Comics
Review: Richard Corben’s ‘The Conqueror Worm’
The weird and supernatural is pulled off with gritty style in Richard Corben’s adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Conqueror Worm. On a visual level, this adaptation of Poe’s work is a highly imaginative interpretation about the inevitability of death. With just one look Corben’s artwork, these haunting images of worms and death will definitely get under your skin.
WRITTEN BY: Richard Corben
ART BY: Richard Corben
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: November 21st, 2012
Under the sweltering heat of the sun, Colonel Mann rides across the never-ending desert on his horse. Compelled with the need for revenge, Mann continues on his journey, never stopping to eat and rest. Mann feels the thrill of satisfaction when he cold-heartedly murders his cheating wife and his rebellious cousin. With no one around to witness the crime, Mann thinks he’s getting away unpunished and blameless. But, fate has something special stored for Mann.
This is a unique adaptation of Poe’s famous poem, “The Conqueror Worm.” If you have read the poem, you understand that this piece is difficult to adapt. If you haven’t read it, do it now. There is very little story, just atmosphere and mood. What I really lik is how Corben works with Poe’s themes to offer a morality tale, which is similar to his previous work in the “Eerie” and “Creepy” anthologies. Corben plays around with some of Poe’s lines, bringing to life the theater, the play, and the puppets.
What I particularly enjoyed is how Corben brings in a Shakespearean twist to the climax. Just like in Hamlet’s “The Mousetrap,” the hand puppets reveal to the audience what really happened to Mann’s missing wife and cousin. Through gestures and props, the hand puppets re-enact the murder in front of the killer. To create suspense, Corben does a great job switching back and forth between the puppet show and the audience’s reactions.
What makes Corben’s hand puppets particularly creepy is the simplicity behind their design. These sock puppets don’t have detailed physical features, just three buttons for one facial expression. The designs are crude and minimal, making the puppeteer all the more mysterious. During the play, the puppetry is animated with grand hand waves and over-the-top black humor.
Saving the best for last, Corben kicks up the shock value during the final act of the puppet show. Corben visualizes the Conqueror Worm as parasitic invaders spewing out of a woman’s stomach like intestines. Take notice of the patch on Mann’s face because you might not notice this small detail the first time.
With a strong sense of tragic irony and an exaggerated flair for the dramatic, Richard Corben delivers a truly terrifying interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Conqueror Worm.” By staying true to the source material, Corben brings a sense off surrealism to Poe’s work. Admirers of Poe cannot deny how Corben’s artistic style provides a memorable picture of the literary genius like no other.
4/5 skulls
Reviewed by Jorge Solis
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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