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Crossroads Comics #122-The Caretaker


It’s Tuesday which means it’s time for Crossroads Comics!

This week, in honor of the start of October, we’re going to cover one of the spookiest comics that I follow online, The Caretaker. Authored by Reddog f.13, this is a comic that excels at making your skin crawl as the creepiness factor continues to rise throughout each chapter. The story follows Simon, a man swamped in debt and who owes a gang big time. Desperate for quick and large sums of cash, he sees a mysterious ad in the newspaper, “caretaker wanted for house of often away owner. $10,000 a month.” It’s too good to be true right? Deciding not to question it, Simon takes the offer and quickly learns he’ll be caring for the house and a variety of exotic pets. But the owner’s definition of an “exotic pet” isn’t exactly what Simon initially had in mind. Perhaps he should have paid attention to that fine print in the ad, “SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED”.

This comic is a great way to get into the spooky season mood. It’s filled to the brim with creepy, freaky, and scary creatures. It excels at making its fans continually “nope nope nope” every time a new creature is revealed, with somehow each monster managing to be uniquely creepy and threatening all at once. It really is a testament to the creativity the author has to be able to create all these unusual and freaky “pets” that inhabit the estate. While many of the creatures are ones the readers might recognize, such as the Thunderbird, the Wendigo, or a Werewolf, the author excels at putting new spins on the creatures and really showing how dangerous these mythological beings can be. A great example of this is H, the Wendigo. While the original folklore of the Wendigo describes it as an evil spirit, Reddog alters the story to make the Wendigo parasitic worms instead. They can infect humans and animals alike, making walking corpses like H, their hosts. They can infect new hosts through the worms burrowing into their bodies or by consuming raw meat, hence the belief that cannibalism was the cause. H makes their official appearance in Chapter 4: Hollow, and pages like Chapter 4 Page 25 really show just how terrifying the creatures in this comic can be. As someone who usually isn’t in horror, I’ve found this comic to be a really interesting experience that is both horrifying and interesting at the same time. I always look forward to seeing it update and would definitely recommend it to those interested.

That said, this comic is not for everyone. This comic has Gore warnings for good reason. Creatures like Carrion are literal walking corpses and the solutions on how to deal with some of these creatures are not short of graphic. So if that is not your cup of tea, I wouldn’t really recommend trying to put yourself through it. In addition, for those that have arachnophobia, one set of the “exotic pets” is a pair of giant spiders, so beware that as well.

All in all, this is a great comic to get in the spooky season mood with, so if you want to read it, consider following it on ComicFury or Deviantart. You can also follow the author on Twitter and support them on Patreon.

And be sure to check out the rest of the comics in this week’s lineup!

Crossroads Comics
Lucky’s Travels Hmmm… now what are the odds that’s not supposed to be there?
PMD: Explorers of Life Phase two of their plan of attack!
Pokémon Rising Shadows Echo seems even grumpier than usual.
Pokémon: Shadow of the Sun Oh man I hope that isn’t a steep fall.
Renegade’s Redemption Off we go! Time to get debriefed.
The Shaymin Café Seems Chicory is taking the lead on this one.
The Spaced Out Rangers What an intimidating sight!

ComicFury Comics
ChimeranLegends They’re lesbians, Harold.
Into the Oblivion That is one very annoyed Raichu.
Mahiwaga Interesting request.
Mirrored Image Into town they go!
PMD: Alliance Do explorers usually have enemies?
PMD: Midnight Star Wonder what sort of request she has.
PMD: Rangers of Sky Well ain’t this going wonderfully.
The Caretaker Hahahaha noooo thanks.

Deviantart Comics
Aezae’s Tales The fight continues! Are they an even match?
Burn Away Look at all those familiar faces.
Heads Up Nothing beats a Rotom companion!
PMD: Hanging in the Balance What a cute little Haru.
PMD: Team Rowanberry Oh no… Opal…
The Essence of Being Look at all those cameos!
Ties that Bind These two have such a cute dynamic.
Vanquish the Shadowed Force Houndooms always land on their feet, right?

Off-site Comics
Almost Empty This guy is less than friendly it seems.
Ask Another Clone Look at these two cuties!
Ask Reluctant Nightshade Perhaps they’ll have the courage later.
Genesis: A Gijinka Story That poor kid…
High Class Homos Quickly! Quickly now! You have to get ready!
PMD: Exploration Team Ultra With this electric attack be enough?
PSMD Fan’s Cut At least he made a good first impression? No?
Steven AUniverse: Ask WhitePearl and Steven You know, as you do.


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