In MrBallen Presents: Strange, Dark & Mysterious, John Allen (aka “MrBallen”) reveals the creepy underbelly of the human experience, charting bizarre and downright terrifying instances of the paranormal, the horrors of the natural world, and the danger of our own minds. In collaboration with graphic novelist Robert Venditti and acclaimed comic book artist Andrea Mutti, this is a haunting collection filled with twists and surprises that will you thoroughly spooked.
When I started compiling this list of comics about strange phenomena, I first had to define strange phenomena. I quickly realized that the term can mean a lot. Weird singularities in space? Sure. Inexplicable, reality-altering events? Yep. Gothic and not-so-gothic horrors? Absolutely. While that made this list daunting at first, it wound up being one of the most fun lists I’ve made.
All nine of these comics certainly veer hard into the strange. I find that the best stories of strange phenomena don’t necessarily explain the how or why of the phenomena, but rather how it affects people. After all, there are plenty of actual strange phenomena that we cannot explain, try as we might. Admittedly, sometimes the point is trying to explain the phenomena, and that can work, too.
These comics range from space to Earth, from Western comics to manga, from bright to horrific, and from the darkly serious to wildly hilarious. There’s a little something for everybody here, so long as you dig the strange, weird, and well-told tales with great art. And I must say, several of these are perfect reads as we dive deep into spooky season.
Here are nine spectacular comics about strange phenomena.
Black Hole by Charles Burns
This dark graphic novel focuses on a suburban Seattle town suddenly overwhelmed by a new sexually transmitted disease ravaging teens. The effects are strange and widely varied. As this story bounces between different teens, even darker things are unveiled about these people and this place.
Black Stars Above by Lonnie Nadler, Jenna Cha
It’s 1887. Eulalie Dubois feels like she’s wasting her life watching her family’s traplines. But when a mysterious stranger tasks her with delivering a parcel to an equally mysterious town north of the wilderness, she sees a chance for change. But there are dark, mysterious things in and beyond the wilderness. Strange phenomena, indeed.
The Bone Orchard Mythos: The Passageway by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino
The entire Bone Orchard Mythos is a series of interconnected projects about strange phenomena, and it begins here. Near a remote lighthouse, an apparently bottomless pit has appeared in the rocks. A lauded geologist is sent to investigate, but what he finds defies imagination.
Chew by John Layman, Rob Guillory
When I think of comics about strange phenomena, sometimes it’s about really weird powers that have no explanation, like in the hilarious Chew. Tony Chu is a detective. He’s good at his job because of a very particular power: when he eats something, he suddenly sees the entire history of that thing. When murder is afoot, well, you can imagine what he needs to taste to solve them.
Mushishi by Yuki Urushibara
Living parallel to our own lives are creatures that emerged from the primordial ooze. Some eat silence or drive people mad. And there are a very select few who can see these creatures and deal with them. Ginko is one of these, a mushishi, roaming from place to place to help those that don’t even know they’re affected.
Prism Stalker by Sloan Leong
Blending science fiction and fantasy with a heavy dose of psychological thriller, this is definitely one of those comics about strange phenomena to keep on your radar. Vep has escaped a life of slavery to arrive on a newly discovered planet. The planet is teeming with telepathic life and telekinetic ecology, and she soon discovers she has a strange connection to the planet that imbues her with strange powers.
Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction, Chip Zdarsky
Another book about really weird powers that basically have no explanation? Okay, it gets sort of explained by the end, but this totally qualifies as strange phenomena. Suzie and Jon have an odd power that they share. When they orgasm, time stops. So what do they do with it? Rob banks, obviously. Except, they might not be the only people with orgasmic powers.
Third Shift Society by Meredith Moriarty
This comic began its life as a webtoon and has gone on to a successful print run. Ellie has a pretty normal life. But one day, a man with a pumpkin for a head approaches her. Monsters are real. Ellie has powers to fight them. And now she has a partner. She has to learn to embrace the magical if she wants to survive in the world she only thought she knew.
Uzumaki by Junji Ito
Junji Ito is a master of horror manga. Really, any of his books totally qualify as comics about strange phenomena. This just happens to be my favorite. Kurouzu-cho is a small town that’s haunted. But it’s not a ghost or phantom haunting these people, but a pattern. A spiral. Slowly, an entire town descends into madness in this masterpiece.
How do you define strange phenomena? Any favorite comics about strange phenomena that I missed?
