If you are looking for some haunting tales this Halloween season, you could do much worse than this. Read Full Review

I'm all for horror in super hero comics and the Avengers Halloween Special is a good first step in getting into the spookier side of the Marvel Universe. I would love to see these stories expanded upon, as each one is presented with so many possibilities. As mentioned above, they stop just when they're really getting started, so the comic leaves something to be desired. Hopefully that means we can get a sequel to this next year with some follow-ups or maybe even a spinoff one-shot or mini-series. Fingers crossed. Read Full Review

This anthology issue is broken up into five separate stories that explore dark, alternate worlds for the heroes of the Marvel universe. Read Full Review

In the spirit of the holiday, Avengers Halloween Special #1 gives us five short stories that are darker in tone, but fun concepts. Even with limited pages, each story is well written and to the point, and the art for each has a different style to separate each story from the next. Read Full Review

If you love horror, I'd say you can pick this one up and have a great time with it. It does suffer a little bit from its own order of events, but there's a fair amount of variety to be found in all five tales. They can't all be everyone's cup of tea, but the artists and colorists bring different energies to the book and it's better for it. You'll have fun with this one, I'm sure. Read Full Review

A decent collection of what are essentially What If? Halloween tales. Some are better written, illustrated, and colored than others, but that's always the case with a collection of short stories. There's sure to be something in this for every Marvel fan, with the final two being ones that could support their own limited series. An okay read, albeit an expensive one. Read Full Review

Maybe not "so good, it's scary," but a seasonally appropriate mix of cheesiness, body horror, and nostalgia. Read Full Review

I think you can safely tuck this one under the welcome mat and serve your Trick-or-Treaters some real candy. Read Full Review

It feels like little creative plotting went into the construction of this. Read Full Review

I think there were a lot of good ideas here, but a lot of them didn’t quiiiite land for me, but still, I applaud the ideas.

Avengers: Halloween Special is a collection of horror stories that fails to deliver on the chills that readers crave.

There are five stories in the book. The first story is about Daredevil regaining his sight, only to find out that being able to see may not be a good thing. The second story has Dr. Doom taking on the Fantastic Four, as the former believes that the family is not who they say they are. The third follows Iron Man as he looks for Captain America and discovering that Steve Rogers was left in the ice for good reason. The fourth sees the Punisher punishing people who killed his family in the 19th century. The final story is about two kids exploring the Xavier School for Gifted Children and encountering some unpleasant folks in the school's basement.

The main problem with the book is that all the stories are too short. None of them are great and they all end quickly and don't frighten the reader that much. Because they're short, it's difficult for me not to spoil parts of the book, so beware.

Daredevil's story starts looking like a supernatural tale, but it turn out to be an attack by one of his enemies. The reveal of who plotted the attack isn't that great if know a bit about who Daredevil fights. The art here works well when things get scary as we are shown a couple of Matt's dead lovers talking to him and the change in the background works fine. Sadly, this sequence is ended when Matt decides to do something gory to himself to end this assault of terror. Said gory action isn't even that gory, since the artwork doesn't have that much blood here. The final panel shows the mastermind behind this plot ready to take vengeance on the Devil of Hell's Kitchen and it's just okay. Overall, this story is decent and the artwork is good in certain panels.

The Dr. Doom story is average, as Doom infiltrates the Baxter Building to see who the F4 really are and it ends up being an "aliens replaced the humans" story. The artwork here is average and nothing really stands out, save for the alien's true form in the end. This story is below average and the art does nothing to stand out from the other stories.

The Iron Man story has a decent surprise midway through the book when it reveals what Captain America really is. However, the ending makes no sense when both characters stop fighting and decide to just wait and "see what happens". The artwork is good here, especially when it reveals what kind of monster Steve really is. This story is bad and the art is good.

The Punisher story sees the main character taking out the ones who killed his family. It's just his origin story set in the 19th century and it takes place in an opera house. The artwork stands out as it successfully conveys the dark tone of both the Punisher and the time period the story is set in. The Punisher's costume can be fully seen in only one panel and it looks good, being a mix of this time period and his normal costume. The story is fine and the artwork is good.

The X-Men story sees a popular team member make an appearance, but what that member does in the story doesn't make much sense in the context of the story, due to said member's current form. The X-Man saves the kids and leaves them a familiar object as a gift before disappearing. This is the weakest of the stories and will leave you confused. The artwork is good in making the school dark and spooky and the aforementioned team member looks good, in the few panels they're in. This story bombs and the artwork is good.

In the end, this is not a book worth reading on Halloween. The only thing scary about is how bad the stories are. The artwork can make up for the narratives in some cases, but it doesn't help the book that much. There are better horror comics out there. This isn't worth reading. more