Comics
Review: ‘The Goon’ #42
The Goon #42 crackles with sheer joy over its witty sense of humor and pulpy storytelling. Weird, crazy, and entertaining – these are all the perfect words to describe Eric Powell’s unforgettable creation. The laugh-out-loud humor has always been what sets Eric Powell’s “The Goon” apart from other paranormal mystery books, and this issue showcases his ability to mesh genres.
WRITTEN BY: Eric Powell
ART BY: Eric Powell, Mark Buckingham
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $3. 50
RELEASE: September 26th, 2012
The issue begins after a crowd has placed their bets on the boxing match between Tommy “The Tank” and “Charming” Chuck Williams. The Goon puts his money on this match, hoping to make a few extra bucks off his good pal, Chuck, who will become the sure-fire winner. But, the Goon quickly learns that his friend is in quite a lot of trouble. Powell works around the clichés of boxing movies, such as Rocky, Raging Bull, and Price of Glory. It’s become a trope in boxing movies to include the underdog, and the fix. Powell addresses these clichés in the opening pages, puts a spin on them, and uses some element of the supernatural, such as black magic, to keep the story fresh.
Powell always finds a way to inject zany humor into bizarre situations. The horror is played off for laughs and kept in an animated tone. When the Goon wakes up in his bed, he suddenly discovers a walking and talking corpse with sticks of dynamite lodged into its chest. You can’t help but laugh when the Goon finds himself in a fight. In order to decapitate a giant spider, the Goon squashes its head with his bare hands.
The issue also works to plant the seeds for something bigger, the start of a major story arc. Powell cleverly places each important clue of the large scale mystery throughout the issue. The Goon does not realize that Chuck is being used and set up to take the fall. A much deadlier and smarter adversary is putting his friends in life-threatening danger. The cliffhanger sets up another piece of the puzzle, where an unlikely, and uneasy, alliance will take place.
The visual gags add immensely to Powell’s particular brand of humor. As the Goon walks around searching for clothes, he stumbles upon the recent Doctor Who suit and bowtie. The Goon takes one good look at it and shakes his head. It is incredible how Powell can express emotional queues without showing any eyes. The upper half of Goon’s face is always kept in shadows because of his classic cap.
As an extra bonus, there is a back-up story by Powell, which features artwork by Mark Buckingham. In the close-ups, Buckingham adds a little extra detail of scars to the Goon’s face. The battle between the robot monster and the mud monster is a hilarious homage to 1950s B-movies.
“The Goon” #42 is an amusing tale that mixes dark humor, witchcraft, and tons of action. Issue #42 has everything you would expect from Eric Powell.
Rating: 4/5 Skulls
Reviewed by JorgeSolis
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.
You must be logged in to post a comment.