DC Horror Presents...

by Leah Kilpatrick, David Dastmalchian, Cat Staggs (illustrator)

From the most disturbed and rotten minds in horror comes DC Horror Presents…anew collection of gruesome stories set in the DCU, penned in blood by some of yourfavorite creepers! These shorts take DC’s heroes and villains and put them into themost intense, spine-tingling tales imaginable. Definitely not for the faint of heart—which is why this book is rated 17+.Featuring stories by the Boulet Brothers (Dragula), David Dastmalchian (Late Nightwith the Devil) and Leah Kilpatrick, Aaron Sagers (Paranormal Caught on Camera),LaToya Morgan (The Walking Dead), Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum (Minor Threats),Brendan Hay ( Secrets of the Mogwai) and Steven Kostanski (PsychoGoreman), horror comics legends Francesco Francavilla ( The Black Mirror)and Patrick Horvath (Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees), and more, so get ready…it’s gonna be wild tonight—flesh to flesh and bite to bite!

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Supernatural, Batman, Short Stories

96 pages, Paperback

Published August 19, 2025

Reviews

[Paul]

3.1 stars

A lot of the stories in this horror anthology were pretty bad but the few that were good were very good. I found the ones played for laughs were the best, particularly the Matter-Eater Lad tale that closes out the book.

[Q. 1994]

The last two stories in this anthology, The Diamond That Steals Back and A Matter of Life and Undeath are legitimately great in their own respective ways. You can skip all of the other stories though.

[Cameron]

I always wish they could do more horror stuff with superhero’s. Unfortunately these stories always come out a bit basic, PG rated. More stuff like Batman: Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. I suppose Marvel and DC have a certain public imagine to uphold so they can’t go ultra disturbing like I’d like, but still fun little horror stories.

[Matt Holben]

About half of this collection of one-shots are quite good, but the other half are really underbaked. Fun idea for a collection, though.

[Alex A]

Anthology of short, very quick reads. Good because they don't stick around too long, but bad because they don't have too much space to develop enough. Interesting concepts in many but celebrity writers don't often have a firm grasp on comics writing to pull things off.

Overall, the art was good to great, which isn't too common in these DC anthologies.

As a complete package, issue #2 was the standout.

Scores /5 for each story:

'Love You To Pieces' - Dastmalchian, Kilpatrick, & Staggs = 2.5
'Untitled' (Doom's Doorway) - Boulet Bros. & Mapa = 1.5
'Living Doll' - Morgan, Derenick, & Barna = 1.5
'Superstitious Lot' - Sagers & Kelly = 4
'The Chthonian Dawn' - Francavilla = 4.5
'The Brooding Public' - Horvath = 5
'The Diamond that Steals Back' - Oswalt, Blum, & Earls = 3
'A Matter of Life and Undeath' - Kotanski, Hay, Faerber = 4

[Arindam Sen]

I really wish writers give it their all when it comes to anthologies. Especially when they're writing such short stories. The problem here is that the batting average is truly poor. However the highs, are so high, it makes you feel the other writers just phoned it in. If you find the single #3 just buy that. It contains a Francavilla story and a really nasty body horror story featuring Adam Strange, written and drawn by Patrick Horvath in his signature happy-go-lucky watercolour style. It will freak you the fuck out!

[Alex Sarll]

The best library of characters in comics. Talent from across and beyond the medium, given licence to go wild with them. So the real horror here is how few of the stories are any cop at all. David Dastmalchian has done comics before, and well, but here can only co-write an uninspired serial killer/mad scientist squib; I normally like Francesco Francavilla's art, but in this he traps a Batman who looks like a kid playing dress-up* in the world's roomiest coffin. And the Matter-Eater Lad story barely nods to horror, coming across more as gross-out comedy. The only ones I'd halfway recommend are Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum and Danny Earls** doing a Catwoman story which, if not wholly coherent, at least has the vibes down; and Patrick Horvath coming up with some suitably apocalyptic consequences for Adam Strange's slipshod approach to hygiene.

*Obviously Batman is fundamentally a kid playing dress-up, but even I don't think he should be drawn that way.
**Who turns out to have been a professional footballer before he became a comics artist. I do like to see a redemption narrative.

[Shaun Stanley]

2.5 rounded up to 3⭐️

DC Horror Presents… collects issues 1-4 of the DC Comic issues written by David Dastmalchian, Leah Kilpatrick, the Boulet Brothers, LaToya Morgan, Aaron Sagers, Francesco Francavilla, Patrick Horvath, Patton Oswald, Jordan Blum, Steven Kostanski, and Brendan Hay with art by Cat Staggs, Butch Maps, Tom Derenick, Walt Barna, Ryan Kelly, Francesco Francavilla, Patrick Horvath, Danny Earls, and Logan Faerber.

This is an anthology collection of horror stories set in the DC universe involving Dollhouse, Wonder Woman, Scarface, Penguin, Batman, Adam Strange, Catwoman, and Matter-Eater Lad.

This collection is very similar to the annual DC horror anthology issue that is typically released around Halloween. There a few fun stories here but I don’t believe any of them are very memorable but there is a lot of really good art here. My favorite stories were the Scarface, Batman, and Adam Strange stories. Milage will potentially vary here depending on how much you like horror and anthology issues.

[Mariano]

Intentan ser historias de terror, pero están escritas como historias de superhéroes. En el contexto de este universo que aparezca un monstruo no es terror, es otro día en el universo DC. Ahí deja de funcionar el mecanismo.

Donde sí funciona? Hay una sola de las historias que sí funcionan: la de la parejita que se mete en el estudio de televisión, porque no hay superhéroes. La del pingüino ponele que mas o menos también.

El resto podrían ser historias que salen en las series regulares porque todas tienen un "extra" en la estructura que las lleva al formato superhéroe. La de Batman que empieza encerrado en un ataúd es clarísimo ejemplo de esto.

Para mi acá falló 100% la edición, no los autores.

[Miranda]

Violent yes, funny sometimes, didn't see the stories on the cover arts..

When I saw the words horror being associated with DC I had to check it out.. sadly I am sad that I did.. it promised that the best horror Masters made these, which they did but the stories felt stale or at least stereotypical, plus there were in between comics that weren't even scary including one superhero that makes no sense. What his power is I would not call him a "hero" If anyone wants to give it a try feel free, but I'm definitely not going to get any more if they release them. Nice try DC, but you couldn't uphold your promises with this one. I did not quake in fear, I was just disappointed.

[Fines Massey]

This was a pretty lackluster horror anthology. Out of the 8 stories over 4 issues, only three were good and maybe one or two was an honorable mention. The last issue is the best with a story about Catwoman and one about Matter Eating Lad of all people. Speaking of, DC is really afraid to go past Batman. For a series called "DC Horror Presents," they barely roam outside the world of Batman. Only 3 of the 8 stories are outside of Gotham and it's menagerie of crazy citizens.

I would give this 2.5 if Good Reads did halfs.

[Dave]

Picked this up for the Fall/Halloween season.
Quick little Horror stories set in the DC universe. But don't let the cover fool you...
Superman is only in one panel of one story.
It's enjoyable. Worth the time if you like DC and Horror.

[Robert Bussie]

These stories vary from dark and disturbing to gross and colorful. The uneven flow of the story types hindered my enjoyment. It does not flow nicely from one story to the next.

The art work is really good to below average.

[Robert]

Hit or miss collection of shorts with far to many of them either to short or with odd cliffhanger/question mark endings inappropriate for the format.

[JW]

Better than expected.

[Scott]

Creepshow, but with DC characters.

[Kris]

Honestly the best part of this is the cover art by Tyler Crook (and the alternate covers by Dave Johnson and by Christian Ward). Like any anthology collection, the stories themselves are a mixed bag.

[Sarospice]

Wasted potential. All the writers seemed to just be picking up a paycheck. Not one chill or thrill...

[Lauren Stoolfire]

I like the idea of this more than the actual final product. I was mostly only interested in reading David Dastmalchian's story.

[Harry Jahnke]

Worth it for the Matter Eater Lad story.

[Dwight]

Don't get fooled by the awesome covers. It's very mid.

[Jess]

a short collection of short horror comics.

[Vincent Fuentes]

It was creepy great

I just loved this collection of times when life takes a wonderfully dark and crazy turn.
The art fantastic story just as amazing

[Kalynne]

1 good issue, 3 ok issues