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Harrow County Reading Guide to Cullen Bunn’s Horror series

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Published by Dark Horse Comics, Harrow County is an Eisner-nominated horror comic book series created by writer Cullen Bunn and artist Tyler Crook that blends elements of folk horror, dark fantasy, and Southern Gothic traditions. It’s also part of our list of Horror Comic Books to read and the Best Dark Horse Comics Series.

The concept originated as a serialized prose story titled Countless Haints, written by Bunn and released online. When adapted into a comic form in collaboration with Crook, the story underwent substantial reworking, evolving into a visually rich, serialized narrative that debuted in May 2015. The story follows Emmy Crawford, a young woman in rural Harrow County, who discovers on the eve of her eighteenth birthday that she is mystically connected to the land around her and the supernatural beings—ghosts, haints, and monsters—that inhabit it.

The original Harrow County series ran for 32 issues from 2015 to 2018. It has since been collected in multiple formats, including trade paperbacks, library editions,  deluxe hardcover omnibuses, and a compendium.

Following its conclusion, the franchise continued with the spin-off series Tales from Harrow County (2019–2021), not to be confused with the Tales of Harrow County short stories, written by Bunn with art by Naomi Franquiz and later Emily Schnall. These stories expand the mythology and explore events set after the main series, focusing on Emmy’s friend Bernice and the lingering supernatural forces in Harrow County.

Harrow County Reading Guide: The best ways to read the series

Although Harrow County is a relatively straightforward series to read in order, it has been released across several formats, including trade paperbacks, library editions, and deluxe omnibuses, as well as follow-up spin-offs. This guide provides an overview of the available editions to help readers navigate the different options.

The Complete Harrow County

Let’s start with “The Complete Harrow County.” This is a complete collection of the entire original 32-issue run of Harrow County in a single book, which also includes all extras from every library edition. This is available in two formats. The first is a single, oversized hardcover book with a slipcase, ribbon, and a brand-new painted cover, the second is a paperback compendium. The Tales from Harrow County comics are not in those books.

Harrow County Omnibus edition

While The Complete Harrow County hardcover edition may be the definition of omnibus, Dark Horse Comics usually uses the name with books collecting what was previously made available in three or four trade paperbacks. This Harrow County Omnibus collection is composed of two books collecting the original 32-issue run of Harrow County, but no bonus. They are paperback books.

Harrow County Library editions

Dark Horse’s library editions of Harrow County are oversized hardcover collections that bring together two volumes per book (usually eight issues) in a high-quality, deluxe format. These editions are distinguished by bonus content: original sketches, creator essays, variant covers, supplemental short stories, the original Countless Haints prose material, and other extras not always included in the standard trade editions–all those bonuses are now also available in “The Complete Harrow County.” 

The Harrow County Library Edition collection also contains the spin-off comics “Tales from Harrow County,” but only one volume has been published. The last miniseries, Tales from Harrow County: Lost Ones, is not available in that format.

Harrow County Trade Paperback Collection

The trade paperbacks are the “standard” format in which each story arc of Harrow County is collected. Each volume groups together 4 issues of the comic in a softcover book, usually with pages of sketchbook art. The original 32-issue run of Harrow County is collected in 8 volumes, while the Tales of Harrow County spin-off series is in three volumes.

Harrow County stops here, and you can too. The spin-off, Tales from Harrow County, is set ten years after Emmy left Harrow County and focuses on her friend Bernice, who is now the steward of Harrow County. Volume three, though, reconnects with Emmy.

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