Comics
David Dastmalchian Previews His ‘Venom: Black, White & Blood’ Comic [Exclusive]
With great power there must also come symbiote stories unlike any other!
Actor David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil, Dune) returns to the world of Marvel Comics in Venom: Black, White & Blood #3, on sale October 29.
Dastmalchian collaborated with artist Philip Tan to reveal the earliest exploits of Venom as he stalked Spider-Man through New York subways and rooftops, immune to Peter Parker’s Spider-Sense.
“I was speaking with Mark [Basso, editor] about some of the ways I’d like to explore classic Marvel characters and stories through a more contemporary lens that’s impacted by recent cultural and social changes,” Dastmalchian tells Bloody Disgusting.
“All of the time I’ve spent thinking about mental health has filled me with so many questions about nature versus nurture, biochemical tendencies and body history. Both Eddie and Peter are excellent characters to follow while exploring those ideas.”
The story is rooted in Marvel history, taking place before Venom’s debut appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #299, but Dastmalchian also had a major cinematic influence.
“I drew massive inspiration from David Fincher’s film Se7en, and I hope you can feel that pulpy, gritty, horrifying sense of compulsion and obsession throughout the story,” he says.
No stranger to the world of superheroes, Dastmalchian has played powerful characters. Could any of them take down Venom?
“I think that Abner Krill, AKA Polka Dot Man [from The Suicide Squad], could probably incinerate Venom with just a few dots,” Dastmalchian asserts.
He adds, “I also think Gurathin from “Murderbot” could outsmart Venom. If he runs into any trouble, Gurathin could just call on SecUnit to lend a hand. Being a construct, SecUnit is probably impervious to Venom.”
Venom: Black, White & Blood #3 marks Dastmalchian’s second time writing for Marvel, following a story he wrote earlier this year in Web of Venomverse: Fresh Brains.
The issue also includes stories from Carl Potts & Damian Couceiro, showing what would happen if a Peter Parker prone to violent solutions for his enemies became Venom, and Takashi Okazaki, who imagines a never-before-seen Venom going up against Carnage in ancient Japan.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman designed the main cover, while Okazaki created a samurai-inspired variant.
Take an exclusive look two of Tan’s pages from Dastmalchian’s story below.
Cover by Kevin Eastman
Cover by Takashi Okazaki
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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