up there.
Overall, Volume Two of HELLO DARKNESS was not equal to the quality of Volume One, but the last half of this collection makes up for that. This is still one of the titles that I read monthly and is recommended for all fans of horror comics anthologies. I read these in the individual monthly issues and offer some highlights below:
Issue #5
An uneven issue, at least for me, as I did not enjoy these stories as much as previous issues. There does seem to be a central theme here - - - be careful if you stray off the known path.
My favorite this issue, and the most colorful and visually pleasing is “The Butterfly Field” by Jeremy Bastian and Ivan Qiu, a story told entirely without words.
Issue #6
Issue #6 offers up three new stories, another cartoon page by Robert Hack, an art showcase, and Part 6 of “The War”. While I’m still enjoying this anthology and will continue to have it on my pull list, this issue was inconsistent in quality and theme.
“A Christmas Log” by Steve Orlando and Adam Gotham starts out in the festive spirit with main character Manuel returning ten years later to his childhood home in Massachusetts to spend Christmas with his mother. During a chat over old times with his mom, Manuel confesses that “high school wasn’t exactly my Peak Era.” Quite the understatement.
Manuel uses the opportunity to get revenge on the high school bully who tormented him regarding his Latino heritage, etc. The story changes course quickly and gets very brutal. Not for the squeamish.
Issue #7
All the original stories this issue were top quality, so it was harder for me to pick a favorite. But, the one that stuck with me longer was “Evermore” by David Hazan and Stefano Nesi. A recently widowed man tries to find a new companion via social media and text messaging, and then can’t unfollow or stop the messages when the relationship doesn’t work out.
Issue #8
This seems to be the most grim, darkest, and disturbing issue so far. So, I’m elevating my rating on this issue. Even the variant covers (included in full-page spreads inside) by Jenny Frison, Dan Mora and John McCrea are disturbing and delicious images. An almost perfect issue.
Things kick off with “Stealth” by Marguerite Bennett and Luana Vecchio - an erotic one-night stand that turns deadly, recalling the greeting between chauvinistic male chums: “Get any strange, lately?”
Overall, Volume Two of HELLO DARKNESS was not equal to the quality of Volume One, but the last half of this collection makes up for that. This is still one of the titles that I read monthly and is recommended for all fans of horror comics anthologies. I read these in the individual monthly issues and offer some highlights below:
Issue #5
An uneven issue, at least for me, as I did not enjoy these stories as much as previous issues. There does seem to be a central theme here - - - be careful if you stray off the known path.
My favorite this issue, and the most colorful and visually pleasing is “The Butterfly Field” by Jeremy Bastian and Ivan Qiu, a story told entirely without words.
Issue #6
Issue #6 offers up three new stories, another cartoon page by Robert Hack, an art showcase, and Part 6 of “The War”. While I’m still enjoying this anthology and will continue to have it on my pull list, this issue was inconsistent in quality and theme.
“A Christmas Log” by Steve Orlando and Adam Gotham starts out in the festive spirit with main character Manuel returning ten years later to his childhood home in Massachusetts to spend Christmas with his mother. During a chat over old times with his mom, Manuel confesses that “high school wasn’t exactly my Peak Era.” Quite the understatement.
Manuel uses the opportunity to get revenge on the high school bully who tormented him regarding his Latino heritage, etc. The story changes course quickly and gets very brutal. Not for the squeamish.
Issue #7
All the original stories this issue were top quality, so it was harder for me to pick a favorite. But, the one that stuck with me longer was “Evermore” by David Hazan and Stefano Nesi. A recently widowed man tries to find a new companion via social media and text messaging, and then can’t unfollow or stop the messages when the relationship doesn’t work out.
Issue #8
This seems to be the most grim, darkest, and disturbing issue so far. So, I’m elevating my rating on this issue. Even the variant covers (included in full-page spreads inside) by Jenny Frison, Dan Mora and John McCrea are disturbing and delicious images. An almost perfect issue.
Things kick off with “Stealth” by Marguerite Bennett and Luana Vecchio - an erotic one-night stand that turns deadly, recalling the greeting between chauvinistic male chums: “Get any strange, lately?”
Read
April 13, 2025Bless them for trying a themed issue, but romantic horror for Valentine's did lead to some pretty samey stories, as well as meaning a gap in The War — which, yes, could be considered a blessed respite, but did also interrupt the best thing in the series.
August 17, 2025
some good stories but too many wtf silly stories, it doesn't make up for the good stories. this volume has let me down so much compared to the Hello Darkness Vol. 1. this feels like i'm reading the pile of garbage Razorblades Volume 1 all over again. i am so disappointed. should i give the next last volume a chance? ☹
June 19, 2025
Review is for the first two volumes read back to back
More miss than hit, so overall a disappointing read. to much amateur art, to many pointless tales, and an overly long tale by Garth Ennis that spans both volumes but is more self indulgent than entertaining, particularly since it doesn't fit thematically with the rest of the material.
More miss than hit, so overall a disappointing read. to much amateur art, to many pointless tales, and an overly long tale by Garth Ennis that spans both volumes but is more self indulgent than entertaining, particularly since it doesn't fit thematically with the rest of the material.
October 1, 2025
More dumb "horror" vignettes, along with the ending of Garth Ennis' longer story, and another chapter in James Tynion's SIKTC tale. Nothing is particularly good here and the artwork is quite variable.
September 20, 2025
The “war” story was easily the best out of the two volumes. (To me)
All in all i did not feel like this was a great couple of volumes of stories. We shall see what happens with vol 3
2.9 ✨
All in all i did not feel like this was a great couple of volumes of stories. We shall see what happens with vol 3
2.9 ✨
October 18, 2025
This was just ok
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews