Comics
Zomblog: What Do Zombies Mean To You?
Zombies are now one of pop culture’s biggest all-consuming fads. As the lumbering husks of our friends and families it’s hard to see why the affinity has stood the test of time. Twice weekly this Zomblog will aim to discuss Zombies at large and what they mean to me, and hopefully what they mean to you.
This Zomblog was born out of collaboration. I’ve just joined the ranks of Double Take’s comic writing team. For the unfamiliar, Double Take is a brand new comic publisher out of New York city that us launching a fully shared universe centered around George A Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead. (They’ve got a Kickstater too.)
I’ll be writing my own story set in the late hours of that first night, and while I can’t tell you much about it just yet – this blog should serve as a process piece for comic writing just as much as a discussion forum about Zombies.
They may now be a cultural phenomenon, but back in 1966 Zombies were this horrible reflection of our societies’ greatest fears. I’d argue that this reflection is something missing from current work in the genre (Cough, The Walking Dead, cough) but I think it boils down to what zombies actually mean to you, the viewer, reader, or participant in the story.
What do zombies mean to you? Isn’t a question that people ask often but it’s one that every horror lover has an answer to. For myself, zombies represent this horrible reflection of what it means to work together as a collective. When joining the horde the undead are given one purpose – to survive. The remnants of humanity are faced with the same stakes and ultimately fail to achieve anything other than self-destruction. This is something of a loose theory I cobbled together from my repeated viewings of Day of the Dead.
Day is bar none my favorite zombie movie for a variety of reasons. I first watched it when I was super young – I’d say eight years old. My older brother forced me to watch the scene where Rhode’s is ripped apart at the throat until I threw up. It stayed with me, plus the younger Zac believed Mr. Bean to be one of the stars.
But – I digress. The reason I love Day of the Dead more than any other is because it represents best why humanity is always doomed. We’re a selfish breed. Even in the most dire circumstances we’re unwilling to cooperate. This can be for a variety of reasons, be they ideological, philosophical, or practical but they all boil down to self-preservation.
Within the bunker setting of Day we’re treated to a group of survivors who couldn’t be more different. But, hell they’re making efforts to understand the outbreak, they’re well equipped, and well protected. But thanks to an inability to reconcile over a single cause – everything falls to shit, as it does.
Zombies prevail not because they have superior intellect, or better means to survive but because they work together for a single goal. They retain familiar elements of their personalities but they push through to eradicate everything in existence that isn’t like them.
Zombies show me what we could achieve if we united with a single purpose. Obviously we all need to go out tomorrow and become cannibals. So if you’re friend says he doesn’t like The Battery and you think it’s the best Zombie movie ever made (It’s incredible…) then eat him – for the greater good.
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This Zomblog will run every Monday and Friday until I run out of things to say about zombies. Next time – we tackle social commentary and the power of the media in Zombie movies.
Until then check out Double Take’s blog – Double Take Universe to keep up to date on the incredible comics that will be coming your way in September. And head over to their Kickstarter to secure yourself the full ten launch issues.
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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