Comics
Review: ‘Storm Dogs’ #2
“Murder is no challenge anymore, except on a planet like Amaranth.”
Science fiction, murder mystery, an R-rated atmosphere, and crime scene investigation combines into Storm Dogs #2. This next chapter gets more attention-grabbing as we explore the new world of Amaranth and how everything is slightly off kilter. The murder is only one mystery our team of investigators is exposed to as things heat up in David Hine’s “Storm Dogs”.
WRITTEN BY: David Hine
ART BY: Doug Braithwaite
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $3.50
RELEASE: December 5th, 2012
Dr. Jered Hofman, our forensic pathologist, is the character in focus for this issue. Through his perspective, readers are given great insight into who he is and how this future world operates. Jered prefers using older methods and less technology than normally used to solve murders. Amaranth is a low-technology planet so Dr. Hofman has to…dig in to figure out how the victims died.
You can see and feel Dr. Hofman’s passion come through David Hine’s script and Doug Braithwaite’s gritty art. Now that we are two issues into the series, I understand and appreciate the desolate and muted colors Ulises Arredla used to convey that this is not an alien paradise, but a planet being used up and corrupted by humanity.
Dream Bugs, mystery crystals, a visit to The Snake Pit, and wireheads are all new layers to the story introduced in this episode. It all adds up to terrific world-building. Like any mining town from a western, the locals are not the most virtuous so everyone is a suspect in the murders. Amaranth is a tough planet so even the local law can’t get hung up on every detail of the law. This is something our investigation team will have to adjust to, or, I’m hoping, will confront down the road.
Who is Doll? Who was Doll? Why are indigenous aliens being tortured? More questions I look forward to finding answers to.
3.5 / 5 Skulls
Reviewed by: Your Friendly Neighborhood Brady
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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