This Halloween week so far on the site we’ve looked at something new to watch on the big screen, something to play, and today we’re singling out a suitably dark treat in comic book form.
Published by creator-owned Ghost Machine via Image Comics, Hyde Street is an ongoing series co-created by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis, the same writer-artist duo who worked on DC titles Green Lantern, Aquaman’s New 52 era The Trench arc, and Blackest Night. Those last two storylines are significant because they lean in a horror direction, and that’s very much where Hyde Street is located.
Coming across as The Twilight Zone by way of The Sandman, Hyde Street is an urban neighbourhood with a difference. Existing outside of time and space, it’s a place where the wicked from our reality find themselves, and must face up to their sins. The worst of the worst may even become Residents, contractually obligated to deliver 10,000 souls to the mysterious Score Keeper in order to earn their freedom from this punitive bubble.
Driving the story of Hyde Street is Mr. X-Ray, a Golden Age Ad Man who once delighted in conning children into buying trash novelty items like Sea Monkeys (here rebranded Piranha People) and his signature eyewear. Desperate to make amends to his rejected daughter, X-Ray wants out, but his greatest obstacle is Pranky the Boy Scout, an impish figure (in the tradition sense) who long ago met his damnation target, but loves dispensing karmic justice so much that he’s never moved on, and continues to steal successes from the other Residents. These include former 80s aerobics instructor Miss Goodbody, creature feature actor The Matinee Monster, maniacal cosmetic surgeon Doctor Ego, and 1920s fortune teller Sister Hood, although many more Residents are lurking in the wings.
Hyde Street isn’t an anthology but as the overarching power struggle plays out, each issue in some way explores and expands on the backstory of the Residents, and the terrible unfortunates who stumble into their domain. Rather unsurprisingly, the comic is a mostly dark, misanthropic read, sitting tonally alongside something like Locke & Key.
That said, it’s not relentless in its depiction of awful people and acts of malice. When it matters, Hyde Street wisely allows characters’ humanity – their fears, regrets and pain – to shine through, reminding readers that the Residents are much more than one-note bogeymen wielding supernatural powers to kill, damn, or even absolve Hyde Street’s visitors.
There’s something enjoyably throwback about Hyde Street as a read – reinforced visually by Reis’s intricate pencilwork combined with Danny Miki’s stark inking, which calls to mind the horror comics of yesteryear. Also contributing to Hyde Street on an art front is G.I. Joe and Faith’s Francis Portela, with a clean, stripped-back style closer to Ice Cream Man, where colour rather than ink handles shading duties, and chills are couched in bright scenes.
Honestly, Hyde Street is an often uncomfortable read, but that’s the mark of good horror that stays with you. Just as Mr. X-Ray can see behind the façade, past people’s denials to the events and dark personal truths of their lives, Hyde Street challenges readers to consider how close they really are to an accidental stroll through the cursed neighbourhood. Bad people take many forms after all.
Collecting issues 1 through 7, Hyde Street Volume 1 is available now in collected trade paperback from, having released on 1 October. The next single issue (#10) comes out at the end of December, with Issue #11 kicking off a new story arc as of 28 January 2026.