Previewing ‘Thistlebone Book One’: Perfect Folklore Horror

TC Eglingon and Simon Davis‘ Thistlebone Book One is Midsommar meets The Wicker Man in a stunning folk-horror series, an absolute chiller from start to finish – collected for the first time in March.

The English village of Harrowvale holds a dark past — years earlier, it was home to a dark cult that looked to escape civilisation and find purity in the old ways, namely worshipping an ancient deity called Thistlebone. With the charismatic Jasper Hillman ruling the cult, their pagan beliefs grew ever more radical to the point where they held the young Avril Eason captive with the intention of sacrificing her. But Avril escaped…

Now Avril returns, years later, to Harrowvale with investigative journalist Seema Chaudry to investigate the mystery of the horrors in the woods.

Thistlebone is an absolutely nerve-jangling, atmospheric thriller that slowly and surely amps up all the madness, all of the repressed violence, all of the horrors that have lingered and festered deep in the woods and does it superbly.

It’s all quite magnificently underplayed by Eglington, who quite sensibly lets the brilliance of Simon Davis‘ artwork do so much and do it so well. This is some of the very best comic artwork of his career – and it was a career already full of brilliance.

Thistlebone – TC Eglington, Simon Davis, letters by Annie Parkhouse – Collecting material from 2000 AD Progs 2135-2144.

Published by 2000 AD on 29 April 2021.