Dread the Hall H 2026 #1 // Review
San Diego Comic-Con manifests itself once more this weekend. The dreamland of comc book and pop culture lovers could also be a nightmare for the wrong people at the wrong time...particularly if such a convention were to occur in a world actually inhabited by magic, comic book physics and the supernatural. Image Comics explores a darker fantastic world of big comic book conventions in Dread the Hall H 2026 #1. Writers Jordan Hart and Chris Ryall explore fun, little comedy horrror set-up in a series of cleverly intercoonected stories brought to the page by artist Luana Vacchio, Charles P. Wilson III, Marianna Ignazzi and Tom Williams.
They got through security with fake badges. They’re there at the convention to steal Commander Blood Lightning’s ray gun. They’re not going to go far...The Concluder is there to enforce the law, fair paly and common sense at the con...all while cosplaying as a...cosplayer. Elsewhere, an angry Funky Bulk of the popular character Archibald is...a bit upset. Everyone else wants the special con exclusive version, leaving him angry...and you wouldn’t like Archibald when he’s angry. All this, vintage Hostess ad spoofs and a boardgame that’s almost as fun as waiting in line.
Hart and Ryall weave a tight, little fictional convention universe with shared characters and exhibitors in fun, little horror comedy pieces that are only occasionally tedious. So...y’know...better than a trip to some over-priced convention. The Hostess ad spoofs are...kinda tedious. Some of the shorts go on for entirely too long, but the one-shot goes quite a distance on the charm of a shared micro-universe featuring an angry, little regular edition Funko Pop and a convention-based superhero who does all those things everyone wishes they could do at a con.
The distinct look and feel of San Diego Comic-Con is carried throughout the issue with a number of ddifferent artists who all have pleasantly contrasting styles. Wilson’s work with the Archibald Funko Pop is particuarly clever as the little creature breaks all of the traditional rules of sequential art. It’s been done before, but its’s always fun to see an angry, little character breaking through panel borders and things. Vecchio’s work on the cosplay short is fun in its own way...allowing things to get particularly crazy. The Hostess spoofs might be tedious, but the Ben Day-newsprint effect on those pages DOES carry a bit of nostalgia through the issue.
The one-shot maintains a pleasantly weird atmosphere that feels quite distinct. The weird confines of it all might bear more of a resemblance to an old issue of Mad or Cracked than anything, but it still managed to be a lot of fun. The big, bloated comic book convention is such a pop culturl institution. There’s great potential for a darker, slicker kind of horror comedy anthology set at Comic-Con, but that’s not really what Ryall and Hart are going for. It’s just fun.
