Writer: Jordan Hart, Chris Ryall
Artist: Chris Anderson, Charles P. Wilson lll, Luana Vecchio, Tom Williams, Marianna Ignazzi
Colors: Charles P. Wilson lll, Luana Vecchio, Tom Williams, Fabiana Mascolo
Letters: Jordan Hart
Initial Thoughts
Dread The Hall H (2026) was an enjoyable anthology. Having multiple stories in one book made me smile because it gives platforms to an array of different creatives. I will always support multiple creatives having a seat at the table. It is a chance for them to get their work out to readers. This specific book had two writers, but more than double the artists. There are a handful of main characters, but I think the biggest main characters are The Concluder and Regular Edition. I will say that the only expectation I had with this book was that, because of the cover and title alone, I did think this was going to be a single story about con-goers and fans becoming zombies.
Spoilers Ahead
Con Etiquitte
The first impression I got from The Concluder was awesome. She fights for what’s right. She does not like stealing, cutting in line, up-charging merchandise and concessions, or germs. I like the line Hart gives her: “I can handle criminals, bullies, and unethical opportunists. But remember, the one thing I can’t protect anyone from is the dreaded con crud”. She says all of that while sanitizing someone’s hands with a spray. It is just incredibly meta, and I can’t help but smile at its commentary. All she wants is the con to go well and the con-goers to behave themselves.
Toying With Death
Regular Edition was definitely my favorite story of the book. It had a creative premise, and it had good art that played (pun intended) with the comic book medium well. The major conflict for Regular Edition is that he gets overlooked as fans go for the exclusive toys, and he takes revenge. This story is definitely the most mature in this book. It had the most violence and cursing. It reminded me a lot of a more adult Toy Soldiers (movie) as well as Child’s Play/Chucky. I was only surprised in an “Oh, it’s like this!’ way and not in a pearl-clutching way. The more I read and saw from this book, the more fun I had.
Method Acting
The biggest issue for The Concluder is the time she faces off against The Bellman. The Bellman has the power to convert The Concluder into a cosplayer and the actors of a superhero movie/show into their actual characters. The Bellman gets defeated when all three heroes use their new powers to defeat him. It is very silly, but that’s the point. They do all of this on stage at a convention. It’s a nice play on the real convention panels where the actors dress up as their characters, but this time they are really them. Finally, it sheds some necessary light on how different the costumes are for men vs. women in said superhero shows and movies. There is some dialogue about it in the beginning of the story, but I couldn’t get that discrepancy out of my head once the costumes were revealed. Writing this now, I think it visually has many similarities to The Boys with Homelander and Starlight.
Thinking Outside The Box
Personally, the biggest moment in any of the stories is Regular Edition breaking out of its original story. That is to say, it literally broke out of the panels and left its original story. The reason this is the biggest moment is that the Regular Edition affects the other stories by disrupting what is happening in their pages. You can see it throughout the rest of the book after it fled from its own story.
The Art
I said it in the beginning, but having multiple artists in this book is such a good thing. I knew we were getting different styles just by the sheer number of the artists, but seeing how they draw, frame the panels, and use the layouts of panels to tell the story reinforces the idea that comic books are my favorite storytelling medium. I like a lot of the art. This particular page shows just how well Wilson utilizes the pages of comics. The characters all look good. The action is expressive, and the panels are dynamic. It all makes for an enjoyable read.
Final Thoughts
Dread The Hall H (2026) was an entertaining anthology comic full of meta references and commentary on fandom as a whole. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this entire book multiple times to scan through the different stories for any jokes, references, or cosplays I might have missed in previous readthroughs. That said, I must be honest in saying I have never attended a convention. Although I would love to see a writer, actor, comic artist, etc, that I am a fan of, it seems like such a huge commitment. It might be my anxiety about crowds and situations I can’t control. I think the bigger reason is that my passion or knowledge of my fandoms could seem fraudulent to some people. I consume what I like and am interested in, but I don’t like everything. I just like what I like. And I let others like what they like. I will say if you don’t like something, you can criticize it. However, criticism is not the same thing as hate; hateful behavior has no place in fandom.