Super Creepshow is taking iconic horror to the supes, and this week we’ve got two new tales from some of today’s best comic creators. The stories also span different kinds of stories, with one taking an early Image Comics take on a killer villain, while the other shows us the cost of being selfless with healing powers. Both end in calamity, but would the Creep have it any other way?
Kicking off this two-story edition of Super Creepshow #4 is Sam Humphries and Sean Izaakse on “The New Life.” The most striking element of this issue is the art, which has a distinct, hyper-detailed art style that has to be a call back to Wildcats or Youngblood. The art is excellent, and given the shorter page count for these tales, Izaakse knocks it out of the park. Nothing feels rushed or missing, while supplying splashy pages of all-out action and violence. Even the laser gun effects and sound effects that go with it are straight out of the ’90s. The gore is also next level and will have you cringing in the best of ways.
The story is heavily captioned, giving Gus Killglare’s personal perspective on becoming a supervillain after stealing high-tech gear from a lab. Certainly not a good person, Humphries gives him a very human and relatable personality. You feel for this schmuck, even if he’s killed before. The hook is that he settles down with a nice lady and gives that all up, but in the supervillain business, making enemies is part of the job.
Iconic pose!
Credit: Skybound
Next up is Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly writing with Matteo Lolli on art, with colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr. In the title “Selfless,” the story follows a man who does what he can to help others and animals, but when he discovers his blood can heal people, he takes his selflessness to the next level. This leads to a three-panel montage of him giving blood in a bright room, taking pictures with models, and then straight up doing drugs and making cash while getting sexual favors. It seems it all went to his head, but a revelation of his blood giving folks a deadly side effect changes all that.
As far as the horror, Lolli delivers big time on the reveal of the side effect, with plenty of gore, but also a great buildup to a big pop of someone’s body. The sheer idea of bones growing under bones is also, frankly, disturbing.
Where the story loses me is its final twist. I can’t tell if the main character is a twin or what, but he gets payback for those side effects in a rather sad way. The results aren’t negative, but I just felt like I was missing a page of the story, or at least some explanation of who this new character was.
Last but not least, I don’t often talk about comic book covers, but Pye Parr’s homage to the iconic Uncanny X-Men #141 cover is excellent. It not only plays on the cover, but offers up plenty of Creeps that need to be terminated.
Super Creepshow #4 continues to prove that superheroes and horror make for a natural pairing. Both stories tap into familiar comic book concepts and twist them toward tragedy, whether it’s a villain trying to escape his past or a good Samaritan whose greatest gift becomes a curse. Izaakse’s work on “The New Life” is a particular highlight, capturing the exaggerated excess of ’90s superhero comics while embracing the gruesome side of horror. “Selfless” features a strong central premise and some genuinely unsettling body horror, even if its ending doesn’t quite land. Taken together, the issue succeeds as a showcase for the anthology’s strengths: inventive premises, memorable visuals, and endings that leave readers squirming. Creepy, bloody, and consistently entertaining.
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