HAUNT by Joe Casey and Nathan Fox doles out ridiculous monster-filled fun

Back in 2011, Robert Kirkman and Todd McFarlane teamed up to create a new horror-based superhero. A hard-hitting, edgy character steeped in government black ops, illicit experiments, and priests with sex addictions. Along with Ryan Ottley and Greg Capullo, they brought to life Venom. If he were white and powered by ghosts. I mean Haunt. Although, I guess you could also consider him Firestorm minus the physics powers and given added ectoplasm. But definitely Haunt.

I know, I’m poking fun, but those first 18 issues are something else. If you’re a teenage boy, they’re probably right up your alley. I mean, like the original Spawn, I know I certainly would have been. (In a roundabout way, I’d also say that it feels like Haunt influenced what Venom would become over the past decade.) While many of the story elements may be funnily over-the-top, there is a solid base in the conflict between the two brothers, a priest and a ghost of an agent. And the overall design of the Haunt costume is pretty good.

It was that base that a second team ran with from #19.

“…the dawn of a new world of death.”

Joe Casey and Nathan Fox began their run on Haunt in #19 with FCO Plascencia and the team at Comicraft. Over the next nine issues they’d be joined by John Lucas, Robbi Rodriguez, Kyle Strahm, Ivan Plascencia, Brad Simpson, and have an epilogue by Todd McFarlane himself as they upended the previous status quo, threw in another weird religious cult, introduced a hippie ghostbuster, dialed up the guilt, and set Daniel and Kurt Kilgore on a path where they really had to learn to work together to become something greater.

The kind of cocksure attitude that was there in the original incarnation is still there, but channelled in a different direction as it also managed to get the brothers into new trouble. It’s the kind of swagger you grow accustomed to in many of Joe Casey’s stories, though there’s an interesting wrinkle here. Of responsibility and guilt as some of the brothers’ actions come back to…uh…haunt them. It’s a nice bit of growth.

Nathan Fox’s artwork is visceral. His style hits you in the face as soon as you open the book, scratchy shadows, exaggerate angles, and a worm-like tendril nature to the ectoplasm from Haunt’s costume. Wonderful designs for the monsters and villains of the story, from a fire golem to the giant bugs. And a compelling approach to layouts that include some intricate detail on double-page spreads. I also quite like how the run uses guest artists like John Lucas, Robbi Rodriguez, and Kyle Strahm, playing to their strengths telling stories that flesh out backstories and what’s going on with other characters. All of it with colours that throw in some bright pops amidst the darkness from FCO Plascencia, Ivan Plascencia, and Brad Simpson.

To match the chaotic energy of the story and art, the team at Comicraft likewise adjust some of the lettering. The unique word balloons and designs from the first 18 issues are still there, but there’s a new, freer approach to the titles similar to Fox’s tendril-designs. And a shift in how Haunt speaks in the future version.

“But this ‘trial by fire’ has gone on long enough.”

Casey, Fox, Lucas, Rodriguez, Strahm, FCO & Ivan Plascencia, Simpson, and Comicraft were building something with Haunt with the Second Church and full integration of both Kilgore brothers into the holistic character that we saw at the very beginning of their run. I’m not sure if sales, a wish for Casey & Fox to move on, or McFarlane himself taking over again (as he’d done a few times on Spawn too when he wanted things to go a different way, as is his right, this isn’t meant as a criticism) that brought it to a close. It was over-the-top, ridiculous monster-filled fun while it lasted, though.

The story of Haunt would continue in the pages of Spawn, though, and he’s been appearing as a regular in the current series The Scorched alongside a team of McFarlane’s other heroes. A collection containing the entire Haunt series actually just came out on October 15, 2025, if folks are interested in the whole story.

Classic Comic Compendium: HAUNT by Casey and Fox

Haunt #19 – #28
Writer: Joe Casey with Todd McFarlane (#28)
Artists: Nathan Fox, John Lucas (#22), Robbi Rodriguez (#25), Kyle Strahm (#28) & Todd McFarlane (#28)
Colourists: FCO Plascencia, Ivan Plascencia & Brad Simpson
Letterer: Comicraft
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: November 30, 2011 – December 19, 2012
Available collected in Haunt – Volume 4 & 5 and Haunt: The Complete Collection