Comics
Two New Horror-Themed Comics You Should Check Out: “Man-Eaters” and “Die”
It’s a great time to be a fan of horror comics. The mainstream publishers like Marvel and DC are dipping their toes into creepy tales and there are a ton of diverse and great creator owned horror titles from publishers like Image Comics. In my previous articles I’ve told you about some of those books and how to get caught up on them. Today we’re going to talk about two brand new and very cool sounding horror titles that you can get in on the ground floor of: Man-Eaters by writer Chelsea Cain and artist Kate Niemczyk, and Die by writer Kieron Gillen and artist Stephanie Hans.
The elevator pitch for Man-Eaters is essentially “Cat-People meets the Handmaid’s Tale.”
It’s set in a world where a mutation in Toxoplasmosis causes menstruating women to transform into ferocious killer wildcats. The Reader’s entry point into this world is a 12-year-old girl who the fate of the world just might rest on. So Man-Eaters is a horror story, but it’s also a social satire from a feminist perspective about a girl who thinks she might be a monster. In interviews about the series, Cain has hinted that it’s also about cats, serial killers, middle school, daughters, dads, divorce and transformation.
That’s a potent and packed combination, but I’m confident a creative team like Cain and Niemczyk can deliver. I first became a fan of the duo because of their work on the sadly short-lived Marvel Comics series Mockingbird. On that book, they gave readers a variety of beautifully drawn, thought-provoking, immersive, and often very funny stories. So Cain is an expert when it comes to social satire, and anyone who’s read her prose work knows she has fantastic horror chops as well. She’s the author of a series of six prose novels featuring a prolific and cunning serial killer named Gretchen Lowell. I’ve read two of them so far and both were excellent blends of crime fiction and truly chilling psychological horror.
The first issue of Man-Eaters is available now at your local comic book store and digitally via services like Comixology.com. If you like what you read, let your comic store know you’d like them to pre-order future issues of the series for you.
Horror fans are a diverse lot, but they often share common interests in things like tabletop roleplaying games and heavy metal music. I’m into all of those things. So I was super excited to learn about Die a series that features a character who’s into Metal and is about something mysterious and horrific that happened to him and his friends while they were playing a tabletop RPG. Gillen has described the series as a horror version of Jumanji.
The premise of Die is that in 1991 six teenagers sat down to play a roleplaying game and vanished.
They were found two years later in a forest 50 miles away and were unable to talk about what happened to them. The series follows those kids, now adults, in the year 2018 as they discover whatever happened to them is far from finished.
So, Die is a series that promises horror, mystery, fantasy, and the illustrations suggest a great sense of creeping dread. Those drawings are by Hans who’s collaborated with Gillen on a number of fantasy-oriented projects for Marvel Comics, but this is their first ongoing series together. Their work has always been fun and atmospheric and the teaser for Die suggests a carefully crafted and wonderfully creepy mood and tone.
Gillen has demonstrated a knack for writing a variety of genres, especially horror. I encourage curious horror fans unfamiliar with his work to check out his and artist Jamie McKelvie’s creator-owned series The Wicked & Divine from Image comics which follows the fantastic and often horrific exploits of people who have been transformed into both pop icons and literal gods, but are fated to die two years after their transformation. Also of interest might be Star Wars: The Screaming Citadel where Gillen, his co-writer Jason Aaron, and their collaborators told a classic Hammer Horror style tale with characters from the original Star Wars trilogy.
The first issue of Die is available in December. If you’re interested in a physical copy please let your local comic book store know that you’d like them to pre-order Die #1 for you.
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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