Horror novels are great, but the theater of the mind is often no match for the diabolical imagery cooked up by a great artist and writer pair.

Here are three quick-hit horror comics available at your local comic shop for a dose of scares in between trick-or-treaters. 

This series headed up by horror giants James Tynion IV and Michael Walsh takes the surrealist literary exercise of the same name and runs with it. Each chapter passes the baton to a new creative team, but even as the night unfolds into chaos, the story’s sense of cohesion doesn’t.

Every five years on Halloween, a shadowy cabal of the 12 most powerful families battle for control of the U.S. Their champions are a cadre of wickedly creative serial killers. Their arena is the unlucky small town of Oak Valley, Maine, whose citizens are little more than collateral damage.

If you’re a fan of slasher movies, this one’s a no-brainer. 

‘Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Halloween Special’

Nominated for Eisner and Bram Stoker awards, the series by writer-artist Patrick Horvath makes a brief return between story arcs for the spookiest night of the year. This time, he’s letting some big names tell the campfire stories.

This twisted storybook of a series follows Samantha Strong, an anthropomorphic grizzly bear as cunning as she is cute, while she indulges her murderous streak. Think Winnie the Pooh meets Dexter.

Marvel took a big swing earlier this month when it paused its new releases in favor of “Midnight,” a new lineup that reimagines its universe through a horror lens. While “X-Men” and “Spider-Man” were solid, Minnesota author Benjamin Percy’s and artist Kev Walker’s “Midnight Fantastic Four” was the clear standout.

The debut issue approaches Marvel’s First Family from a cosmic-eldritch horror bent. It gives new weight to the FF’s reputation as explorers of the unknown while indulging leader Reed Richards’ worst impulses. It was the only “Midnight” book to make me gasp more than once.