Joe Hill: The Graphic Novel Collection

by Joe Hill, Jason Ciaramella, Chris Ryall

New York Times Best Seller Joe Hill is the creative force behind this collection of graphic novels that showcase the world-building and bone-chilling talents of the famed Locke & Key co-creator. This deluxe hardcover includes: The Cape illustrated by Zach Howard, The Cape: 1969 illustrated by Nelson Daniel, Thumbprint illustrated by Vic Malhotra, Kodiak illustrated by Nat Jones, and Wraith illustrated by Charles Paul Wilson III.

Genres: Horror, Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Short Stories

472 pages, Hardcover

First published December 10, 2019

About the author

Joe Hill's debut, Heart-Shaped Box, won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. His second, Horns, was made into a film freakfest starring Daniel Radcliffe. His other novels include NOS4A2, and his #1 New York Times Best-Seller, The Fireman... which was also the winner of a 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror Novel.

He writes short stories too. Some of them were gathered together in his prize-winning collection, 20th Century Ghosts.

He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with illustrator and art wizard Gabriel Rodriguez.

He lives in New Hampshire with a corgi named McMurtry after a certain beloved writer of cowboy tales. His next book, Strange Weather, a collection of novellas, storms into bookstores in October of 2017.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

IDW collects some of Joe Hill's comics adapted from his stories. I really liked The Cape and The Wraith. The others range from fair to poor. Reviews for each story are linked below:

The Cape - When a slacker finds his childhood cape, he finds it allows him to really fly.
The Cape: 1969 - A so-so origin story for The Cape.
Thumbprint - A disgraced soldier is stalked.
Kodiak - A man retells how he was mauled by a bear.
The Wraith - Charlie Manx from NOS4A2 returns to take some escaped convicts to Christmasland.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does Joe Hill write novels or graphic novels? Answer: both equally and very well!



This collection showcases 4 of Hill's graphic novel series (5 if you split the two Cape storylines). I know that a few of them are based on his novels and short stories, but I am not sure if all of them are. So, I suppose I could re-answer my first question to say that he writes novels and stories that lend themselves very well into graphic novels.



The art throughout this collection varies. But, I enjoyed each in their own way and they were well selected to illustrate the source material. Creepy, dark, and humorous when it needs to be - just a lot of fun to look at!



If you are looking for some creepy tales for Halloween (or maybe for Christmas) this would be a great place to look!

[Johann (jobis89) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just a quick review for this one! I'd already read Wraith so there was only 3 graphic novels to read in this collection: The Cape, Thumbprint and Kodiak.

I have to say, The Cape was absolutely amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So dark and sinister. Haunting. But the other 2 kinda let me down! I just didn't think they were that great at all. Wraith, of course, was awesome, so felt like 3 stars was a happy medium for this entire collection.

[destiny ♡ howling libraries · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Joe Hill's work in general, so when I realized there was an entire collection of graphic novel short stories that I hadn't read yet, I was pretty excited and had to get my hands on it immediately. The Graphic Novel Collection features mostly hits with a couple of misses, and since there are only a few stories, I'll break them down as such:

→ The Cape:
I thought this was a really solid introduction to the collection. It starts off by showcasing a boy who believes his "cape" (really a modified baby blanket) is magical, but he has a traumatic accident and grows up to be fairly damaged due to that. As he reaches adulthood, he becomes cynical towards everyone in his life, and upon finding that magical cape, decides to seek revenge. It's really violent and pretty sad, but an extremely intriguing and fleshed-out story.

→ The Cape: 1969:
The second story is actually a prequel to the first, in which we learn how the cape got its powers — through a freak incident occurring to the father of the boy from the first story — and, more heavily, the way trauma can break a human being and turn them into a monster. I liked this one a lot less, but I can appreciate the need for backstory that it fulfilled.

→ Thumbprint:
A US veteran, discharged for abusing soldiers and civilians in the war in Iraq, finds herself in deep paranoia when she comes home and starts seeing hints of her past pop up. I think I'd have enjoyed this a lot more in an actual short story formatting, because it just didn't translate well to the graphic novel. It doesn't help that I strongly disliked the art style, and was horribly uncomfortable with a lot of the dialogue (though I know that was part of the point, to make the reader face how awful the happenings in Abu Ghraib were).

→ Kodiak:
A couple of boys meet a scarred man who tells them the story of how he got his scars — by fighting a vicious bear while being held captive in his youth. I thought this one was fun enough, even though it didn't hold any similarity at all to what I typically expect from Joe's writing (I don't even think I'd call it horror).

→ The Wraith:
Finally, the collection ends with this graphic novel about Charlie Manx, the terrifying, vampire-esque villain from NOS4A2. Charlie is genuinely one of the most awful, worrisome, love-to-hate-him villains I've ever seen in my life, so I was excited to spend more time in Christmasland, and this graphic novel did not disappoint in the slightest. You could definitely read this without having read NOS4A2, but I wouldn't recommend it, because the full story has such a deliciously dreadful, slow buildup to the big "reveal" of Christmasland and the children therein, that I think reading The Wraith first would be robbing yourself a little bit.

[Chrissana Roy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recopilación de varios comics de Joe Hill en un sólo volumen.
1. La capa dividida en cinco capítulos. Cuenta la historia de un niño que descubrió que podía volar con su capa. Después de un accidente, la capa desaparece. Años después la reencontrará y la utilizará para convertirse en un villano.
2. La capa: 1969. Cuatro capítulo. Es la precuela de la capa. Se centra en la vida del padre de Eric, y da una explicación al por qué? La capa empezó a volar.
3. Thumbprint. Cuenta la historia de una soldado que hace poco que ha vuelto a casa. Empezará a recibir cartas con la marca de una huella dentro. Y pronto averiguará qué no se puede huir del pasado.
4. Kodiak. Una historia corta en la que Dominico cuenta a dos niños como mató a un oso.
5. Wraith ( el espectro) sin duda lo mejor de todo el cómic. Ahora, Hill y el dibujante Charlie "Talent" Wilson III exploran los retorcidos inicios de Manx, introducen un nuevo y depravado reparto de personajes en Christmasland y conducen a los lectores a un paseo sobre ruedas a 200 km/h por una carretera de pesadilla en un coche sin frenos...

[James DeSantis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Cape was the best story by far. The rest kind of meh. Just buy "The Cape" Graphic novel.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good stuff. Add Hill to a list that includes Brubaker and Ennis? Any suggestions for further dark reading (comics)?

[Brett Plaxton · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Wraith is definitely the standout in this collection, I had read it in the Spring and read the other stories. The Cape stories were great and I can’t wait to check out the Cape: Fallen now. Thumbprint was interesting and Kodiak was a quick, fun little story.

[Antonio · Rating 3 out of 5]

La capa, 4⭐
La capa, 1969 3 ⭐
Huella, 3⭐
Kodiak, 2 ⭐
Wraith (Espectro) 3 ⭐


Adaptación de unos relatos de Joe Hill por Jason Ciaramella, excepto Kodiak, guionizado por Joe Hill y Ciaramella, y Wraith, que es una precuela de la novela NOS4A2.

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

I had already read The Wraith (which is AWESOME) and I absolutely loved The Cape. the other two stories were alright too but far from my favorites.

[El Cuervo de Poe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Antología de novelas gráficas cuyo mayor reclamo es tener al célebre Joe Hill como el creador e inspirador principal de todas las historias... cuando realmente solo una de las novelas gráficas en cuestión, WRAITH, cuenta con un guion del propio Joe Hill y seguramente por eso mismo sea, de largo, la mejor narración de todo el volumen.

El resto de novelas gráficas se dejan leer y ciertamente la primera parte de LA CAPA es bastante disfrutable, pero sin duda alguna lo que realmente merece la pena de esta antología es la citada WRAITH, una especie de sórdida y truculenta precuela de la famosa novela Nos4a2 del propio Joe Hill.

Una historia muy macabra que sin duda interesará por igual tanto a los lectores de la novela como a los amantes del género de terror en general.

Lamentablemente el resto de historias no están a su altura y se aprovechan en cierta medida del buen nombre del autor.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Joe Hill's name is on the cover more as a brand than as a contributor. Most of these stories are adapted by another writer and just sort of fall flat. The final story, "Wraith," with an actual Joe Hill script manages to bring this book up to three stars.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is a real mixed bag of unsettling graphic adaptations of Joe Hill-penned shorts. Maybe we'll just go through story by story?

The Cape: A loser discovers that his childhood cape gives him the power of flight. Anddd he chooses to be a villain. The power-trip antics grow wearisome almost immediately. 2/5

The Cape 1969: An origin story for the first Cape tale, this one stars the loser's father as a Vietnam POW. It's intriguing and exciting, but should have been a single issue. The drawn-out battle is stupid and there really aren't any revelations about why the cape allows anyone to fly. 2/5

Thumbprint: A soldier returns from a traumatic shift at Abu Ghraib. Like most of the characters in this collection, she is not a good person. She's also haunted by her past - and someone leaving thumbprint messages. The big reveal is odd and dumb, but the art is pretty good. 3/5

Kodiak: Russian circus performer defeats a massive bear. Weird, short fairy tale? Eh, at least it was quick. 2/5

Wraith: I planned to skip this one, the longest story in the collection, since I haven't read Joe Hill's Nosferatu. But then I dug into the prologue, a backstory for the book's villain, and found myself intrigued. So I pressed on. The main tale in Wraith starts off abysmally - a handful of prisoners chatter relentlessly about nothing until the villain snatches them up in his black Rolls Royce. The prisoner's escape from Christmasland was much more rousing. The epilogue, a text-heavy, twisted version of the prologue, was probably my favorite bit. 3/5

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first three of these stories were horror in my less favorite vein, where the main character of the story is not the/a good guy. I prefer a story where I'm rooting for the protagonist against something horrifying, rather than just witnessing them wreak havoc on innocent - or even guilty - people. I still quite enjoyed The Cape, a super dark and intense story. The Cape: 1969 was a letdown as a prequel for me. Thumbprint was interesting but didn't wholly come together into a coherent story. Finally, Kodiak was my favorite and surprised me with its tenderness in contrast to the rest of this collection.⁣

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful and quite heavy collection of Joe Hill's graphic stories. Not for snuggled up bed time reading.

I had read The Cape and Thumbprint in 20th Century Ghosts, but The Cape was expanded in this form. The Cape and The Cape 1969 were good, though I did like 1969 better. Kodiak was a fun story that plays a bit into the power of storytelling and how legends can begin.

The Wraith, the tie-in to NOS4A2, is so good though. It's not necessary to have read the novel (though why wouldn't you?) but it's a great companion that fills in the character of Charlie Manx.

[chvang · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of Joe Hill's stories that were adapted into comic books.

The first is "The Cape," which gets two stars.

It's about a man who gets superpowers: flight. Seriously. Spoilers. He's a loser and feels inadequate, especially compared to his brother, who went to Harvard and is a doctor in Boston. His girlfriend, a nurse and originally his brother's almost-girlfriend, believes in him. Don't know why. But she's talking to his brother about getting him out of his years-long funk, and, consumed by jealousy and feelings of inadequacy, he lashes out at her. They break up. He moves back home. He finds his childhood cape. He dons it. And it turns out he can fly. So naturally he flies back to his girlfriend to prove that he's not really a loser. Unfortunately, as he gets to her window, she's on the phone with his brother, talking about him, and this is when the story takes an unexpected turn. He shows her his flying superpower and leads her on ... then drops her to the ground, killing her. Instead of telling the usual story of guy with superpowers using it to fight crime, he's a selfish individual who uses it selfishly. That would've been a good story. It's an intriguing premise, the main character has depth, the artwork is good ... but it goes overboard. I can believe that he'll use it to cover his tracks, even escalating to killing the investigating officers, but the way he does it was ridiculous. Or the way he then goes after his mom, escalating to him taking down the airplane she was on. Much harder to swallow. And the conclusion was unsatisfying. So despite its strengths, the story is ultimately warranted two stars.

The second story, "The Cape: 1969" is a prelude to "The Cape" and deals with the origin of the cape. It gets one star. It's a story about the father of the main character from "The Cape". He was a US Army helicopter pilot flying a medical copter during the Vietnam War. He's shot down, captured by Vietcong, and gets flying powers --there's a witch-doctor involved. And hints that the powers turns people into raging killers, which might explain the first story. But the villains are caricatures, the characters one-dimensional, and the plot generic. It's also completely unnecessary.

The third story, "Kodiak", an incredibly short and gets one and a half stars. It would've done well as a prologue to a larger story or as a character's backstory, but it fails to stand on its own.

The fourth, "Thumbprint," gets a very reluctant two stars. Your mileage may vary and give it three. It's about a Iraq War veteran, who was involved in the Abu Ghraib tortures. She wasn't caught along with her unit, but just barely. And is sent home, where she has trouble dealing and reintegrating back into civilian life. Then she gets these pages of paper, blank except for a thumbprint. But we don't know the context of them, so her freakout is jarring. That's the main reason for the two stars, instead of three. The twist, in the end, is a true twist, as it really does come out of nowhere and changes the entire narrative.

The fifth, "Wraith," gets four stars and is the best story out of this collection. It left I'm seriously scared and unsettled. Like, I feel it in my bones and I'm afraid it's going to stay there for some time. The villain is seriously creepy. The story does fantastic job starting with a prologue first, giving him a backstory and setting the tone long before we meet him. And the character designs (those teeth!) really works.

The story itself is about dreamscapes and is very surreal and nightmarish. It starts with a trio of prisoners being transported, when an escape plan goes awry. The convicts then call in a favor from a guy who can make them disappear, described as the "Houdini of the Highways." And one of the convicts, a child molester, has been using him to make bodies disappear. He takes them to Christmasland and it's not a euphemism for being dead, it's worse.

I only recommend it if horror is really your thing, else stay away.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked these better as stories (from places such as 20th Century Ghosts and Full Throttle). As graphic adaptations, they lose a certain something. The Cape is a neat idea, but the main character is a complete loser who it is impossible to care about and his murder spree never really makes much sense. Thumbprint is better. Kodiak isn't bad, though very short. The Wraith was too long and, as someone who'd already read NOS4A2, it was kind of an afterthought to that story. Of them all, I think The Cape: 1969 is the one I liked best. A lot of these stories show Hill as a developing writer, so in that way, they're very similar to his father's early work--neat ideas not always fully developed.

[C.I. DeMann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dark and gory. If that's what you're looking for, the stories and art are decent, but other than the first story (The Cape) I was mostly unimpressed. But it comes highly rated, so maybe real comic aficionados will see genius here that I'm not.

[Susannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Hill's series, Locke & Key, so I was curious to see how his stand-alone graphic novel stories would fare. This is a collection of five stories by Joe Hill, which, bar the last two stories, have all been adapted into comics single-handedly by Jason Ciaramella. Hill joins him in adapting the fourth story, and handles the last one by himself. This collection includes The Cape, The Cape: 1969, Thumbprint, Kodiak, and Wraith.
The Cape is a very cool story, proving that not all heroes wear capes, and that not all who wear capes are heroes. My only critique is that the climax is a a bit drawn out. The art is done by Nelson Daniel, who also does the prequel, The Cape: 1969. The prequel is not really necessary, and does not add a lot to the original story, except to explain what happened to the boys' father. It has a strong theme of the futility of revenge, and the brutality of war, but once again the violent climax goes on for too long.
The next story, Thumbprint, explores very similar territory. This time the war is in Iraq, and a returned soldier struggles with her inner, and outer, demons. The art is by Vic Malhotra.
The next story, Kodiak, is a refreshing change of pace. Set in medieval times, it is about a man recounting a tall tale of his time fighting a champion bear. The art is by Nat Jones.
Finally, the collection wraps up with a Wraith Prologue, story, and Epilogue. I have not read the novel Nos4A2, so I do not have any context outside of the graphic novel for these stories. But it is a very inventive tale of a man who makes a living as a chauffeur driving a Wraith model of car, and whose mind is able to make his visions become reality. The Prologue is his origin story, the main tale is about three criminals and two police officers who encounter him and his "children", and the Epilogue is a brilliant little prose story that dovetails beautifully with the Prologue. They are all illustrated by Charles Paul Wilson III.
Altogether this a good introduction to the work of Joe Hill. All the tales are beautifully illustrated, and although obviously done by different artists, there is not a jarring jump in style between the four when you read the tales together.

[Michael Roch · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection with THE CAPE, THE CAPE:1969, THUMBPRINT, KODIAK, and WRAITH: WELCOME TO CHRISTMASLAND.

THE CAPE and THUMBPRINT are based on short stories with the same names. THE CAPE pretty much follows the short story, with additional back story in THE CAPE: FALLEN. THUMBPRINT changes a few details from the short story but essentially follows it.

WRAITH is an interesting one. It adds some back story to NOS4A2. It does it in such a way that you can read either the graphic novel or the novel without needing to read the other. That is neither depends on the other, but they complement each other.

[Jacob A. Mirallegro · Rating 2 out of 5]

None of these stories were awful but none really grabbed me that much. The Cape was probably my favorite but it felt so hopeless and melancholy that I can't really say I enjoyed it. Thumbprint had my favorite art and I liked the depth of personalities but I didn't really get the point of the story. Similarly I didn't fully get Kodiak or Wraith but at least Kodiak was short. Wraith felt too long to me and it still didn't do as much as I would've expected.
Again I didn't think any of these were really bad but definitely not near the same caliber as Locke and Key or his current Hill House comics.

[Lizette Martínez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Para mí el único que realmente valió la pena fué "Wraith" los demás son bastante meh y se nota muchísimo que no están escritos por Joe, lo cual casi parece una estafa, ya que el libro lo venden bajo su nombre, y aunque las historias son adaptaciones de historias suyas, no es lo mismo. El arte de todas las historias y el color de Jay Fotos, 10 de 10, sobre todo en Wraith <3 Amé la crudeza de las imágenes y lo gráfico que es todo.

Calificaciones individuales:
The Cape: 3 estrellas
The Cape 1969: 2 estrellas
KODIAK: 2 estrellas
Thumbprint: 2.5 estrellas
Wraith: 4.5 estrellas

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome stuff, particularly "The Cape" and "Wraith."

[Jamie Connolly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book! Finished it just in time for NOS4A2. 5 stars.

[Fahad Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

As amazing as Joe Hill's novels are, the thing he's really famous for is comics. To be more precise, Locke and Key. Well, this isn't Locke and Key, but this book does contain a few other graphic novellas. Here's how that breaks down:

The Cape: The thing that Hill has in common with Stephen King is an absolutely insane imagination, and yet the specific insanity of that imagination is also what sets them apart. So it was kinda disappointing to read The Cape and turns out it's just another of those stories where someone gets super powers and decides to do bAaAad things with them. Not great, not terrible, gonna give this a lower rating than 3.6 3/5

The Cape 1969: At one point in The Cape, it is mentioned that the patch on the super powered blanket/cape came home from Vietnam. On that flimsy little basis, we get the origin story of the cape. As a story, it's perhaps more interesting than The Cape was, but it's also an unnecessary origin story, so on the balance, it gets the same score as The Cape 3/5

Thumbprint: I don't know if I would tell you to get this book just for this story, but it is pretty good. I can't recall the horrors of Abu Ghraib being part of the backstory of any character I've ever seen, but Thumbprint is a pretty interesting and entertaining exploration of what happens when a soldier has to cut out their humanity to survive a war, and then they come home. Not essential, but a bright spot in the collection 3.5/5

Kodiak: In ye olde Europe, a guy kisses a noblewoman, which pisses off her brother, who then throws him into a dungeon with a bear, and the guy survives the encounter. There's nothing more to it than that, and it feels like an intermission in the book more than anything else 2.5/5

Wraith: NOS4R2 is one of my favorite books I've read in 2020, so you best believe I was interested in Wraith - that actually is the main reason I got this book in the first place. Some things about Wraith are good, some are not. Seeing Christmasland, with that weird-ass moon, was definitely good. Charlie Manx's backstory was good. But the overall story about how three prisoners and a cop have to survive Christmasland is so far removed from the kind of story of NOS4R2 was, it can be difficult to stay involved in it. Wraith does stick to the novel's themes of child abuse and parental love, but not in as interesting a way as the novel did. Fantastic artwork, though 3/5

Overall: 3/5

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is a very mixed bag, with The cape being the strongest; I had read this before and given it 4 stars, which I still think holds, especially for Zach Howard's artwork. Much like the film Chronicle and as a sort of inverse Spider-Man story this outlines the corruption of great power, combined with a total lack of responsibility.
Story #2 - The Cape: 1969 reveals how the Marine patch came to be imbued with the superpower of flight - in Vietnam with Cory Chase (the father of the brothers in the first storyline), captured by the North Vietnamese army. The artwork isn't as good as in the first and although the story does try to not veer into certain clichés it does then stray into odd territory with the powers coming from a flying shaman, who goes out of his way to give his powers to Cory, who then goes on a bloody rampage, which perhaps illustrates how Eric maybe couldn't escape the violence inherent in his cape. 2.5 stars
Story #3 - Thumbprint. Another violent story, set in America, after private first class Mallory Brennan has returned from Afghanistan and the real-life horrors of Abu Ghraib, where she was participant in the awful torturous treatment of prisoners kept there. This has some obvious reflections on PTSD and how power corrupts; it is however seriously let down by a ridiculous last page with Brennan revealed to be wearing the thumb necklace, collected my the man she had to kill just pages before...I mean, just why ?!? 3 stars (lifted by the art of Vic Malhotra (very Tommy Lee Edwards).
Story #4 - Kodiak. A one shot; sort of a fairy tale really. 3.5 stars
Story #5 - Wraith. I still can't make my mind up about Charles Paul Wilson III's artwork, but in the main it's ragged, sometimes awkward lines, does reflect the grotesqueries of the story, teeth & blood and all. It's a sort of morality tale with the sinews stretched thin over Charlie Manx's bony visage. The Epilogue is especially good, showing the life story of 'Nicholas LeMarc', his trials, scams and personal tribulations...at the end, mostly a revenge by Manx and the power of Christmasland...4 stars

[Giulia Renzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say I've not liked this as much as I was expected to. I'm not a die-hard Joe Hill fan, but I've enjoyed The Fireman and I'm passionate about graphic novels and horror/thriller stories, therefore I was pretty sure this was going to be my cup of tea.

Unfortunately, I have enjoyed only one story out of three (I'm counting the first two as one single story) and it was The Cape.

The Fingerprint left me with nothing. It wasn't particularly enjoyable or particularly bad.

What made me give 2 stars to what could have been a 3 is the last story, The Wraith. The premises were great and I was honestly expecting it to be my personal favorite of this selection, but I had 2 major problems with this: there was way too much writing for its own good (I guess it makes sense since the same story is also narrated in a book) and I didn't enjoyed the drawings at all.

There were some bright moments here and there for the art of this story, especially in the final issues, the ones set in Christmasland. But in general, I couldn't help but think the faces of all the characters were strange: they looked stretched and the artist sure suffers from the same-face syndrome. I was really confused when the character of Sykes was introduced because he looks almost identical to Charlie Manx and it took me some time to understand they are two separate identities. Also, sometimes the bodies of the characters look odd, especially the limbs and it distracted me a lot from the story. The art isn't bad per se, it just didn't meet my taste. But, combined with the excessive presence of text in the story it made The Wraith feel more like a task than a pleasure for me.

[Paul S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great showcase of talented artists and the spectrum of Joe Hill's twisted horror.
I thought each story was good and showed off a different style of horror.
You should check this out if you're into Gaiman, Stephen King, or Locke & Key.

The Cape is brutal urban fantasy. Fast paced. The strongest piece in the collection. I loved the art except it could've dialed back the Ben Day Dots. I was nearly offended by them. I couldn't stop focusing on those dots. Write a horror story about that, Joe Hill, then send me a check. Thanks.

Thumbprint is real horror. This could've been an episode of Criminal Minds. Mental illness. War crimes. PTSD. Assholes. Karma.

Kodiak is a short story-within-a-story unreliable-narrator big-fish tall tale. It's cute. Yeah, Kodiak's are bloody cute. Joe Hill takes a breather and shows us he's not, ya know, totally broken.

Wraith... I think nearly every adult will groan when they hear the setting of a horror story is "Christmasland" UGGGHH that is nauseous. But Wraith turns into a bad ass horror that reminded me of the horror movies I could rent on VHS from the little Home Video shop. It's thoughtfully told, a twisted story, and rendered with skill.

[Zai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta colección contiene 5 novelas gráficas:

La capa - la historia de un niño con una capa y cuando la vuelve a encontrar de adulto como le transforma y sus consecuencias.

La capa: 1969 - Es la precuela de la anterior. Es la historia del protagonista de la anterior. No os cuento de que trata porque seguramente haría spoiler.

Huella - La historia de una soldado que al regresar a casa empieza a recibir notas con una huella.

Kodiak - La historia de un joven artista que hace malabarismos con fuego y el por qué se tiene que enfrentar a un oso.

Wreith(Espectro) - Aquí conocemos los inicios de Charlie Manx, protagonista de la novela NOS4A2 de Joe Hill y conoceremos más sobre "Christmasland".

En general, los relatos han sido entretenidos, el que más me ha gustado ha sido Kodiak que ya lo había leido de forma independiente, pero en esta ocasión me ha gustado un poco más y el que menos me ha gustado ha sido Wreith(Espectro), en ocasiones no entendía nada, está ambientado en un pueblo terrorífico y raro.

No son las mejores novelas gráficas que he leido de Joe Hill, siguen siendo mis favoritas su serie Locke & Key y Un cesto lleno de cabezas.

[Darth Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first Joe Hill "novel". He's definitely his father's son.

Personally, I think that The Cape was the best story in this collection. Followed by Kodiak and Thumbprint. Wraith was godawful. It just didn't translate well into a comic format. Like, I can't even describe just how bad I thought I was. And it's sad too because, apparently, it's a story from the NOS4A2 universe. It kinda makes me never want to read that book. If it's seriously about Christmasland and a dude who drives a Rolls-Royce around Colorado stealing children and turning them into flesh eating monsters I'll, uh, I'll pass.

But yeah. The Cape was really good. I think, actually, that that one director guy everyone hated then loved pretty much stole the entire story for that movie about the evil Superman. James Gunn?

Anyway. There it is.