See Them — A Haunting Whisper in the Dark
Title: See Them
Creator: Mad Element
Genre: Thriller / Horror / Mystery / Action
I love comics and I love horror, so I was very excited to read See Them and I am looking forward to telling you everything I loved about it in this spoiler-free review.
Overview – Episode One: Only a Dream
See Them opens with a simple – yet evocative – premise: on 8/27/2025 there was a dream. What follows is a stylized recreation of what was seen. The author warns us: “Remember: It’s just a dream.”
This framing sets the tone for something slippery: is this objectively real, or a fragment of memory, nightmare, or subconscious dread? The ambiguity lingers – and that uncertainty becomes part of the horror.
From the first panel, we are introduced to Nina and Josh. From there, things get a bit weird – in the best way.
What Works
• Mood and Atmosphere
From the moment you begin, See Them feels like a half-remembered nightmare: disorienting, evocative, and unmoored from rational structure. The “dream” framing gives the comic license to break conventions – distort time, bend logic, and twist perception. That alone sets it apart from more conventional horror mysteries. As a reader, you’re not just chasing answers. You’re chasing a feeling.
• Minimalism With an Edge
Rather than overload us with back-story or exposition, the comic leans on suggestion and implication. With only one episode, the mystery is tantalizingly incomplete, but that also means the “hook” is strong. It leaves room for imagination. What happened? Who – or what – did the narrator “see”? The gaps matter. In horror, the unknown is often the sharpest blade.
• Promise of Horror + Mystery + Action
Though brief, the tags and tone promise a mix of thriller, horror, and mystery, with elements of chase or escape. For horror readers who like stories that defy easy boundaries (horror that isn’t just gore, but psychological, uncanny, uncertain), there’s a kernel of potential here.
What Feels Under-cooked (for now)
• Very Little to Go On
With just a single episode and minimal exposition, See Them feels more like a teaser than a complete narrative. While the dream-framework is clever, there’s no real grounding yet – which may frustrate readers who prefer firmer footing (characters, world-building, stakes).
• Risk of Over-Ambiguity
The “it was just a dream” safety net can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it preserves mystery. On the other: it can undercut tension or make it easier to shrug off disturbing events as “just dreams,” limiting emotional weight. Without further installments that expand consequences or contextualize the dream, that risk looms large.
What This Could Be – and What I Want Next
See Them feels more like a concept piece at this point, a late-night ghost story that is more suggestion than assertion. However, that is an opportunity rather than a criticism. Future episodes could develop into something far more powerful: terror that unnerves not just because of what is shown but also because of what is hinted at, recalled, and half-forgotten. This could happen if they build on the dream logic with stronger character voices or start tying the nightmares into actual stakes.
I’d love to see the “dream” expand: more glimpses, more distortion, more tension between memory, reality, and what lies between. If the creators commit to ambiguity + emotional grounding, See Them could become a small but memorable gem in indie horror comics.
Who Should Read This
- Horror fans who favor atmosphere, suggestion, and psychological unease over gore or action.
- Readers who don’t need immediate payoff – people comfortable with questions, not answers.
- Lovers of short-form or episodic comics: this is a taste now; potentially a feast later.
- Anyone interested in experimental or unconventional storytelling: the “dream-memory” framing gives creative license to subvert norms.
5 stars from me!