Graphic Novel Review: Plague House by Michael W. Conrad and Dave Chisholm

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The Details

Media Type: Graphic Novel
Title: Plague House
Author(s): Michael W. Conrad
Illustrator: Dave Chisholm
Publisher: Oni Press (S&S)
Pages/Length: 120 pages
Release Date: January 20, 2026
Source: NetGalley

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Thirteen years ago, Orin McCabe was a family man living a privileged life in the California suburbs. Today, he’s condemned to death row for murdering his entire family in an unexpected fit of hammer-wielding brutality. In the aftermath of his heinous crime, it’s fallen to a trio of eclectic, but dedicated, ghost hunters—Jacob, the holy man; Holland, the skeptic; and their leader, Del, a true believer in the occult and worlds beyond—to surveil the abandoned McCabe home in search of proof for the existence of the undead . . . and whatever supernatural source may have possibly fueled McCabe’s inhuman massacre. But this ill-matched and uneasy squad of investigators is about to discover something much more terrifying than any ordinary spirit. . . . Something much more pernicious, much more contagious, that if not contained, could take full advantage of America’s unquenchable appetite for violence and deliver a plague of blood unto us all . . .

The Review

Plague House had my attention the second I saw the cover art. There was something so simplistic and yet sinister looking about the art style that just drew me in. Between that and the book synopsis, I knew that this would be right in my wheelhouse. I also don’t deny that I’m the type of comic reader who waits for volumes to publish, rather than read individual issues. Chalk it up to needing to know what happens next as soon as possible, but the collected story arcs always make the happiest. So yes, I was very excited for this story!

I can say with full confidence that the art style didn’t let me down once. Chisholm uses varying shading techniques, saturated colors and deftly executed details to craft the type of panels that draw you deep into this unsettling story. More than once I found myself stopping on a page to really absorb the entire thing. One of my favorite pages is where Jacob Hargrove is visited by something that inhabits the McCabe house. The walls look almost like rough crayon marks, and that makes the spotlight on our unfortunate character so much more impactful. It felt to me like the house was something in between our world and another one. Something that shouldn’t exist, and somehow still does. And with what our team of ghost hunters found there, I can’t say that was an incorrect feeling.

As for the story itself, that’s where I sadly faltered a bit. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Conrad’s premise in Plague House. It actually felt kind of fresh to see the idea of the haunted house turned into something that was somehow even more sinister; into something that makes demands of our ghost hunters. I loved the idea that ghosts aren’t simply left behind remnants of a person who died. That they might be so much more than that. When Del first explained his reasoning on how he “cleansed” a house, I honestly visibly shivered. What a world to live in, where the phrase “violence begets violence” becomes entirely too true.

It just felt like there wasn’t enough time to really explain things fully in this short four comic series though. Del was honestly the character I liked the least of the three. Which, I suppose, may have been intentional. Our group of ghost hunters hummed with life, but when Del was alone there was nothing but confusion and darkness. The plot gets muddled around the time our trio breaks apart, and I found myself getting frustrated with the lack of answers. It felt like the goal was to leave it open-ended, and to allow the reader to figure out where they fell on what Del was doing and whether it was warranted or not. However I never felt like I had enough pieces to put together the entire puzzle and all I was left with was frustration.