Hello Darkness Vol. 3

Hello Darkness #9-12

by James Tynion IV, Chuck Tingle, Various (Illustrator)

Horror’s best storytellers assemble for another installment in the bestselling anthology of terror, with new tales from R.L. Stine, the Boulet Brothers, Chuck Tingle, Sarah Andersen, and more!

Turn out the lights...if you dare!

The darkness grows in more of the most frightening tales by today's top horror storytellers.

Gangsters, grannies, and ghouls, oh my! Master of horror R.L. Stine and beloved artist Francesco Francavilla spin a yarn of the gripping Life and Death of Lucas Dreamwalker! The Boulet Brothers' Dragula's titular brothers and artist Max Fuchs bring their unique sense of humor to horror with Granny Hags from Hell! No matter the isolation, invisible monsters, soul-sucking demons, dating apps, teachers, tech, and more, you’ll find something that sends shivers up your spine!

Featuring stories by R.L. Stine & Francesco Francavilla, Sarah Andersen, The Boulet Brothers & Max Fuchs, Chuck Tingle & Chris Shehan, Genevieve Valentine & Ming Doyle, Cullen Bunn & Daniel Bayliss, Jordan Thomas & Shaky Kane, David Hazan & Stefano Nesi, Sarah Andersen, Robert Hack, and more.

Collects Hello Darkness #9-12.

Genres: Horror, Graphic Novels, Anthologies, Short Stories, Comics

178 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 11, 2025

About the author

Prior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.

Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.

Reviews

[Michael J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite a couple misses along the way, HELLO DARKNESS has proven to be a worthwhile horror comics anthology title, and one that I’ll continue to follow. Volume 3 contains a strong assortment of stories. Below I’ve identified my favorites.


ISSUE #9

My favorite story this issue is “Teacher’s Pet” by Cullen Bunn and Daniel Bayliss. A high school teacher comes up with a unique method to get unruly students to behave better.

Issue #10

This issue was stronger than the previous ones, in my humble opinion. Not because the stories and art were necessarily better; but because they were different and showcased some new contributors. 

   My favorite of the four stories, one page of cartoons (Robert Hack) and several eerie poster pages this issue was “The Devil In The Corner Of Your Eye” by Genevieve Valentine and Ming Doyle. In a near future society, everything your eyes see is scanned and observed by ever-present facial recognition software and deemed an appropriate view or an inappropriate view in the domineering government’s opinion - - like 1984 with an even bigger presence.

An ordinary man tries not to let his focus dwell too long on any one thing, but his attention is misinterpreted and back-fires on him. 

Issue #11
This is the weirdest issue yet, and I appreciate the strange. All the stories and artwork throughout this issue have that experimental “underground comics” feel and remind me of DEATH RATTLE (which I recently reviewed).

    The issue opens with a new take on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which is not really revealed until the final page - where it hints at the possibility of more stories and also ends with a pun - - “The End . . . Is Neigh!” The story “Hell Horse”) by Karen Egan and Gavin Smith centers around a disgruntled young man after his older brother and son use his horse Licorice to win a race but also ruin his ability to run again.

Issue #12

  “Out”, the opening story by the horror author writing under the pseudonym of Chuck Tingle (“Bury Your Gays”) and Chris Shehan, is the best of the bunch. 

     There’s a sickness going around. People see monsters that aren’t really there, then experience severe hemorrhaging from sudden wounds. A young tech worker attending a baseball game witnesses the first outbreak, then gets trampled by the crowd and succumbs to a comatose state for two months. When he recovers, the physician’s assistant suggests he never tell anyone that he sees the zombie-like “visitors”, and not to believe anyone who says they do.

   Just like the recent pandemic had its doubters, the majority population pretends the visitors aren’t there and simply ignores them. Hard to do, but they only watch . .  so life goes back to normal. Less people succumb to the sickness, and the right-wing media support the government’s down-playing. Media pundits proclaim “The radical left is recruiting your children! They’re making mass hysteria cool!”  Secretive support groups spring up that refuse to pretend the visitors aren’t there. They are the ones who discover a repellant that drives visitors away - - and the story has a happy ending (along with a positive message).

I read these in the single monthly issues as originally published.

[Soteralzobooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.1 (biblio)

[Alex Sarll]

Even with the departure of its most genuinely chilling strip, Ennis & Cloonan's horribly plausible The War, Hello Darkness remains commendably varied in style and approach, taking that to an extreme with Shitcan, probably the only comic whose original art exists as graffiti on a tunnel wall somewhere deep underground. Headlines will probably lead with the comics debut of Chuck Tingle, though I found his horror story here a little trite and far less unsettling than the one Tingler I've read. For me the highlight was Dan Watters and DaNi, a team I always like anyway, addressing the increasingly urgent question of why the world is so damn noisy.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think there were more hits than misses this time out, including a story that could have come right from Black Mirror about a future where machines can read how long you look at something and decide whether that's a good or bad thing (guess where this story goes?). I also liked a story about collecting figures vs. playing with figures. There's a good meta-haunted house story. The (I'm guessing here) conclusion of a SIKTC story from James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera. There is still a fair number of head scratchers here or tales that just don't seem complete. But the balance is more in favor of successful horrific vignettes than not this time out.

[The Smoog · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t know what’s happening here, Boom! are usually great for horror comics, but it feels like they’ll just include any old guff in this anthology series. I’ve ploughed through three of these books in the hope that the quality will improve, but so far they’ve been plain boring or impenetrable. There was one story here which had promise, but then just fizzled out, and a sporadic ongoing story from James Tynion which appears to be going precisely nowhere (I feel like this was intended to be its own series, but didn’t make the cut so it’s been used as padding here). Probably the best thing about these comics is the covers. Very disappointing.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories tend to be up and down, and while some great ideas and art worked their way in the brevity and whiplash works against most entries. Don't be too discouraged, there were definitely some very strong stories-I wasn't disappointed by Chuck Tingle and the actual graffiti art story was a great project.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid anthology of short horror stories from a strong lineup of creators. The quality varies a bit from tale to tale (as expected with these kinds of collections), but overall it’s entertaining, atmospheric, and has some genuinely creepy moments. A good mix of tones and styles that keeps things fresh. Worth picking up if you enjoy modern horror comics.

[Dania · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hell Horse 🐎 was my most fave story out of this, it kinda reminded me of the character Ghost Rider with his motorbike 🏍

Also the iconic woman who I though was a serious version of Harley Quinn, is named Darcía which means "darkness". 🤌🏽

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

An improvement by subtraction with the Garth Ennis tale complete.