DREAD THE HALL H 2026

The Lines Are Longer. The Panels Are Wilder. And This Time, Even the Ads Might Try to Kill You.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

APRIL 17, 2026 (PORTLAND, OR) — It starts on the show floor.

Grab your badges, DREAD THE HALL H is back! The beloved annual spin-off of the best-selling Dread the Halls returns with 48 pages of convention horror, satire, and chaos from Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated writer Jordan Hart (Ripple Effects) and Syzygy Publishing founder Chris Ryall (Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis)!

It’s summer convention season again, and Dread the Hall H is back with your VIP pass to 48 pages of convention-related horror stories! Attending this show are Chris Ryall, CP Wilson III, and Tom Williams, who tell connected panel-breaking tales of the con-variant craze gone amok; along with Jordan Hart and Luana Vecchio, who reveal the true terror of A-List actors getting their on-screen characters’ powers; and Hart and Marianna Ignazzi, who introduce the world to the super-powered protector of all con-goers—the CONcluder!

This issue features interior art by Luana Vecchio, C.P. Wilson III, Marianna Ignazzi, and Tom Williams that grounds the rapid descent from spectacle to something harder to shake. One story destabilizes spectacle, and another leans into obsession, and all the while, the show floor is coming apart amid the madness!

There’s also a collectable cover lineup that includes Maria The Wolf, Luana Vecchio, Jordan Hart, plus a 1:10 sketch photo/variant by Tony Fleecs and 1:20 variant from Zach Howard, which incorporates all seven elements from Hall of Fame editor “Carmine Infantino’s 7 Things Guaranteed to Sell a Comic” (gorillas, motorcycles, dinosaurs, cities on fire, purple skies, time rifts, ‘cryin and dyin’), turning the issue into a weird, overstuffed relic you pulled off the convention floor.

But the extended issue doesn’t stop there (pun incoming): “Conland,” a Candyland-style board game illustrated by Chris Anderson (American Caper), turns waiting in line into an entire experience, stretched out until it stops feeling like a joke. Not to mention, fake product one-page comics riff on ‘70s Hostess ads, just slightly off and a little too specific, but maybe aware enough to feel like they weren’t meant to be found.

“Each Dread the Hall H story centers on familiar convention experiences—celebrity panels, show exclusives, overnight sidewalk camping, sleep deprivation—and pushes them to absurd levels of satire and horror,” said Jordan Hart. “From a superpowered protector of attendees called the CONcluder to a literal board game about standing in line for an exclusive, I haven’t had more fun making a comic book.”

Co-creator Chris Ryall added, “It’s that special time of the year once again—convention season!—and on every page of Dread the Hall H, we once again celebrate all that makes convention culture both exhilarating and slightly terrifying. And as with every issue of Dread, we’ve got some special things planned that push the potential of this con-thology into exciting and unexpected directions.”