Comics
BD Pick Of The Week: ‘Whatever Happened To Baron Von Shock?!’ Issue #1 PLUS A Whopping 9 Page First Look!
This week shock rocker, film director, and comic book scribe Rob Zombie (“THE NAIL”, “THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO”) returns to the industry with his newest title “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BARON VON SHOCK?!” from Image Comics. Like him or not, the scribe has become a fixture of the horror community, and many are looking forward to the title’s May 26th release date. So, for those of you who just can’t wait any longer, if you make the jump you can read the 9 page preview of the first issue that goes on-sale this Wednesday. Oh, and that whole “why you should care” thing is thrown in there, too.
WRITTEN BY: Rob Zombie
ILLUSTRATIONS AND COVERS BY: Donny Hadiwidjaja and Val Staples
“Rob Zombie returns with a dark dramady outlining the fantastic rise and spiraling decent of celebrity. Being in the right place at the right time isn’t always a good thing, as Baron Von Shock finds out first hand. His sudden rise to fame as a television horror host meets with unexpected results. Baron Von Shock delivers a roller coaster ride of emotion that only Rob Zombie can deliver.”
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
The last time we saw Rob Zombie do a comic book was with the horror comedy, ‘THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO’. Before than the rock front man turned director, turned comic book scribe had worked on several other titles including ‘BIGFOOT’ and ‘THE NAIL. (The ladder being possibly his best attempt at the genre.) With his music, Zombie is unarguably a legend, both as a solo artist and with his original band White Zombie. As a director he is an acquired taste, causing conflict and heated debate amongst genre fans all over the world. And as a comic book writer, well, the jury is still put on that one. With such a small sampling of work, and a hit or miss library, it is hard to pass judgment. But with his newest offering “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BARON VON SHOCK?!” the scribe is daring to buck the trend of over the top gore, violence, and depravity, and tell a more human story.
Thus far from what we have heard and seen of the new title it looks to be much lighter on the blood and guts, and more heavy on the character study. Character stories have been something Zombie has always flirted with, and he came the closest with his re-imagining of John Carpenter’s classic “HALLOWEEN” when he decided to give the iconic slasher his own back-story. For whatever you may think of that particular subject, it is blatantly obvious that the writer has a knack for writing very interesting characters with plenty of layers to sift through. But whether or not “Baron Von Shock” becomes his next Capt. Spaulding will depend upon whether or not the author can work his magic on the page as he did on film, by delivering to his fans a new set of horror icons.
Artistically “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BARON VON SHOCK?!” isn’t anything too fancy. Donny Hadiwidjaja does a good job of offering readers a more ‘bare minimum’ style of art than we are used to in Zombie’s other, more stylized, stories. From this it is again fairly obvious that we are being lead to focus more on the what the characters are saying, thinking, and feeling, more than we are supposed to be waiting for the next throat to be slashed.
All in all “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BARON VON SHOCK?!” is an interesting experiment for Rob Zombie, and a very interesting departure for the scribe. He has openly stated that he wishes to spread out into different genres while utilizing different aesthetics to tell his tales of the macabre. Let’s all just hope that this one doesn’t disappoint us.
“WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BARON VON SHOCK” Issue #1 Drops This Wednesday From Image Comics! (MSRP-$3.99)
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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