Comics
5 Skull Review: ‘Saga’ #4
Every issue of Saga has been great, but issue #4 is the best yet in terms of character development. The cover of this issue features The Will, and fittingly much of the issue is devoted to developing his character, along with Alana and Marko. If you haven’t been reading “Saga”, you should be, but you should also know that The Will is the most badass character in the book. Firstly his name consists of a capitalized “The”, and secondly it was revealed in issue #3 that he totally got it on with that severely gnar female bounty hunter. What happens in issue #4 cements his badassery, as well as makes the five finger palm of death from Kill Bill look like child’s play.
WRITTEN BY: Brian K. Vaughan
ART BY: Fiona Staples
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
RELEASE: June 20th
We learned in issue 2 that The Will decided to go to the “love” planet Sextillion and rock out with his unlimited credit card out. Well in issue #4, he finally gets there. Fiona Staples really delivers big time in this issue, and whether the denizens of Sextillion are purely of her imagination or what, they are definitely something twisted! The Will unfortunately has to leave his extremely badass companion, the Lying Cat, in his spaceship before entering Sextillion. This highlights an important message given to us by the narrator, that the most important partnerships in life take work. This is especially pertinent considering the revelation by Marko in the 3rd issue that he had previously been engaged before meeting Alana.
As The Will travels through Sextillion he is confronted by the usual sort of things one would expect to see on a sex planet: angels engaging in lesbian orgies, Dinosaurs with purple members(thank you for ruining many childhood memories Ms. Staples and Mr. Vaughan…), corpulent women eating while copulating, you know, it’s all very casual. Shockingly none of this is tickling The Will’s fancy, but luckily for him, The Will finds a guide who will lead him “deeper” into Sextillion. Let’s find out what horrors turn a man like The Will on, shall we? No spoiler alert here, you need to pick up the comic to find out what The Will is confronted with in the bowels of Sextillion, the aftermath of which is true horror-show. The Will literally explodes something’s head in between his hands. Of course the narrator wraps up this little scene by very enigmatically saying, “The Will wasn’t the first freelancer to come after my parents, and he wasn’t the last. Like every freelancer I had the misfortune to meet, he was a fucking MONSTER. But as my family was about to learn, some monsters are worse than others…”(p.21).
Vaughan’s writing is such a clutch part of making this comic series enjoyable, but pairing it with Staple’s artwork makes it unf*cking believable! There are grotesquely hilarious scenes like the one in which Izabel (the ghost with dripping intestines instead of legs) is making baby faces at Hazel. And then there are the questions that this issue left spinning in my head. Will The Will’s decision to enter Sextillion without Lying Cat affect him later in the series? What kind of monster is The Will exactly? And of course what happens when Marko really gives up his pacifism and lets ‘er rip on that spaceship? Questions like these drive me to pick up the next issue, and with the character development I’m invested in finding out what happens to everyone. “Saga” is truly a great read and ocular pleasure. I can’t wait for the next issue!
5/5 skulls
Reviewed by – TheSandMan
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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