Eerie #5

Dark Horse's revival of the "best in illustrated science-horror" continues with Eerie #5, and Jim Pavelec's painted cover sets the tone perfectly — a grotesquely transforming figure with pointed ears, antennae, and a face mid-decay clutches a writhing, fang-mouthed serpentine creature while a scaled, watchful beast looms behind her, all rendered in Pavelec's viscerally atmospheric oils. The cover promises "Metamorphosis Most Macabre," and the anthology delivers "vile vicissitudes and terrifying transformations" from a roster including John Arcudi, Aaron Conley, Brandon Montclare, Henry Flint, Damon Gentry, Bill Parente, and Ken Barr. If you have any appetite for science-horror anthology storytelling in the grand tradition, this 2014 issue makes a strong case for the genre's continued vitality.