Celebrate Free Comic Book Day 2026 With These Horror Titles

This is the kickoff to the acclaimed 12-issue DC Comics published miniseries from writer James Tynion IV and artist Álvaro Martínez Bueno (Justice League Dark). It’s the story of a group of people who are invited for a relaxing stay at the titular venue by a mutual acquaintance, an eccentric person named Walter. What they find there is a nightmare of horrors and high strangeness.
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If you like what you read, the entire series is available as a deluxe hardcover or in two softcover volumes.

Last year, Dynamite Entertainment began publishing a brand-new, ongoing comic series chronicling the adventures of peripatetic monster hunters Sam and Dean Winchester, set between seasons one and two of their long-running television series of the same name.

This issue, from writer Greg Pak (Darth Vader) and artist Eder Messias (Predator: The Last Hunt), sends the Winchester brothers to a rustbelt town where the buildings and employees of a company are being burned in mysterious conflagrations that appear to be the work of an otherworldly entity.
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Six issues of the series and two specials have been released. One special is Valentine’s Day-themed, and the other features the fan-favorite character, Castiel.

This special issue spotlights a number of titles published by Keenspot, including the acclaimed Mark Spears Monsters series from the titular writer/artist. This series, which features some breathtaking art, is made for all of us monster kids.

It’s set in the 1980s and features a retired creature killer, a pair of seasoned detectives, and a group of kids who must confront a multitude of monstrosities. Eight issues have been released so far, and many of them have had multiple printings. There’s also a collection of the series’ first four issues available in trade paperback and hardcover.

This is a special Twilight Zone-style black-and-white reprint of Mad Cave Studios’ debut sci-fi, horror anthology. It’s a story by writer Mark Russell (Vanishing Point) and artist Felix Ruiz (Punisher) that features a headset which allows users to relive their greatest memories at the moment of their death . . . for a brutal price
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Five issues of the series have been published, and a graphic novel collection of those issues drops on May 5.
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This  is a book for longtime fans of writer James Tynion IV and artist Werther Dell’Edera’s Something is Killing the Children from Boom! Studios. It’s also a great jumping-on point for people who’ve never read the adventures of monster hunter Erica Slaughter, but are curious about her exploits. Especially in the wake of Blumhouse’s announcement that it’s developing two adaptations of the series.  
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This book sets the stage for an upcoming storyline that pits Erica against the mysterious organization that trained her, which is more concerned with keeping the existence of monsters clandestine than saving the people that the creatures prey upon.
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46 issues of SIKTC have been released. A multitude of collections are also available. There are nine softcover volumes that cover issues #1-45. There are also two deluxe hardcover volumes collecting issues #1-35 and one hardcover omnibus containing issues #1-20.

If you missed out on writer Joe Hill (The Black Phone) and artist Gabriel Rodriguez’s (Onyx) acclaimed IDW Comic series, or if you’re a fan of the Netflix adaptation and always wanted to read the source material that inspired it, here’s your chance! This is the kick-off to a 37-issue story that embroils a grieving family in a horrific, dark fantasy saga of strange keys, a wondrous house, and monstrous infernal entities.
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The entire series is available in six collected editions. A seventh volume, the prequel series Locke and Key: The Golden Age was released in 2022.

Ignition Press frequently publishes “Cold Opens,” short issues that serve as a prequel/preview chapter to their upcoming comics. This latest Cold Open is for a new techno-horror series from writer Simon Spurrier (John Constantine: Hellblazer) and artist Mike Dowling (Unfollow) that’s been described as “An X-Files for the age of transhuman technology.”

It’s set in a world where, in the aftermath of a computer’s attempt to evolve into a super intelligence, a series of strange and terrifying phenomena is popping up around the globe. Investigating these events is a photojournalist, the ex-military muscle protecting her, and the reformed tech bro who’s clandestinely bankrolling their exploits.
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Minotaur #1 drops July 15,2026.
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This special issue from Marvel Comics showcases their line of books based on the titular 20th Century Studios’ properties. It features an Alien story from writer Saladin Ahmed (Wolverine) that ties into his recently launched Alien: King Killer miniseries (Issue #1 is available now).

That story is drawn by Emilio Laiso (Godzilla Vs. X-Men). There’s also a Predator story by writer Jordan Morris (Youth Group) and artist Roland Boschi (Punisher: Franken-Castle) that’s connected to their miniseries, Predator Bloodshed (two issues have been released of that, and #3 drops April 29).
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That’s not the only Predator story in this issue, though. Because writer Greg Pak (Planet Hulk) and artist Alan Robinson’s Planet of the Apes story in this book is a preview of their upcoming Predator Vs. Planet of the Apes miniseries that begins in July.

The title stories in Marvel’s second Comics Giveaway Day offering by writers Joe Kelly (I Kill Giants) and Al Ewing (Venom), artists John Romita Jr. (The Amazing Spider-Man) and Iban Coello (Venom War) are sure to please fans who like superheroes and horror adjacent things like alien symbiotes.

The reason I’m mentioning this here, though, is the third story: a Hulk tale by writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist Nic Klein. They’re the creative team of the current The Infernal Hulk series — a book full of monsters and horrors of the body and cosmic kind.

Six issues of Infernal Hulk have been released, but if you want to get in on the ground floor of Johnson’s horror Hulk saga, grab his Incredible Hulk run that preceded it, which is collected in its entirety in six trade paperbacks. The first is titled Incredible Hulk Volume 1: Age of Monsters.

This is a preview of the upcoming graphic novel adaptation for writer Max Brallier’s second installment of his hit children’s novel series, The Last Kids on Earth (which was also adapted by Netflix as an animated series).

The gateway horror series centers on a group of young friends trying to survive in a world turned upside down by a monster apocalypse. Artist Brian Churilla (Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. 1954) illustrates this story, in which the young title characters investigate the disappearance of the brain-eating zombies that had been ravaging their world. The full graphic novel is available on November 3, 2026.
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Braillier and Churilla also worked on the first The Last Kids on Earth: The Graphic Novel. There are 10 books in the prose novel series The Last Kids on Earth, which feature illustrations by Douglas Holgate (Iron Man: Something Strange!).

This YA offering is a preview of the upcoming, first-ever, print collection of the Webtoon series of the same name. It follows a teen girl named Ashlyn who must reluctantly team up with her classmates to survive nightly raids by murderous phantoms that only they can see.

In addition to a first look at the series by writer/artist Red, this volume also includes bonus material, including never-before-published art and character illustrations. The full collection is available June 30, 2026

This is a preview of the upcoming graphic novel adaptation of Kiersten White’s 2023 prose horror novel about the five survivors of a tragic accident that shut down a beloved kids' show. They reunite as adults and discover that the program they worked on was more sinister and mysterious than they remember. The full graphic novel hits stores on June 9, 2026.
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If you like what you read, the team that adapted this (writer Scott Petersen and artists Veronica and Andy Fish) also adapted White’s 2022 prose horror novel Hide, set in an abandoned amusement park.
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Free Comic Book Day isn’t just a day of giveaways and sales, many stores also host signings by comic creators to celebrate the occasion. Check with your local comic book shop to see what they have planned! It truly is a celebration of the comics medium and a great day to peruse the aisles of your local comic store in search of some new, exciting, and unique horror stories.