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Town Called Terror
Terror is a Town of Monsters, its boundaries hidden from the world. You can only find Terror if you’ve been welcomed, but it may not let you leave. Henry West escaped Terror, rebuilding his life and true happiness in the human world. When his mother disappears, his father forces him back home. Old rivalries and wars resurface as he begins to unravel the mystery.
A Town Called Terror is a family drama of monstrous proportions. From cutting-edge horror creators STEVE NILES (30 Days of Night) and SZYMON KUDRANSKI (SPAWN, The Punisher).
Collects A TOWN CALLED TERROR #1-6
A Town Called Terror is a family drama of monstrous proportions. From cutting-edge horror creators STEVE NILES (30 Days of Night) and SZYMON KUDRANSKI (SPAWN, The Punisher).
Collects A TOWN CALLED TERROR #1-6
144 pages, Paperback
First published December 20, 2022
About the author
Steve Niles
839 books478 followersSTEVE NILES is one of the writers responsible for bringing horror comics back to prominence, and was recently named by Fangoria magazine as one of it's "13 rising talents who promise to keep us terrified for the next 25 years."
Niles is currently working for the four top American comic publishers - Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse. He got his start in the industry when he formed his own publishing company called Arcane Comix, where he published, edited and adapted several comics and anthologies for Eclipse Comics. His adaptations include works by Clive Barker, Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison.
Steve resides in Los Angeles in his bachelor pad with one cat. While there's no crawlspace, there is a questionable closet in one corner and no one is quite sure what is hidden in there...but we have an idea.
--from the author's website
Niles is currently working for the four top American comic publishers - Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse. He got his start in the industry when he formed his own publishing company called Arcane Comix, where he published, edited and adapted several comics and anthologies for Eclipse Comics. His adaptations include works by Clive Barker, Richard Matheson and Harlan Ellison.
Steve resides in Los Angeles in his bachelor pad with one cat. While there's no crawlspace, there is a questionable closet in one corner and no one is quite sure what is hidden in there...but we have an idea.
--from the author's website
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 11, 2022
A one-dimensional dickhead living in a Charles Addams/Tim Burton-esque cartoon town literally called Terror and filled with vampires, werewolves, witches and “Franks” (Frankenstein monsters) has kids who grow up to despise him, one of whom leaves. The one who leaves then comes back because the dickhead forces him to, seemingly to help his mother who’s gotten into it with some spirits who took her away or something silly.
I know Steve Niles’ name on a book cover is the literary equivalent of a skull and crossbones label on a bottle of poison but it’s been a few years since I read something by him and I wanted to see if he’s still producing garbage. Well, experiment complete - he is indeed still the worst!
The characters are so blah. The patriarchal dad, Lloyd West, is your average rich wanker and nothing more. His son Henry (I’m guessing “West” is a nod to the HP Lovecraft story, Herbert West - Reanimator, because horror genre) is your average son-who-hates-dad character. Guess what - they don’t get along. The whole boring story is watching Henry putz about Terror doing dumbass things like fighting the horror cliche denizens for no reason until he decides to fight his dad. What about that is anyone meant to find enjoyable?
The town itself is such an unimaginative construction, relying entirely on prefabricated horror staples to entirely unimpressive effect. The subplot involving Henry’s wife hiring a private dick to track down her abducted husband was even more dull than the main story. Szymon Kudranski’s art is actually decent but completely mired by the abundance of black on the page. It’s such an unnecessarily hard comic to look at. I get it, it’s a horror comic - that doesn’t mean smear everything with black so that it’s difficult to see what’s going on in a scene!
A Town Called Terror is terrible. If your idea of a good read is staring at a classic rock album cover, then you’ll probably love this. Steve Niles does it again!
I know Steve Niles’ name on a book cover is the literary equivalent of a skull and crossbones label on a bottle of poison but it’s been a few years since I read something by him and I wanted to see if he’s still producing garbage. Well, experiment complete - he is indeed still the worst!
The characters are so blah. The patriarchal dad, Lloyd West, is your average rich wanker and nothing more. His son Henry (I’m guessing “West” is a nod to the HP Lovecraft story, Herbert West - Reanimator, because horror genre) is your average son-who-hates-dad character. Guess what - they don’t get along. The whole boring story is watching Henry putz about Terror doing dumbass things like fighting the horror cliche denizens for no reason until he decides to fight his dad. What about that is anyone meant to find enjoyable?
The town itself is such an unimaginative construction, relying entirely on prefabricated horror staples to entirely unimpressive effect. The subplot involving Henry’s wife hiring a private dick to track down her abducted husband was even more dull than the main story. Szymon Kudranski’s art is actually decent but completely mired by the abundance of black on the page. It’s such an unnecessarily hard comic to look at. I get it, it’s a horror comic - that doesn’t mean smear everything with black so that it’s difficult to see what’s going on in a scene!
A Town Called Terror is terrible. If your idea of a good read is staring at a classic rock album cover, then you’ll probably love this. Steve Niles does it again!
November 19, 2023
This was okay. The story seemed a little shallow and could have used more fleshing out. There's a town full of monsters hidden from the world. The son of the leader escapes but gets dragged back in. The art was pretty cool, but the story was sort of just there. There is room to continue though, and the story has good bones so future volumes could improve.
February 14, 2026
This was unsatisfactory.
The plot was underdeveloped and thus unbelievable. The art was…..pretty-ish, definitely unique, but the color palette made it feel murky and not pleasing for the eye to follow. This is a volume 1 but I’d be surprised if this series actually continues and I’ll also never know if it does because I won’t be watching for volume 2 and I won’t be picking it up!
The plot was underdeveloped and thus unbelievable. The art was…..pretty-ish, definitely unique, but the color palette made it feel murky and not pleasing for the eye to follow. This is a volume 1 but I’d be surprised if this series actually continues and I’ll also never know if it does because I won’t be watching for volume 2 and I won’t be picking it up!
February 3, 2024
What a strange mix of half baked ideas and art that is pretty cool while simultaneously being incomprehensible.
January 3, 2023
A decent concept, but slow to develop, and a dark and muddy art style makes reading a slog.
November 4, 2022
Most of my enjoyment comes from Szymon Kudranski's stellar artwork and colors. The pages gleam malevolence with each turn of the page, and really set the tone for the story. The story itself is a bit flimsy and the scant few characters have very little for us to grasp onto in terms of characterization. The villain was by far the most interesting part of the book, making me wish we spent more time with him. This is definitely a comic I gravitated to because of the artwork, and I'd still be interested in more because of the artwork alone.
November 29, 2024
What a cliffhanger, bruh!
The art style and coloring, all are amazing but the storytelling is lacking. The plot doesn't faze one, it's small and has nothing to offer. It seemed like a bad script was covered up by the art.
The art style and coloring, all are amazing but the storytelling is lacking. The plot doesn't faze one, it's small and has nothing to offer. It seemed like a bad script was covered up by the art.
December 5, 2023
I really enjoyed 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, so when I saw Niles' name on this book at the library I picked it up with zero hesitation. The title was intriguing enough, and the art had me chomping at the bit to dig in and see where the story might go. Well, the story... went. It just didn't really go anywhere.
There's a town called Terror that's full of monsters. Our protagonist is the son of someone high up in the town. Our protagonist never felt he fit in so he ran away, started a family, all that jazz. Dad kidnaps him and brings him back to the town where he has to make a Choice with a capital C. Are you anticipating this all leading to a big confrontation with Daddy Dearest? Yeah, it does.
That's kind of... it? There are hints of bigger things potentially going on. A drug plotline, a potential mafia sort of plotline, the possibility of Big Bad Dad coming back. As I said in a comment already, the art is so damn good it's worth a star rating all of its own - so I'll likely keep grabbing the book if it comes into my library again. The story is just... very weak with a ton of possibility for growth.
I'm holding out for that possibility after the teaser at the end.
There's a town called Terror that's full of monsters. Our protagonist is the son of someone high up in the town. Our protagonist never felt he fit in so he ran away, started a family, all that jazz. Dad kidnaps him and brings him back to the town where he has to make a Choice with a capital C. Are you anticipating this all leading to a big confrontation with Daddy Dearest? Yeah, it does.
That's kind of... it? There are hints of bigger things potentially going on. A drug plotline, a potential mafia sort of plotline, the possibility of Big Bad Dad coming back. As I said in a comment already, the art is so damn good it's worth a star rating all of its own - so I'll likely keep grabbing the book if it comes into my library again. The story is just... very weak with a ton of possibility for growth.
I'm holding out for that possibility after the teaser at the end.
September 12, 2023
How can you rate a comic book after six issues when there's obviously more? I know they collected it into a graphic novel and they sometimes do that with only 4 issues some times. But this book had a feel like it would take 10 or 12 issues to have placed the hook so far down your throat that you'd forgotten when you nibbled at the bait. I was looking forward to those next six issues (or 1 graphic novel) because I knew Steve Niles can tell a scary story or two. But I think it's impossible to wait for another year for another nibble at "what might be, the better to interpret what was." I have been waiting long enough for GRR Martin to finish his epic before he dies on a pub and pizza crawl to celebrate either another year of football or another year of making people wait.
I gave this 3 stars because I like what I saw but know that it will never find an ending.
I gave this 3 stars because I like what I saw but know that it will never find an ending.
March 31, 2023
Typická Nilesovina, což znamená kupu monster, mystery, gore a hodně fast paced zápletku. Pokud očekáváte nějak hluboké postavy a pečlivě vybudovanou zápletku, tak budete zklamáni. Pokud chcete ale atmosférickou, krvavou a béčkovou jízdu, tak vás tohle bude bavit. Kresba i coloring super, místy to mělo opravdu silný filmový feel a chytré přechody, škoda jen že občas kvůli hodně efektům tam někdy nejde něco vidět a nebo je lehký chaos. Jinak prostě béčkový Niles jak ho mám rád.
January 21, 2023
I found the murky artwork hard to look at, and the story is ineed very ordinary for a monster book. The cliffhanger ending did leave me wanting more, but I might be driven with hope that it gets better.
May 26, 2023
As other reviews have noted, the story is pretty generic. At first I was wowed by the art, but then it started to feel very one-note. I'm curious if the story gets more interesting. I bought this initial volume, but will probably try to read future issues through Hoopla.
July 5, 2023
Really dull, generic story with characters who don't show any signs of individuality. And the artwork, which is decent in some places, turns into a blurred mess during any action sequence, making in nearly impossible to determine just what the heck is happening.
July 21, 2023
Lacks subtlety.
September 7, 2023
Halloween 2023 Marathon Comic 6/10
June 19, 2025
0.5 estrellas
¿Qué positivo tengo que decir de este volumen? Realmente poco.
El arte es oscuro y desafiante, tiene sus alto y sus bajos. Por momentos es incomprensible, como que falta más información en las viñetas.
La escritura se siente bien, hasta cierto punto fluida, pero no tiene esa consistencia de la experiencia. A veces interesa, en otras parece muy primitiva.
La trama va dejando demasiados vacíos para causar interés y misterio en el lector, sin embargo en mí sólo causó tedio y no tengo ganas de continuar leyéndola.
El cliffhanger final es una ofensa para el lector ya que no hay continuación, nada se resuelve.
¿Qué positivo tengo que decir de este volumen? Realmente poco.
El arte es oscuro y desafiante, tiene sus alto y sus bajos. Por momentos es incomprensible, como que falta más información en las viñetas.
La escritura se siente bien, hasta cierto punto fluida, pero no tiene esa consistencia de la experiencia. A veces interesa, en otras parece muy primitiva.
La trama va dejando demasiados vacíos para causar interés y misterio en el lector, sin embargo en mí sólo causó tedio y no tengo ganas de continuar leyéndola.
El cliffhanger final es una ofensa para el lector ya que no hay continuación, nada se resuelve.
June 18, 2025
A pretty solid 3 star read for me. Will read the next volume to see what happens and go from there.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews