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Harrow County (Single Issues)
Harrow County #1
**This town will make your skin crawl!** Emmy always knew that the deep, dark woods surrounding her home crawled with ghosts, goblins, and zombies. But on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, she learns that she is connected to these creaturesand to the land itselfin a way she never imagined. Don't miss the first issue of this southern gothic fairy tale from the creator of smash hit _The Sixth Gun_, beautifully and hauntingly realized by _B.P.R.D._'s Tyler Crook!
31 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 13, 2015
3 people are currently reading
293 people want to read
About the author
Cullen Bunn
2,101 books1,058 followersCullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.
All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.
And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.
Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.
All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.
And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.
Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
May 12, 2022
4.5⭐'s
December 21, 2016
That was a very interesting start.
The villagers of Harrow County decided to kill a witch. I liked how the story started with that. I'm already get the chilling and haunting vibe from this right after opening the first page. I liked how it showed us why they did it. I was a bit worried that the reason would be very petty, like they decided to stab her to death then hang her because she was different. There are a lot of movies and books that have used this cliched plot, and I really appreciate that this time, the witch thing is for real.Anyways, the story picks up years later with this girl, Emmy, who seem to be having some kind of experience herself. There were a could foreshadowing about what could possibly be her future. That was something I did not like though. I wish it was introduced to us gradually than immediately slamming us in the face what would possibly happen to this character.
THINGS I LIKED
- It was creepy as fuck.
- The introduction was well done. It made you understand the past that might shape the future for these characters.
- That ending was just… fucking scary. What the fuck just happened????
- I like how it was narrated. It was written like a novel with pictures. It was very descriptive. It didn't rely on the pictures to describe what it wants us to see. It made us see in words too.
THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE
- Emmy as a character seem pretty bland. I don't know. Maybe it's because she was intended to be that way. But, so far, I have not warmed up to her character, nor with his dad.
- The illustrations weren't my favorite. I would have wanted a more darker tone in the art since the story is a bit dark. There were parts of it that I liked though, like the smear of paint (at least I think it's paint) on some of the images. I'm not an artist, so I won't know what the fuck it's called, it does have splashes of color here and there that I liked.
- I think I mentioned this earlier on my review as well. I didn't really like the fact that we already have, sort of, an idea on what was going to happen to this girl. I may be wrong, since this is only the first issue, but I have a big feeling that my hunch would be correct. I'm okay with foreshadowing, but only if its subtle. This one wasn't too subtle about it.
OVERALL
I'm not really sure how I feel about this yet, but the premise is pretty intriguing, and I'd definitely read more of it.
October 31, 2015
Delicious southern gothic goodness. Properly eerie and disturbing. :D
May 28, 2017
This is so awesome!! I love how spooky and mysteries this story is!! the artwork is great also!!
August 4, 2021
This is really good. Nice and gothic. Will read the next few issues.
June 25, 2025
Tense slow-building plot with art that evokes the bleakness and haunting colors of those days of wagons and old farmsteaders I need to get the next issue, my curiosity is piqued
May 14, 2015
I loved it! A beautifully written horror story. The art fits the story perfectly. I liked the little one-page story in the back. And enjoyed reading Cullen Bunn's inspiration for this story and his reason for using trees in a lot of his stories. Looking forward to issue 2!
June 28, 2015
This is hands down one of the best horror stories I've read in a long time, I'll be looking forward to each new issue in the months to come
April 19, 2017
Ai! Fiquei com os pelos todos em pé ao ler e observar atentamente cada capítulo de Harrow County. Mas que história mais deslumbrante...
.... Posso começar por falar da arte, criada por Tyler Crook. Os desenhos não são muito realistas, mas conseguem transmitir aquilo que uma boa história de terror deve transmitir... as cores variam muito entre os castanhos escuros, o vermelho e o amarelo torrado, o que combina muito bem com a história que nos é contada.
É muito subtil a forma como o artista decidiu desenhar a protagonista... ela passa de uma figura amorosa, para alguém que nos assusta e nos mete desconfortável. Desconfortável é a palavra certa para descrever o que senti ao folhear algumas das páginas deste livro... é o que é suposto... e espero que vocês sintam o mesmo... acreditem que não é um desconforto "mau"... é algo mesmo desejado neste caso... queremos mais terror e mais suspense neste género de histórias. A arte é FANTÁSTICA...
Tanta coisa que posso dizer sobre esta forma de pintar e desenhar...
No fim do livro, temos acesso aos desenhos que foram apresentados para fazer parte deste projeto, e posso dizer que muitos deles são mesmo muito bons e satisfatórios. Mas nenhum deles é tão "creepy", nem tão eficazmente assustador como o escolhido.
.....
Falemos do argumento...
Os pensamentos de Emmy e as falas entre as personagens estão muito bem elaboradas. Podem ser muito simples e pouco descritivas, mas conseguem manter o leitor interessado.
Estou muito contente por ter a oportunidade de ler este livro e de poder mostrar-vos o que achei dele.
Se fores tão apaixonado/a por ilustração e por bandas desenhadas, como eu, por favor, lê este livro.
.... Posso começar por falar da arte, criada por Tyler Crook. Os desenhos não são muito realistas, mas conseguem transmitir aquilo que uma boa história de terror deve transmitir... as cores variam muito entre os castanhos escuros, o vermelho e o amarelo torrado, o que combina muito bem com a história que nos é contada.
É muito subtil a forma como o artista decidiu desenhar a protagonista... ela passa de uma figura amorosa, para alguém que nos assusta e nos mete desconfortável. Desconfortável é a palavra certa para descrever o que senti ao folhear algumas das páginas deste livro... é o que é suposto... e espero que vocês sintam o mesmo... acreditem que não é um desconforto "mau"... é algo mesmo desejado neste caso... queremos mais terror e mais suspense neste género de histórias. A arte é FANTÁSTICA...
Tanta coisa que posso dizer sobre esta forma de pintar e desenhar...
No fim do livro, temos acesso aos desenhos que foram apresentados para fazer parte deste projeto, e posso dizer que muitos deles são mesmo muito bons e satisfatórios. Mas nenhum deles é tão "creepy", nem tão eficazmente assustador como o escolhido.
.....
Falemos do argumento...
Os pensamentos de Emmy e as falas entre as personagens estão muito bem elaboradas. Podem ser muito simples e pouco descritivas, mas conseguem manter o leitor interessado.
Estou muito contente por ter a oportunidade de ler este livro e de poder mostrar-vos o que achei dele.
Se fores tão apaixonado/a por ilustração e por bandas desenhadas, como eu, por favor, lê este livro.
January 11, 2020
The series starts strong but lost some of the good creepyness and ghouly potential along the way : / - still an ok read with good art but not really my cup of tea
February 1, 2022
I absolutely loved this comic
October 22, 2025
Atrapada en este primer volumen de una historia con un arte excepcional y una ambientación muy gótica sureña. Muchas ganas de continuar.
June 25, 2024
I purposefully chose to read just the very first issue of Harrow County in order to see whether a horror comic can hook me with those initial thirty odd pages. Truth be told, I'm not sure it did such a swell job in that department, but I fully expect a horror-themed work requires certain amount of time to really spread its wings, so to speak, before it can bring all the assets it has to bear.
Surprisingly enough we begin at an earlier point in time prior to when the remainder of the comic takes place. Year is never specified but I'd wager it's most likely somewhere in the early 20th century or so, and we're witnessing a most peculiar event occur – townsfolk are burning a witch. Through the next couple of pages we get to see how she came to find herself ton the tree after folks became too afraid of her and making some educated guesses on HOW she was getting her powers and about the dark company she was keeping when local kids began to disappear. When everything else failed they resorted to burning her on a pyre. As she is burning away she cracks a smile and proclaims to return one day. Whether to mend or hurt, she will return.
That's all in the past, though. Story flashes forward to a young girl waking up after going through some intense nightmares and looking at twisted tree outside her window. She wonders what secrets this stunted tree holds and why she keeps a monstrous version of it in her dreams screaming about lies. Uneasy she tries to go to sleep again. She can't sleep.
Being both the first issue and, well, a single issue poses some problems for Harrow Country because there's a lot of really obvious stuff that makes you wonder whether something else other than expected will come out of it, but you also have to cram in backstory in there. This goes doubly because characters like Emmy and her Pa don't really get much for the reader to really feel attached to on that basic level simply because there isn't enough to generate the connection. Most of what I got is is that she's a girl on the verge of turning eighteen, she's still somewhat childish at heart and wants to maybe see the world but that would mean leaving her Pa behind on a farm all alone. Sure, you can see the potential curves and twists of the story to come based on some events that happen in the issue that her old man is trying to turn a blind eye to, but at first glance it's very archetypal. Some rule of the thumb is you either have few characters and giv them attention or you have more characters so you can spread it out more evenly. Harrow Country kinda doesn't do either to full extent, but like I said it remains to be seen.
Now you're figuring it out?
Painting method of choice is watercolor and Tyler Cook puts it to great use with soft earthen tone for landscapes, bu I particularly like the way he employs it on characters for a layered blotchy effect. It really accentuates the shading while keeping it inviting and deceptively simple when you look at it. You'll find nary a sharp line in the entire issue. Even that one ethereal page where changing the art style for dramatic effect would've been perfectly acceptable is instead realized through appropriately outlandish color palette. The way characters look also fits into overall art style, but I'd air on the side of obvious and say their designs are somewhat bland. That's not necessarily bad taking into account the time period and locale. This is helped greatly by artist's ability to draw facial expressions in that sweet middle between hyper-realism and clear exaggeration.
In conclusion you might be wondering why I haven't given it a thumbs up? Because I don't think the premise is that well realized and it didn't hook me personally with all the not-so-subtle foreshadowing. Art looks great and even the writing is up there for what it is, but I'm skeptical about continuing because either A) I can tell where this is going and that's not really engaging or B) author will throw a twist or two at me just to keep it going. Maybe I'm just pigheaded for no real reason?
Surprisingly enough we begin at an earlier point in time prior to when the remainder of the comic takes place. Year is never specified but I'd wager it's most likely somewhere in the early 20th century or so, and we're witnessing a most peculiar event occur – townsfolk are burning a witch. Through the next couple of pages we get to see how she came to find herself ton the tree after folks became too afraid of her and making some educated guesses on HOW she was getting her powers and about the dark company she was keeping when local kids began to disappear. When everything else failed they resorted to burning her on a pyre. As she is burning away she cracks a smile and proclaims to return one day. Whether to mend or hurt, she will return.
That's all in the past, though. Story flashes forward to a young girl waking up after going through some intense nightmares and looking at twisted tree outside her window. She wonders what secrets this stunted tree holds and why she keeps a monstrous version of it in her dreams screaming about lies. Uneasy she tries to go to sleep again. She can't sleep.
Being both the first issue and, well, a single issue poses some problems for Harrow Country because there's a lot of really obvious stuff that makes you wonder whether something else other than expected will come out of it, but you also have to cram in backstory in there. This goes doubly because characters like Emmy and her Pa don't really get much for the reader to really feel attached to on that basic level simply because there isn't enough to generate the connection. Most of what I got is is that she's a girl on the verge of turning eighteen, she's still somewhat childish at heart and wants to maybe see the world but that would mean leaving her Pa behind on a farm all alone. Sure, you can see the potential curves and twists of the story to come based on some events that happen in the issue that her old man is trying to turn a blind eye to, but at first glance it's very archetypal. Some rule of the thumb is you either have few characters and giv them attention or you have more characters so you can spread it out more evenly. Harrow Country kinda doesn't do either to full extent, but like I said it remains to be seen.
Now you're figuring it out?
Painting method of choice is watercolor and Tyler Cook puts it to great use with soft earthen tone for landscapes, bu I particularly like the way he employs it on characters for a layered blotchy effect. It really accentuates the shading while keeping it inviting and deceptively simple when you look at it. You'll find nary a sharp line in the entire issue. Even that one ethereal page where changing the art style for dramatic effect would've been perfectly acceptable is instead realized through appropriately outlandish color palette. The way characters look also fits into overall art style, but I'd air on the side of obvious and say their designs are somewhat bland. That's not necessarily bad taking into account the time period and locale. This is helped greatly by artist's ability to draw facial expressions in that sweet middle between hyper-realism and clear exaggeration.
In conclusion you might be wondering why I haven't given it a thumbs up? Because I don't think the premise is that well realized and it didn't hook me personally with all the not-so-subtle foreshadowing. Art looks great and even the writing is up there for what it is, but I'm skeptical about continuing because either A) I can tell where this is going and that's not really engaging or B) author will throw a twist or two at me just to keep it going. Maybe I'm just pigheaded for no real reason?
December 4, 2015
I'm not going to start this review by saying that Harrow County #1 is the best comic ever or even the best horror comic out there, because it's not. It's not even overly original. But what it does, it does extremely well. I can't explain why but after reading it, I found myself very unnerved. There’s something about the story, the presentation that gets under your skin and won't leave you alone. The darkness lurking in the shadows of the rural setting, of the townsfolks' pasts mixed with the rosy cheeks, the almost doll-like way in which the artist depicts each character;all of it instills almost a subconscious dread that builds as the story progresses. It stays with you awhile after you've read it. And that's what good horror does. I really loved this book.
December 13, 2015
Harrow County is about a town who burned a witch and feared that she was going to come back. Emmy who has always had a connection with the dark woods out by her home, doesn't know how different she really is. She is almost eighteen and the towns folk are worried about what she might become.
Emmy is a real different girl and in the end she does turn into something different but not what you might imagine. I am a bit curious as to how this series might go.
The art work in this graphic novel was different than any of the others I have read as it looked a lot like watercolor. The GN is billed as horror but I didn't find it scary but some of the graphics were a bit gruesome at times.
Emmy is a real different girl and in the end she does turn into something different but not what you might imagine. I am a bit curious as to how this series might go.
The art work in this graphic novel was different than any of the others I have read as it looked a lot like watercolor. The GN is billed as horror but I didn't find it scary but some of the graphics were a bit gruesome at times.
June 9, 2018
Heard a lot of good things about this comic. Finally decided to check it out. And guess what? It's awesome. The first issue is a bit... generic, but thanks to Tyler Crook's artwork, there's a certain... mood in all that. A mood that makes everything more... real. Something that makes your own childhood fears to wake up and remind you about themselves. Surprisingly nice spooky comic. That's how I like it. With a lot of atmosphere. Like I said, the story is a bit generic at this point, but hey! It's only the first issue.
May 23, 2015
Another great start to a new series by Cullen Bunn. A horror comic series based around witches and haints feels perfect after the ending of the miniseries - Wolf Moon. Bunn has a way with dialogue and telling a tale that feels like it needs to be told. He works well with origins that unfold as the story does. He always begins in the middle and grows outward from both ends. This is also clear in his work on Lobo and Sixth Gun. Can't wait to read issue two.
July 14, 2015
Harrow County reminds me of a good old fashion ghost story. It has a great blend of mystery, just the right amount of horror, and, a dash of charm that crafts something you'll enjoy reading if you're into the sort of genre. Fans of Locke and Key, Nailbiter, or, American Vampire might also enjoy this book. Heavy influence on witchcraft but hints of other American folkloric horrors are placed into this first issue. Can't wait to read more! Things can only look up for this book.
January 17, 2016
This has the charm and creepiness of an old ghost story, yet somehow I was't wowed too much by the plot (at least, so far) - there didn't seem to be anything new here as far as horror stories go. That's not to say there weren't some great moments. Either way, the artwork is absolutely gorgeous, and I'm glad I bought the book so I can flip through the pages and just stare at it.
June 6, 2016
Was I entertained?
I was terrified. The horror lover in me is very interested.
Was there drama?
Well, if you turn a blind eye to a witch and then burn her alive, things will get dramatic.
Am I looking forward to the next issue?
Most definitely; plus look at that cover. You know things will get crazy scary.
Rating 5 out of 5
Read@Book
I was terrified. The horror lover in me is very interested.
Was there drama?
Well, if you turn a blind eye to a witch and then burn her alive, things will get dramatic.
Am I looking forward to the next issue?
Most definitely; plus look at that cover. You know things will get crazy scary.
Rating 5 out of 5
Read@Book
August 2, 2016
This was pretty... rough. Maybe I've been overdoing it on the unhappy, humorless graphic novels lately and this was just a bit too much for me right now. It at least ended well, but I think I'm going to have to set this series aside until I've had some happier, funnier stuff to read for a while. :)
November 5, 2016
I was pleasantly surprised with this random find from the library. The first thing that stands out is the art. Watercolors are intimidating for me, so I was impressed with the artist’s beautiful backgrounds and attention to detail. The story is compelling, hinting at themes of the responsibility of creation and the struggle to be more than the dark temptations we all carry inside.
November 11, 2015
The ending was pretty spooky, but other then that it was just okay. At time I found it slow and confusing. I need to read the next one, though, to see if I should read the whole thing or just forget about it and move on.
June 7, 2016
Someone left this in my ski house and I read it. It was actually pretty good. Not sure that I'd pay to get the newest comics as they come out every month, but hey, if someone else wants to buy them for me, I'd keep reading 'em.
July 13, 2020
A dark horse horror series.
Good color artwork, dark horse freebie. These horror stories are based off a witches dying curse on harrow county. The art could be a little cleaner? The fuzziness is supposed to add to the surreal quality, but I think sharpness would work.
Good color artwork, dark horse freebie. These horror stories are based off a witches dying curse on harrow county. The art could be a little cleaner? The fuzziness is supposed to add to the surreal quality, but I think sharpness would work.
December 1, 2020
If I read horror comics, I would be so into this series. The illustrations are amazing, and I'm digging the whole murdered witch and beast descendency vibe. If you like horror comics, read this one and tell me what I'm missing!
April 27, 2015
Review coming soon.
May 23, 2015
Creepy story, great art!
May 14, 2015
I don't usually write reviews for books on Goodreads but Harrow County #1 made me want to look up the author and add almost all of his bibliography to my tbr list. It really is that good.
July 8, 2015
Oohoho so creepy. Nice way to start. Great introduction. Definitely makes you want to read more to see what happens.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews