Harrow County

''Harrow County'' is an American comic book series that ran from 2015 to 2018. It was created by writer Cullen Bunn and artist Tyler Crook, and published by Dark Horse Comics.

Characters

;Emmy Crawford: An eighteen-year-old young woman and witch, presumed to be the reincarnation of the witch Hester Beck. She has godlike abilities that allow her to reshape reality at will.

;Bernice Anderson: Emmy's best friend, granddaughter of Riah Anderson, and student of Lovey Belfont. She lives in the Black community of Mason's Hollow. She is the protagonist of the sequel series ''Tales from Harrow County''.

;Kammi: Emmy's evil twin sister and one of the primary antagonists of the series. She grew up in New York City.

;Isaac Crawford: Emmy's adoptive father. He was created by Hester and was one of the townsfolk that murdered her.

;Lady Lovey Belfont: An old woman that has spent her life capturing the servants of Hester Beck. She lives alone in Mason's Hollow, where she is shunned by her community for being a witch. She teaches hedge magic to Bernice and tasks her with protecting Harrow County.

Haints

;The Skinless Boy / The Tattered Skin: Emmy's mute familiar. He was summoned from the nightmares of a child. Emmy carries his skin around in her satchel and he whispers secrets to her.

;Priscilla: A goblin that befriends Emmy.

The Family

;Malachi: The head of the Family in the old days, until he became the Abandoned and settled in Harrow County.

;Hester Beck: The primary antagonist of the series. She was a god-like witch who was killed by her own creations. Of all of Malachi's children, she was the youngest and his favorite.

;Amaryllis: A kindly old woman and the most powerful in the family. Like Hester, she was capable of bending all of reality to her will. Hester murdered and cannibalized her to gain her powers.

;Odessa: The head of the family after Malachi leaves. She has a connection to the woods and their animals.

;Levi: A psychopomp. He guides the dead to the afterlife. When Malachi was the head of the family, Levi would try to find ways to undermine him.

Other Family members include Mildred, Willa, Kaine, Corbin, and Old Buck.

Publication history

''Harrow County''

''Harrow County'' began as a serialized prose story called ''Countless Haints'', written by Cullen Bunn and released on his website. ''Countless Haints'' ran for ten chapters before it was retired. Later the story was repurposed as an ongoing comic with artist and co-creator Tyler Crook. The main character Madrigal was renamed Emmy, the time period was shifted from present day to the 1930s, and the location was changed from Ahmen's Landing to Harrow County.

When Bunn began working on the series, he wrote the first two arcs so that they told a fairly complete story, though he hoped ''Harrow County'' would be popular enough to become an ongoing series. Crook chose to do the book in watercolors to get away from the computer and to make the project more fun for himself. As part of the promotional material for the comic, he created a special ordering form and made process videos showcasing his watercolors. He even wrote music for the first two arcs.

During ''Harrow County''’s run, Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook regularly shared their process in a column called ''The Harrow County Observer'', Tyler Crook's YouTube channel, and in the extensive sketchbook sections of the trade paperback collections.

''Tales of Harrow County''

Most issues of ''Harrow County'' include ''Tales of Harrow County'' backup stories. This extra material is only collected in the hardcover library editions. The one-page story "Lovelorn" (story by Cullen Bunn, art by Tyler Crook) was accidentally left out of ''Harrow County'' #31, so Dark Horse Comics debuted it as a free online comic.

''Tales from Harrow County''

On September 10, 2019, Dark Horse Comics announced the spinoff series ''Tales from Harrow County'' (not to be confused with the ''Tales of Harrow County'' short stories). The series was initially announced as a way to tell stories with different main characters from many different time periods of Harrow County. ''Misfit City'' artist Naomi Franquiz drew the first miniseries, ''Death's Choir'', with Bernice as the protagonist. Emily Schnall later joined the ''Tales from Harrow County'' team for the second arc.

Trade paperbacks

The trade paperback collections of ''Harrow County'' generally come out around four to five months after the final issue of the arc being collected.

Library editions

After ''Harrow County'' finished, Dark Horse Comics announced that the series would be recollected in library editions. These hardcover volumes print the comics at a larger size and collect all the special features from both the original issues and the trade paperback collections.

Omnibus editions

In 2020, ''Harrow County'' was recollected in paperback omnibus editions. These editions do not include any special material.

Reception

Critical reception

At the review aggregator website Comic Book Roundup, ''Harrow County'' and ''Tales from Harrow County'' have received an average score of 8.4 out of 10 based on 205 reviews, with the final issue of the original series averaging at 9.5. In the years since the original series ended, it has shown up on numerous recommended reads and best-of lists for horror comics.

Awards

Soundtrack

In 2015, Tyler Crook released a book soundtrack of ''Harrow County'', a month before ''Harrow County'' #1 came out. The music was meant to accompany the series' first arc, ''Countless Haints'', with track titles referencing specific moments. A second volume for the ''Twice Told'' arc came out the following year.

The soundtrack was repurposed in 2022 for GraphicAudio's ''Harrow County'' audio dramas.

Track listing

Adaptations

Audio drama

In April 2021, Dark Horse Comics announced a they had entered into a multi-year agreement with GraphicAudio to create audio dramas of their comics. The announcement of ''Harrow County'' being adapted came the following year in August. The audio drama was released across two volumes, the first on September 26, 2022 and the second on Halloween a month later.

Bunn had long wanted an audio drama of the series and had even been pushing for an audio drama adaption before the GraphicAudio deal happened. Director and adaption writer Scott McCormick selected ''Harrow County'' after Dark Horse sent him the first four issues and he became enamored with the narrator's voice. In adapting the story, McCormick kept Bunn's dialogue for the characters, but had to augment and write additional material for the narrator. Crook's book soundtrack was used for the music in the audio drama, though sound designer Abby Rose Raetz also wrote additional pieces inspired by Crook's music.

Board Game

On October 5, 2022, Off the Page Games launched a Kickstarter campaign for ''Harrow County: The Game of Gothic Conflict''. Designed by Jay Cormier and Shad Miller, the game also features original art by Tyler Crook and "flavor text" in the cards and instructions by Cullen Bunn. It is set to debut some time in late 2023.

Television

As part of a first look deal between Universal Cable Productions and Dark Horse, a ''Harrow County'' television series was in development as of 2015.Keveney, Bill (July 7, 2015)
Deal puts 'Umbrella Academy' on TV track
" USA Today (accessed June 9, 2016)

References

{{Reflist

Dark Horse Comics titles
2015 comics debuts
Comics by Cullen Bunn
Book soundtracks