Comics
Review: Hack/Slash Issue #28
As a long time reader of the Hack/Slash series, it still astounds me how time and time again I find myself marveling at just how far Devil’s Dues little title has come since its inception in 2004. Since then Cassie Hack, and her cleaver wielding sidekick Vlad, have gone toe to toe with just about every baddy you can think of. From Chucky to Re-Animator, the duo sure does know how to keep busy. But in HACK/SLASH #28 Cassie and Vlad just might have found themselves in their oddest predicament yet: the world of Archie Comics!
(SPOILERS AHEAD)
From the second you flip over the cover this month you are met with Dan Parent’s signature style of artwork as we find ourselves instantly inside the world of Taber, who looks to be doing his best Quagmire impersonation peeping on Trish and Angela as they help each other get ready for a late night of skinny-dipping. Our buddy Taber soon realizes he is in over his head though when the girls take off their clothes, and instead of lifting a queue from a Friday the 13th film, decide to go more for something straight out of The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Taber escapes and in a desperate cry for help calls into ‘Late Knight’ screaming about ‘gills for boobs’ and other normal everyday occurrences. Cassie and Vlad, who happen to be listening during the call, decide to go back to the town of Haverhill and check out the sushi problem.
Parent who has been the longtime illustrator of Archie as well as Felix the Cat and Disney Adventures, does a more than commendable job with the much more mature themes of Hack/Slash, not shying away from the blood and guts or the patented cleavage in every other panel. Leister and Parent trade off at several points during the issue (in fact there are two different covers for the issue, one by each respective artist) to differentiate the worlds of Taber’s wholesome brightly colored crayon box of a small town, and the dark gritty realism of Cassie and Vlad. Most of the issue takes place in Haverhill however, and all the usual suspects are here. Kind of.
I won’t spoil the rest just because the reveal of the perpetrator making everything go Little Mermaid in Haverhill was enough to make me drop the book and laugh for a good minute. In fact, even as ridiculous as Seeley’s dialogue has been in the past he seems to be well within his element here. At one point a character has his eyeball ripped out by another characters Alien-esque tongue right after making a very appreciated SpongeBob reference.
Everyone is in top form here. It really must serve as a testament to just how far the Hack/Slash product has come as a title in order to be able to reach across such genre lines. It’s one thing to crossover other horror vets into your story, but it’s another thing entirely to invade a world as obscure to the title as Archie. And it is for these reasons that Hack/Slash continues to be nothing but sheer, undiluted, pandering entertainment to its readers.
Comics
‘You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive’ – IDW Dark’s Next Horror Comic Will Make You Question Reality
Five friends. Four houses. One perfect life. Bloody Disgusting is excited to exclusively announce You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive, a brand new horror comic from IDW Dark.
From Eisner-Nominated writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, and rising horror artist Heather Vaughan, You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is described as a “paranoia-laced, socially-conscious, horror mystery that will leave you questioning reality, and reveal that this crafted world is more of a nightmare than the idealistic dream they were expecting.”
Phoebe Joplin has never questioned the world her parents built: a secluded community where she and her friends were raised to be smarter, stronger, and better than anyone else. No distractions. No dangers. No secrets. Until the night of their graduation.
When one of them dies under impossible circumstances, Phee starts to pull at the edges of her perfect life—and what she finds is something far more terrifying than she ever imagined.
Because this place isn’t a sanctuary. It’s a cage. And no one who discovers the truth ever leaves it alive.
Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing (Batman – One Bad Day: Clayface, Star Trek: The Last Starship) co-write the upcoming IDW Dark horror comic, featuring art by Heather Vaughan.
Jackson Lanzing said in a statement to Bloody Disgusting, “You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive is in many ways a spiritual successor to our last creator-owned horror, The Principles of Necromancy – a dive into the promise and consequence of playing god with the blood of innocents. But the Hivemind book this reminds me of most is Clayface: One Bad Day. This is a deeply human story with intensely raw emotions – five best friends and their five mysterious parents, tearing one another apart for the promise of some impossible glory that’s waiting just beyond their darkest actions. We’re thrilled to be bringing this story to life with our long-time partner in crime, editor Heather Antos, at IDW Dark – and we’re particularly excited to give our Clayface fans a new, brutal and emotional horror made just for them.”
Adds Collin Kelly, “We’re deconstructing a feeling that seems universal these days; our elders have a death grip on their power, without any intention of giving it up to the generations that come next. YNLTPA is about growing up with the limitless potential of the future… and realizing how much it’s a lie we’ve been fed to keep us under the yoke of the past. Bringing this brutal experience to life is our artist and co-creator, Heather Vaughan, who brings an incredible amount of humanity to our cast. But it’s in our youthful leads that Heather’s art really shines – you are going to fall in love with these young people, even as they go through the worst experience of their lives. What we’ve all crafted together is going to be tragic, painful, but above all else, sincere – with a future so uncertain, there’s only one thing we can trust: you’ll never leave this place alive.”
“Some horror stories are about monsters in the dark. YNLTPA is about realizing the monsters raised you,” previews Senior Group Editor Heather Antos. “Working with Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly on this series has been a dream in the darkest possible way. They’ve built a story that’s layered, brutal, and deeply emotional, and every issue gives artist Heather Vaughan opportunities to push the art into places that feel both haunting and deeply personal. Some horror comics will keep you up at night…this is one that will stick with you for years to come.”
The first issue of You’ll Never Leave This Place Alive goes on sale October 14, 2026! Make sure to pre-order at your local comic shop by September to guarantee a copy.
Exclusively check out the various covers for Issue #1 down below.
IDW Publishing’s horror imprint IDW DARK features comics like A Quiet Place: Storm Warning, Smile: For the Camera, The Exorcism at 1600 Penn, Beneath The Trees Where Nobody Sees, The Twilight Zone, Event Horizon: Dark Descent & Event Horizon: Inferno, and more.
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