The Butcher’s Boy

Cannibalistic body horror meets cosmic terror in this juicy feast of fear from Walker (The Last Siege) and Greenwood (the Stumptown series). Six bickering friends in search of an offbeat vacation pull up to a sleepy western town that was terrorized 100 years ago by a serial killer called the Butcher of the Silver Mines. (“It’s folk horror. Very popular right now,” the most online member of the group assures the gang.) After sampling the local diner’s burgers, they experience hunger, hallucinations, and worse. In classic horror fashion, when they try to escape, their car won’t start. Flashbacks fill in the characters’ backstories, while in the present, their relationships, minds, and bodies disintegrate. As the terror ratchets up from cannibalistic killers to vaster and stranger threats, Walker’s script draws from H.P. Lovecraft and his acolytes, including Laird Barron, while Greenwood’s dynamic, character-focused art has an off-kilter edge reminiscent of ’90s indie artists like Sam Kieth. Deep shadows and close-ups of meat and teeth create a menacing mood from the start. Readers with an appetite for splatter will be satisfied. (Jan.)