Oni Press series Plague House is one of the best books of last year. And now that it’s been collected as a trade paperback collection, not only is it the right time to catch up with the four-issue series… But we’ve got the full first issue for you to read, free, right here.
Written by Michael W. Conrad with art by Dave Chisholm, the disturbing haunted house tale starts in a decrepit old house, and spirals out into an indictment of the entire country.
“My hope with PLAGUE HOUSE was to take a novel approach to a trope that’s been done to death,” said Conrad via press release. “Hauntings and haunted locations are endlessly fascinating to me, but I wanted to present the idea in a way that didn’t lean on the unspoken agreements that are expected in such stories.”
Added Chisholm, “One of my very favorite things about this series is that it has these rug-pull moments—you think you know what’s going on, you think you know what it’s about, and then the bottom falls out and the scope expands. There are moments of genuine surprise in this story, above and beyond that initial hook with these characters we think we know so well. I had such a blast working with Michael and Bess on this—it really was a collaboration of the highest order, artisanal, hand-made in an absolute frenzy, pored over by people who really really care about giving you something that will keep you up at night, that will drill a hole into the back of your mind and set up some kind of unholy bunker in there.”
You can pick up the trade paperback in stores everywhere on January 20. For now, enjoy the full first issue… If you dare.
Plague House TPB Preview
Check out 21 pages from the January 20, 2026 publishing trade paperback collection here! Click the thumbnails for a larger version:
Plague House Official Synopsis:
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 . . .
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