Comics
Review: ‘Spike: A Dark Place’ #5
After a delayed release, Victor Gischler and Dark Horse Comics finally deliver with the fifth, and final, installment of Spike: A Dark Place. While some fans seem hopeful that the extended hiatus will bring forth a satisfying and momentous ending to Spike’s journey, the creative team struggles to develop the full potential of the series, leaving a lot to be desired and questioned.
WRITTEN BY: Victor Gischler
ART BY: Paul Lee
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: January 23rd
After Morgan reveals that she has one of the missing shards of The Seed, which she plans to use to open the Hellmouth, issue #5 begins with Spike hot on the Courtesan demon’s heels as she leaps through the spaceship’s window and towards the monolithic statues of Easter Island. It’s hard to tell whether Paul Lee took artistic inspiration, specifically, from Rano Raraku or Ahu Akivi, but as far as World Heritage Sites go, incorporating one of such cultural and physical significance as a location for a Hellmouth is one of the best things that happen in this mini. My only fastidious qualm is that the Maori were perhaps too well preserved in print.
Morgan calls on the Maori guardians to open the Hellmouth, only for the statues to come alive and wreak havoc upon her and Spike. For a situation as grave as the one presented, I’m a little surprised by Gischler’s creative choice to portray an almost playful interaction between Spike and Morgan. But on the other hand, it appears as though we’re supposed to empathize with her plight to return back to her home dimension, and understand that desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s just really difficult discerning where the succubus stands in terms of alignment; though I’d classify Morgan under Chaotic Neutral. Her freedom comes first, while Good and Evil come second to her need to be free; and the only reliable thing about her is how utterly unreliable she is.
Regarding Sebastian, Frisky, and the rest of Spike’s loyal space bug minions, this issue sees the crew fighting to save their Master until the bitter end; but at a quasi-significant cost.
Overall, “Spike: A Dark Place” #5 is an average issue that delivers as much as the readers probably expect at this point in the game. Gischler and Lee capture the voice and likeness of Spike to an uncanny degree, but that’s not going to make me disregard the plot holes this series has to offer. By the end of the mini, I’m left wondering why the shard from The Seed is never mentioned after Morgan uses it; I’m curious as to the significance of the superfluous Pearl and Nash cameo in issue #3 that ultimately lead to nothing; and I’m also questioning the rationalization concerning Spike’s trip to the freakin’ Moon.
Fortunately, there’s some slightly meaningful character development regarding Spike’s wanderer spirit and sense of home/belonging, and the series closes with an interesting cameo from a fan-favourite character that sets up Spike’s next adventure in London, England. Goodbye bugs, hello “Angel & Faith”.
3/5 Skulls
Reviewed by – ShadowJayd
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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