In our review of The Folk Of Dooney Hollow #1, there are some strange goings-on in the Ozarks, and one Kerri Hayes is about to find herself in the thick of it.
The Folk of Dooney Hollow #1
Writer: Jeremy Haun
Artist: Alex Lins
Main Cover: Jeremy Haun
Variant Covers: Alex Lins, Ebrahel Iurci
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: 9/9/2026
This review contains spoilers
We open on a scene in the Ozarks, with a guy running for his life through the woods. He’s being pursued by something, he’s bleeding, and he soon just dives off a cliff to escape whatever it will do to him.
We go, then, to Kerri, who’s in the area to explore. She’s welcomed to the area by Otis, whose wife Maxine hasn’t been all that communicative ever since a combination of a heat spell and a medical episode. He also warns Kerri that there’s something weird out in those woods.
Kerri sets up camp, does some hiking, and soon finds a cave. In that cave, there’re tally marks and a drawing of a figure that was seen back at the beginning. She also finds a sculpture that sort of resembles her, before feeling watched and leaving.
Later that night, she can hear something out in the woods. She looks to see Maxine shambling by her, naked and muttering a warning not to go. Kerri passes out, and eventually wakes to Otis’s explanation about Maxine’s condition having gotten worse.
The next day, after a bit more exploration, she starts back to her camp and has a fall. She comes face to face with the thing she saw carved in the wall, and soon meets a girl that warns her not to touch it. This same girl tells her to run when they’re met by a hulking masked figure with a blade.
Right away, I found myself drawn to the sheer atmosphere of this story. The fairly subdued color scheme gives it a truly creepy air, and that sets the tone for this whole story. Every panel pushes the eerie quality, and I appreciate that.
I’m curious as to if this recurring image that comes up is a monument or a creature, though. And what, exactly, touching it would do. Would it drive one to madness, or work as a homing beacon of sorts for the masked figure seen at the end? Because both seem plausible enough. I’m already starting to wonder if Maxine had made contact with it some time ago. And its design overall intrigues me, jutting out from the ground like a huge stony thumb.
I’m also digging the design for this masked guy out in the woods. Between his build, the mask, the antlers, and the ginormous weapon, he’s an imposing figure, to say the least.
And then we come to our viewpoint character Kerri. When she’s introduced, there’s a conversation over the phone (possibly via text) with someone named Tula, expressing some disappointment over her plans. She’s got a bit of whisky with her, and she’s clearly looking for something. She has a pretty cool look to her overall, and I’m eager to know more about her history.
I’m also very curious about what happened with Maxine. Otis said that she’d gone through a bit and hasn’t really spoken much since. Sometimes, medical issues can do that to a person. Wandering through the woods naked at night could be supernaturally-influenced or it could be a particularly bad dementia-induced episode. The former would be rather in-theme for the story, while the other might be more of a red herring. Either way, the incident is unsettling and fits the overall tone.
What the creative team is building here, so far, is looking to be a delightfully creepy tale. I mean, we’ve got the isolation factor of it being out in the woods, where the slightest twig snap can set someone on edge. The colors aren’t overly bright and add to that eerie atmosphere. The story gives us some unsettling mysteries to watch play out.
Final Thoughts
The Folk Of Dooney Hollow #1 brings us a brilliantly atmospheric bit of Folk Horror. It’s beautifully creepy and wonderfully mysterious, and I look forward to more.
