CBR has an exclusive preview of Image Comics‘ upcoming holiday horror anthology Dread the Halls. The special one-shot comic book will feature four tales of holiday-themed terror.

Jordan Hart is joined by Walter Pax for the Dread the Halls story titled ‘Northerners,’ and CBR has a preview of the story’s artwork showing a monstrous creature going on a rampage and leaving destruction in its wake when it crosses paths with a deer. Other stories in the Dread the Halls anthology include ‘Gone Fishing’ with art by Lee Ferguson, ‘Krampus Hunters’ drawn by Jimmy Kucaj and Fabio Veras’ ‘Dead Notes’. Hart is joined by co-creator and writer Chris Ryall (Zombies vs. Robots) for the four stories, with Image Comics and Syzygy Publishing teaming up to publish the one-shot. Dread the Halls goes on sale Dec. 4.

Dread the Halls releases with cardstock covers by Maria the Wolf and Marguerite Sauvage and a wrapping-paper variant by Jordan Hart and a holiday homage cover by Lee Ferguson. Image Comics teases that the stories inside will be perfect for fans of Creepshow, The Deviant, Hello Darkness and Epitaphs from the Abyss.

Dread the Halls is inspired by the Victorian-era tradition of gathering around a fireplace on Christmas Eve and telling scary stories, and writer Jordan Hart talked about how the anthology’s stories pay homage to this tradition with their own distinct styles. “The Victorians showed us horror pairs quite well with the holidays through their fireside ghost stories,” Hart said in the one-shot’s reveal on Daily Dead. Hart’s co-author, Chris Ryall, added, “Dread the Halls is our gift to everyone who might expect to see their name on Santa’s Naughty List, although anyone on the ‘Nice List’ who like their holiday season to have some added spice is invited to partake, too. […] I’ve always loved comic-book stories that fuse elements of Halloween and Christmas together in sweet and scary ways, and that’s what we set out to do here.”

Hart went on to talk to CBR about how his process for creating Dread the Halls made sure that each story’s artist created a tone appropriate for the scary tales within the anthology’s pages. “Our goal with Dread the Halls was to give each story its tone and feel,” he said. “Comics are a visual medium, so I knew the issue needed incredibly talented artists and their unique styles to pull that off. To say that Fabio, Walter, Lee, and Jimmy nailed it is an understatement. They elevated the stories, and the entire issue, to a level I couldn’t have imagined.”

Dread the Halls can be pre-ordered now and will go on sale in comic book shops on Dec. 4.

Source: Image Comics, Daily Dead