by
Ghastly McNasty
There are some amazing freebie horror comics to read over on the Dark Horse website and all they ask for in return is for you to sign up for a free account. Doing so will give you access to episodes of Criminal Macarbe, Falling Skies, B.P.R.D. and now a new comic book prequel to the upcoming ‘The Thing’ movie prequel entitled The Thing: The Northman Nightmare.
Taking us into frigid Greenland, the comic introduces us to a group of Norsemen who find themselves caught in a game of survival when they discover a terrifying creature. The shape-shifting monster has the ability to turn itself into a perfect replica of any living being. It can look just like you or me, but inside, it remains inhuman. And it hides somewhere in a desolate village with few human survivors, among them a strange group of women…
The Thing: The Northman Nightmare is written by Steve Niles (Criminal Macabre), with art by Patric Reynolds (Serenity), colors by Dave Stewart (Hellboy) and a cover by Menton3 (Silent Hill). The Thing: The Northman Nightmare comes to readers as a prequel to Universal Pictures’ upcoming prelude to John Carpenter’s classic 1982 film of the same name.
The remaining 2 issues of the comic will be released on September 28th and October 5th.
You can find out more about the movie by visiting the official The Thing Movie site.
by
Ghastly McNasty

Web comics have become a popular part of the internet over the last few years as amateur comic creators of all abilities have embraced the opportunity to easily showcase their work to the masses. Zombie Ranch has been carving out it’s own name in the web comic history books since 2009 with a simple formula that other aspiring web comic creators should look to. Publishing a page a week, the husband/wife team of Clint & Dawn Wolf have gained a popular following for their post-apocalyptic Zombie herding story.
It’s the slow drip feed approach of Zombie Ranch that helps to make it, and other web comics, a success. Comic have always been episodic in nature, so readers are accustomed to eagerly waiting for the next part of the story. Web comics have embraced this approach whole-heartedly, allowing the creators to release a new part of the comic as and when they are ready. This also means that the vast majority of pages need to make an impact, delivering something of interest to the readers, similar to short comic strips you find in newspapers.
Set in a world slowly recovering from a full blown zombie outbreak, the story is cleverly told through the lens of a reality TV show floating camera bot as it follows the lives of the team on ‘Z Ranch’, a ranch in every respect of the word except that the cattle are all zombies. There are plenty of fresh ideas in this story and it had tons of room to grow. My problem with Zombie Ranch is that there is a distinct lack of horror. The art, while fine for the medium, doesn’t seem capable of offering truly horrific imagery (please prove me wrong). The meandering plot is too busy introducing its ideas and characters to give us any real moments of terror. I’m sure the creators have some scares up their sleeves but, as we only get one new page a week, it could be years till we see them!
Despite its short comings Zombie Ranch is still a top web comic. It manages to retain the readers interest thanks to the well written script which compliments the slow pace of the story. The plot has yet to reveal itself in full and this also keeps you coming back for more, especially as you know the next installment is only 1 week away. I will be keeping up with the story, let’s just hope they come round to some real zombie carnage soon.
Visit the website www.zombieranchcomic.com for enter the world of Zombie Ranch.