Comics
Review: “Wild Rover and The Sacrifice” One Shot
Michael Avon Oeming’s Wild Rover strings together a wild monologue about a man trying to battler his inner alcoholism. What results is a fun take on overcoming addiction in a mystical and original way. While “The Sacrifice” is light on story, it is visually delightful.
WRITTEN BY: Michael Avon Oeming
ART BY: Michael Avon Oeming & Victor Santos
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: March 20th, 2013
“Wild Rover” seems to be the reason this one shot exists. “Wild Rover” follows a long-winded monologue that wears thin on my nerves almost immediately. It may be hatred for the voice over driven story, or the lack of new information the voice over delivered outside of the art.
Yet, as the monologue continues (and trust me, it’s a monologue, the thing has maybe 5 pieces of dialogue throughout) I understand Oeming’s nameless character at a deeper level. He is desperate, lost, and consumed with a demon. The presence of the demon, he blames solely on his mother. While this plays out differently as the story continues, it was the nature of his demon that compelled me to continue reading.
His demon is something that plagues many writers, or even many young people. Without revealing the climax of the story, the resolution left me wanting more. “Wild Rover” became wildly original, and extremely interesting in a matter of a page.
Oeming does the art for “Wild Rover” and it’s wonderfully dark. The forced perspectives are warped, and wonderfully demented. The creature designs are lanky, jagged, and scary. What results is this dark fairytale that may or may not exist entirely in the main character’s head. His art really suits the story, so much so, that I feel it says almost everything it needs to in the beginning with the art alone.
For the second story “The Sacrifice” Oeming resumes writing duties, and Victor Santos comes in on the art duties. “The Sacrifice” is quick, but incredibly beautiful. The art creates a wonderful backdrop of a medieval world, capitalized by beautiful character design, and a tree with thousands of swords protruding from it. At times Santos’ art reminded by of Akira Toriyama’s original art of Chrono Trigger. Which is to say it is incredible. The story is simple, but visually overwhelming. I was actually kind of sad when the second story ended so abruptly, I wanted to see more of the Elves, and understand the motivation for the twist at the end.
Oeming’s one shot is a mixed bag. It begins with a fizzle and slowly mounts to something more interesting. The art in both stories is the draw here. Given a better focus, “Wild Rover” could be something, but as it stands its nothing to write home about.
2/5 Skulls
Reviewed by – Jimbus_Christ
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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