Johannes Cabal The Necromancer by Jonathan L Howard

In a universe very much like our own, with the addition of magic and Hell being real, Johannes Cabal is a necromancer, a speaker with and controller of the dead. In return for his powers he made a Faustian pact with the Devil for his soul, and now he wants it back. He strolls into hell and makes a deal with Lucifer, 100 souls for his own. The Devil provides him with an infernal carnival and the rest is up to him. This could have been a grim horror story, but Howard's use of gentle humour and literary allusion combined with some excellent characters, especially Johannes' undead brother Horst who has the usual infernal powers combined with a strong moral compass, that make this a joy to read.

Dark Entries: A John Constantine Novel by Ian Rankin, art by Werther Dell'Endera

Magical jack of all trades Constantine and famous crime writer Rankin, creator of Inspector Rebus, is a mouthwatering combination and it doesn't disappoint. In Dark Entries Constantine is hired by the slick Matthew Keene when the new hottest reality TV show 'Haunted Mansion' begins to go wrong. The fame desperate kids in the Mansion are encountering hauntings the production team haven't created. So Constantine signs the waivers and goes in as a mole, but being Constantine he soon figures out the darker truth behind the hauntings, terrifying enough in themselves. Watch for when the borders of the frames turn from black to white. Rankin does a great job of keeping Constantine in character, Dell'Edera's black and white strips are stark and elegant and the whole is a brilliant indictment of the hunger for reality tv.