We are officially in spooky season! So how about you grab a pumpkin spice latte and join us for some thrills and chills from a galaxy far away? From mad scientists to space zombies, there are more horror-themed Star Wars stories out there than you might think!
This time we delve into comics old and new! Why? Because that is probably where the horror genre first crept into the Star Wars universe.
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All Hail Alan Moore
And it was all thanks to the UK Marvel stories!
This is a fact that does not get mentioned nearly as often as it should, but back in the day, before he exploded with Marvelman and V for Vendetta in the UK and with Swamp Thing in the US, way before Watchmen or The Killing Joke, Alan Moore actually wrote a couple of Star Wars comics, and boy, are they something!
In the early 1980s, Star Wars was still finding itself in many ways. Lore was loose, the Original Trilogy was about to be concluded, so many of the Marvel issues feel quite out there, and I’d say – wonderfully weird. Since then, the stories have been reprinted in numerous collections and omnibus editions.
Alan Moore’s Star Wars scripts have aged quite well, if you ask me, and they are fine examples of how wild and exciting Star Wars storytelling can be when it is not constrained by fan expectations of what Star Wars should or shouldn’t be.
Moore demonstrates masterful handling of short-form narratives with some gothic twists and unexpected endings, which makes his work quite memorable.
The Pandora Effect
Let’s leave aside the fact that Greek mythology does not exist in the Star Wars galaxy and its inhabitants know nothing of Pandora, her damned box and her cursed curiosity.
The Pandora Effect was originally published in 1981 in Marvel UK’s The Empire Strikes Back Monthly 151, and in 1996 Dark Horse released a colorized version in Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds 2.
It features The Five – a sinister religious cult which worships evil deities, captures and torments interstellar travellers, and keeps a captured Force demon!
No more spoilers, just check out Moore’s prose on the opening page – it oozes horror atmosphere right from the start.
Tilotny Throws a Shape
Moore’s second Star Wars story was published in 1982’s The Empire Strikes Back Monthly 154, and Dark Horse also colorized it for Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds 2.
It features Princess Leia in what could be easily described as a Lovecraftian body horror – space spirits bend time, space, and… flesh!
Dark Lord’s Conscience
This Vader-centric plot was featured in The Empire Strikes Back Monthly 155 and Dark Horse’s colorized reprint can be found in Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds 1. Darth Vader faces a shapeshifting alien assassin named Clat the Shamer, who forces victims to violently relive their deepest sins and guilt before executing them.
Rust Never Sleeps
C-3PO and R2-D2 encounter a planet-sized sentient junkyard?! How’s that for a plot! Broken, discarded droids travel to Ronyards to die, worshipping the planet itself as a god-like entity.
But the nightmarish planet isn’t just a junk pile – it is a living, devouring consciousness made of decaying metal. This concept was explored in 5 pages only in The Empire Strikes Back Monthly 156, later colorized in Classic Star Wars: Devilworlds 2.
Blind Fury!
In Marvel UK’s Star Wars Monthly 159, Luke Skywalker lands on the desolate world of Garn and enters a maze-like citadel haunted by the digital consciousness of High Shaman Rur from the extinct Order of the Terrible Glare.
When Luke reveals that Rur’s mortal body and ancient enemies are long dead, the mad holographic sorcerer shatters his own sanctuary out of a realization that his centuries-old vengeance is entirely meaningless.
If you’re wondering why Rur sounds familiar to you, well, you probably remember the resurrection of this character (both figuratively and literally) that Kieron Gillen did in his 2016 run of Doctor Aphra, some months after Jason Fry casually dropped Order of the Terrible Glare in his middle grade series Servants of the Empire*. So, yeah, grains of what Moore did back in the early 80s are now part of Canon.
Dark stories by Dark Horse
The 1996 one-shot Star Wars: Tales from Mos Eisley also included three comics, written by veteran horror comics author Bruce Jones of Creepy and Eerie fame.
Mostly Automatic (originally published in Star Wars Galaxy Magazine #3 in 1995) features a cyborg and relies on a macabre twist, fit for Edgar Allan Poe.
We should also include some honorable mentions from Dark Horse’s Star Wars Tales anthology, which frequently veered into dark fantasy, creature features, and psychological dread.
Claustrophobic isolation in The Void drives an Imperial scout crew mad in deep space, while in Skin Deep stormtroopers picked off one by one by a tunnel predator. Rounding out these macabre entries, Nomad delivers psychological horror through Darca Nyl’s vision-plagued quest for vengeance against the dark Jedi who slaughtered his family.
But if you want creepy canon comics, then Cavan Scott is definitely your guy!
Tales of terror from Cavan Scott
Cavan Scott’s prolific run of spooky Star Wars comics started while the kid friendly comics license was still at IDW and has continued up to this day under Dark Horse’s logo.
Showing some true passion for the genre, the British writer brought classic anthology horror, beginning his Halloween-style cycle with the 5-issue miniseries Tales from Vader’s Castle in 2018. Next year we were treated to another 5 issues with 2019’s Return to Vader’s Castle.
By 2020, reading Star Wars horror comics in October and November had already become a kind of tradition among fans, but we got just a one-shot special titled Star Wars Adventures: Shadow of Vader’s Castle.
Fortunately, in 2021 we were well-fed! Cavan Scott kept them coming with another 5-issue miniseries – Ghosts of Vader’s Castle in 2021.
The entire Vader’s Castle line remains suitable for readers of all ages while paying homage to horror classics such as the Universal monster movies, the legacy of legendary British studios Hammer Films and Amicus Productions, vintage EC Comics such as Tales from the Crypt…
Only that Scott’s next tales did not come from the crypt, but from the Rancor Pit! And I think we can all agree that a rancor is way scarier than a pendulum!
It’s a dark and stormy night on Tatooine… Keeping the structure of overarching frame of a story and several plots within it, Tales from the Rancor Pit* is a 56-page graphic novel which proved to be a strong continuation of the established Halloween comic tradition.
Various artists illustrating the segments provide richness of styles and serve these anthologies very well – not only do we get a bunch of atmospheric scary shorts, but they vary in tone and visuals, which makes these books a real feast for our horror-hungry eyes!
The tradition was kept in 2023 as well, with yet another graphic novel – Tales from the Death Star*, which, to every fan’s delight, was considerably longer (96 pages) and was released in mid-October. Creature terror, vengeful ghosts, phantom ships and more lurk beneath the hard covers of this beauty!
Where to next? Dathomir? Korriban? The planet Ryloth seems like a far less obvious choice, and that is where Cavan Scott took us in 2025! What’s so spooky about the Twi’leks’ homeworld, you might ask? Oh, there is plenty to choose from, as heroes from three generations will discover!
Obi-Wan and Anakin, Luke and Leia, Rey and Finn, all face the sinister Nightlander and barely survive to tell the tale. Tales from the Nightlands* first appeared as a 3-issue miniseries, before they were collected in a hardcover edition.
But what about this year? Well, Tales from the Rancor Pit, Tales from the Death Star, and Star Wars: Tales from the Nightlands have just been collected in a glorious 336-page hardcover titled Star Wars: Galactic Tales of Terror *, which premiered on September 29, 2026.
If you are eager to catch up on Vader’s Castle*, and I know that you are, those too have a deluxe hardcover edition, published in 2024.
Cavan Scott has done a truly outstanding job with Star Wars horror. In each overarching frame narrative, stranded heroes or terrified survivors share chilling spine-tinglers to keep the looming dark side at bay.
Scott masterfully translates classic horror archetypes into galactic lore, reimagining everything from Frankenstein-style cybernetic monster building and mummy curses to body-snatching parasites and gothic vampirism through iconic villains. You name it, it’s there!
Scott’s writing is an ongoing love letter to the horror genre, which the author has incorporated so well into the Star Wars universe. And reminds us of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee’s iconic horror roles and their gravitas on screen, all with a witty wink and some clever fan service.
High Republic horror-heavy retrospective
The High Republic era introduced some of the most genuinely terrifying organic and psychological horror concepts into Canon.
As if the Nihil themselves weren’t chilling enough, we got the Drengir, the Nameless… The High Republic writers showed no mercy, especially in the late stages of what used to be originally known as… Project Luminous.
The Nameless Terror, Trail of Shadows, and The Heart of the Drengir are among the comics that employed genre elements the most.
Written by George Mann, The High Republic: The Nameless Terror* is truly petrifying, in more ways than one. It utilizes claustrophobic survival horror and monster-mystery tropes.
When a group of Jedi and civilians are trapped inside a derelict frontier outpost during a violent storm, they are stalked by the Nameless that, as we know, prey specifically on Force users.
This one gets quite grim at times! It leans into existential dread as victims experience primal terror, psychological paralysis, and horrific bodily calcification.
Which is not unlike the Drengir turning people to wood in the Edge of Balance manga. It was written by Daniel José Older, who’s also responsible for the dread in The High Republic: Trail of Shadows*.
The plot employs noir-investigation and psychological thriller tropes to explore the aftermath of the attacks. A Jedi investigator and a private eye track a string of murders where victims are left frozen in expressions of absolute horror.
The miniseries plays much like an episode of The X-Files, with unexplained anomalies and creeping paranoia.
Meanwhile, in The High Republic: The Heart of the Drengir*, Cavan Scott does his thing and embraces classic plant-based body horror and parasitic hive-mind tropes.
Yeah, move along, Triffids, there’s a new plant-based nightmare in the universe!
Awakening from deep slumber on the galactic frontier, the Drengir are sentient, carnivorous vines that use dark-side manipulation on organic life.
They infect hosts, sprout painfully from human flesh, and utilize auditory psychological warfare by mimicking the voices of loved ones to lure prey into traps. Talk about body snatchers and corpse seeders! Ugh!
Modern Marvel Macabre
Earlier we mentioned Gillen’s work, and he and Jason Aaron did The Screaming Citadel* crossover, which might not have been advertised as a full-blown horror per se, but more often than not it does feel like one as it packs plenty of genre tropes.
The story arc has some shared DNA with Hammer’s films. Luke Skywalker and Doctor Aphra venture into an eerie, gothic fortress ruled by a sinister queen who hosts parasitic, hive-mind rituals to drain the life-force of Force users.
Are you still here? Haven’t you run away screaming yet? Good! Then, I give you Star Wars: Vader – Dark Visions*.
Do you remember Ken Liu’s Legend of Luke Skywalker, where a bunch of travellers go on to tell a number of various probable and improbable tall tales about the Jedi who had achieved mythical status by the time of the Resistance Era? Well, Vader – Dark Visions by writer Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum is something of a ghoulish antipode of that book.
Here we get five issues, each telling a grim story of the Dark Lord of the Sith, and whether or not we believe the narrator is up to us.
Marvel’s anthology series explores the terrifying legacy and perspective of Darth Vader through the eyes of various individuals who cross his path throughout the galaxy.
A young alien worships him as a savior after he slays a planetary beast, a panicked Imperial officer destroys his own Star Destroyer trying to avoid Vader’s wrath, a delusional Death Star nurse suffers a fatal end after mistaking him for a romantic hero, a hotshot rebel pilot is broken by Vader’s terrifying dogfighting skills, and a bartender experiences a psychedelic nightmare on a jungle world while fleeing the Dark Lord.
Ultimately, the series highlights how Vader, much like numerous horror villains, is perceived as a mythical force, a symbol of absolute terror, an object of dark obsession, and an inescapable nightmare.
And last but not least in today’s journey through ghoulish galactic graphic novels and comics… Superstar artist Peach Momoko’s silent and visually striking Star Wars shots!
2023 Marvel one-shot Star Wars: Visions – Peach Momoko*, aka The Followers of Ankok, is exactly what one can expect from the Visions label! It is bold, it is experimental, it is a unique twist on Star Wars and challenges us to see the galaxy through a different artistic lens.
There is no text whatsoever, it is somehow surreal and even psychedelic. It might not be for everyone, but I really appreciate it.
The same year Peach Momoko also contributed a short comic titled Inescapable to Marvel’s Star Wars: Darth Vader – Black, White & Red #1. Much like the above-mentioned one-shot, Inescapable is more of a visual experience than a straightforward narrative, with highly symbolic and expressive panels that defy retelling.
Well, these have been some of the most prominent horror-infused Star Wars comics for the last four and a half decades! But it is a vast galaxy, dark and cold… Who knows what new terrors the future holds? Much to fear we still have!
