Comics
Zomblog – Building The Right Team
The shambling corpse of an undead zombie stranger proves to be an easy kill. We can eliminate it with extreme prejudice without so much as an afterthought. But what drives us to kill another, when we’ll get much further ahead by working together.
Fighting the undead horde takes a group of people united around a common goal. Most often this goal is survival, but it doesn’t have to be. Despite this goal, a common truth remains: one cannot survive in isolation. Comics live by these very same tenants. If they are to survive they need a team driven by a common goal.
Assembling the right team takes time and trust. It requires a concrete plan and people who are committed to the long-term end goal. Luckily, Double Take’s Ultimate Night of the Living Dead universe isn’t populated by a bunch of brainless walkers, but rather, a multitude of incredibly driven people.
However, it takes time to amass the right team. My book “Race” takes place during the titular night of the living dead. Zombies are everywhere but they’re far from the biggest lurking in the night. I wish I could tell you more, but all will be revealed in due time.
Much like any band of survivors a comic needs a good leader. That leader on “Race” happens to be the awesomely cool Robert Meyers. (Word is he makes a mean salsa) He was previously the Operations Coordinator at Valiant Entertainment, and now he serves as a source of wisdom and guidance as we navigate this brand new world of zombies. He’s been part of every step of the process and luckily had the patience to teach me “how to survive.”
Those of you who watch The Walking Dead will remember Rick’s three questions for new additions to the group. How many walkers have you killed? How many people have you killed? And Why? Well, to survive we need to follow a similar set of guidelines, under the fearless editor.
As the leader Robert’s been auditioning new members of our team. See, only one artist can bring “Race” to life in the right way. Many have read the script, a handful have drawn some sample scenes but at the end of the day the book can only have one artist. Double Take works with a unique auditioning process for their titles. It’s a competition of sorts, but moreover it’s treated like a job interview. The best person gets the job.
Young Heller’s early layout’s for “Race” #1.
We blocked out a specific scene from the beginning of the book and shared that with artists who were interested. We gave the brief:
Stop-action, sets of 3 camera stays low to the ground, moves closer until it is a few feet back and to the right of her heels
And we got a lot of results. Each artist’s take was rather different in style from the last. The right ideals came from Double Take artist Young Heller. Not only did he capture the tone we were looking for on the series, but he managed to fit into the world and perfectly capture the tone of desperation in our opening scene.
More of Young Heller’s early layout’s for “Race” #1.
Once we asked the right questions we had found our artist. But once you have the right team, you need to start facing the real challenges of working together. That’s for Monday…
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This Zomblog will run every Monday and Friday until I run out of things to say about zombies.
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 their Kickstarter Just got FUNDED.
AND – We’ve got the full issue preview of Z-Men #1 – HERE.
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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