The next sessions of a comic book club in the last week of October will feature a horror anthology. And when you look at anthologies in this genre, you notice one thing that the old ones have, which the new ones often unfortunately lack: a host. Host in Horror They themselves could become just as big a brand as the monsters and serial killers they portrayed. You hav classic like Rod Serling, Alfred Hitchcock or Vampira that where Golden Age Hollywood class, Campy legends like Elvira, Elvira’s Midnight Madness, Bob Wilkins and Svengoolie. And hey, this tradition has also found its way into video games, for example, supermassive games horror adventures from until dawn, The Quarry and above all, the first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology, The hosts even have relevant gameplay decisions in the game, such as when they ask you questions and how you should answer them. People were quite sad (like me) when the second season of The Dark Pictures Anthology started with Directorate 8020 without the host curator no longer in the intervening capital and they are also canceled.
It's a tradition that has almost died out. And you notice this most of all in horror anthologies in comics. The Crypt-Keeper is a legend, It's actually still the most famous one to this day, because he was even adapted for the HBO show. But many were forgotten, or they became main characters, Vampirella was in her first years a host, Many of DC's horror hosts also became main characters with the Sandman series. Even though there are still many modern anthologies, the host became rare. Stuff of Nightmares had The Nightmare Keeper or oni press EC comics made three new The Grave-Digger, The Tormentor, The Grim Inquisitor But somehow they don't really get close to the legends of the original EC.
The reason the hosts have disappeared is precisely because the thing with anthologies is that all the stories can stand on their own as independent stories, but that doesn't really create a true brand power. Therefore, you needed a host, and he acted as a kind of figurehead, inviting you to read it there. But at that time, comic artists were significantly more well-known; now, readers generally no longer need such a fictional host, If comic creators now want to make a collection of short stories, they can simply do so.
But the thing is host where not just a horror comic thing. Marvel comics had a long time when Stan Lee was kind of host for decades in every Marvel comic and 2000AD had THARG the Mighty, there the fictional, green-skinned alien editor. It has fun that you have someone who presents these things to you, a showman, woman or Alien that takes you to those wonder.
But what do you think and is your favorite host in Comics and Co?
