Once again teaming up to spread Yuletide terror and give readers the gift of festive frights (whether you’ve been naughty or nice), Image Comics and Syzygy Publishing will release the 72-page horror anthology Dread the Halls 2025 on December 3rd, and we’ve been provided with an exclusive preview of writer Chris Ryall and artist Lee Ferguson’s story “Chains Forged in Life” that Daily Dead readers can unwrap right now!
Bringing a creepy twist to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, you can read our preview of “Chains Forged in Life” below, and we also have a look at the anthology’s cover art and official press release with additional details.
To learn more about Dread the Halls 2025 and other exciting releases, be sure to visit Image Comics and Syzygy Publishing!
From the Press Release: Image Comics and Syzygy Publishing return with DREAD THE HALLS 2025, the third chapter in their fan-favorite holiday horror series! Following last winter’s breakout debut and this summer’s Dread the Hall H sell-out at San Diego Comic-Con, the team is back with a super-sized 72-page stocking stuffer of pure terror.
Co-created and written by Jordan Hart (Ripple Effects, The Cabinet) and Chris Ryall (Zombies vs. Robots, Megalopolis), Dread the Halls 2025 unwraps five wildly different tales that run the spectrum from suspense to splatter. Art drops by Luana Vecchio (Lovesick, Bolero), illustrating her first holiday tale—a 12-page yuletide riff that begins like a Hallmark Christmas movie and ends as a razor-sharp revenge story. Fábio Veras (DC’s Two-Face, Batman: Urban Legends) returns to render a chilling haunted-Advent-calendar yarn, while Lee Ferguson (Predator vs. Black Panther) brings a pitch-black carol to life. Rounding out the lineup, Keithan Jones—co-founder of Black Comix Day—makes his Image Comics debut with visuals for a Mars-red holiday frightmare.
The giftwrap is just as sharp: five festive covers, including two by Maria Wolf (Crypt of Shadows, Harley Quinn), plus a new Luana Vecchio (Lovesick, Bolero) variant, a Toby Willsmer (Vampirella, Red Sonja) piece, and a wrap-around “gift-tag” variant by Hart and Ryall. built to tuck perfectly into the “horrorday” stockings.
Dread the Halls returns to haunt another Christmas season with a 72-page gift of all-new tales of holiday horrors for only $6.99! This time out, Jordan Hart and Luana Vecchio deliver a seasonal blend of Hallmark movie and brutal revenge flick; Chris Ryall and Keithan Jones turn Mars red when “The Martians Conquer Santa Claus!”; Walter Pax and Fábio Veras return to the series rendering festive terror; and Ryall and Lee Ferguson present a pitch-black Christmas carol in “Chains Forged in Life.”
“This year’s Dread the Halls unites some of the top artists in the industry, giving all five stories their own distinct style and tone,” said series co-creator, writer, and designer Jordan Hart. “Even though the ideas and executions vary, they all weave together to deliver a supersized issue that’s just plain fun from start to finish.”
“In the same way that people all over the world look forward to various year-end holidays,” said co-creator and writer Chris Ryall, “I have that same level of excitement for our now-annual Dread dive into the darker corner of the season. And this year, we’ve expanded the page count from 48 to 72 in an effort to give readers even more of a gift than we did last year.”
For fans of Silent Night, Deadly Night, Black Christmas, and many other acclaimed cold-blooded holiday slashers, this anthology delivers the ultimate holiday fright!
Retailers can “re-spread the dread” with Dread the Halls (2024) and Dread the Hall H (2025) re-offered alongside the new issue, giving shops the full trilogy for the holidays. Dread the Halls 2025 hits shelves December 3, 2025—available to preorder now with Lunar code 1025IM0283.
Exclusive Preview of “Chains Forged in Life”
Cover A by Maria Wolf
Cover By by Luana Vecchio
Cover C by Jordan Hart
Cover D by Toby Willsmer
