Comics
Review: ‘The Strain’ #10
The pages of The Strain #10 are alive with pulse-pounding suspense and hard-hitting action sequences. As the plot comes to a near-close, tons of twists and turns are laid out at breakneck speed. Highly entertaining, “The Strain” is an incredibly fun read.
WRITTEN BY: David Lapham
ART BY: Mike Huddleston
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: January 9, 2013
I love how David Lapham spread out the subplots evenly throughout the issues, giving each thread its own spotlight. Ephraim and Matt have always been in competition, even though they never share a scene together. In their own separate scenarios, they are both vying for the role of Zack’s father, as well as competing for Kelly’s affections. This issue has the biggest payoff of the family drama. Readers finally get to see Ephraim and Matt confront each other, as they both let out their hatred.
Lapham does a great job here adapting some of the toughest elements of Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s novel. In the novel, there is so much description about how The Master has the ability to invade his victim’s mind. Impressively, Lapham is able to show just how deadly the Master is in just a single panel. The Master’s appearance is also straight from the text, a combination of Nosferatu’s Count Orlock and Barlow from the Salem’s Lot TV miniseries.
The novel makes great use of its New York locations, much like the way the Law & Order series does. Mike Huddleston’s artwork avoids the traditional New York landmarks, such as the Empire State Building; and focuses on urban neighborhoods – Morningside Heights and Woodside – to showcase the apocalyptic atmosphere. By using shadows and wide angles, Huddleston captures such stunning and cinematic visuals of a city falling apart.
A major highlight of Huddleston’s illustrations is how he depicts the apocalypse in New York. With the lights out, the rooftops of buildings are burning as Gus slowly walks across his chaos-ridden block. Like muggers, vampires attack innocent civilians in the middle of the streets. Ordinary citizens are even rioting during the vampire siege. Huddleston adds to the hysteria as an arrow suddenly hits a vampire and his head explodes.
“The Strain” #10 delivers the bloody goods in an epic scale. Even if you know the novel by heart, you’re still going to be shocked by this visual interpretation. Readers are just one issue away from the gripping conclusion.
4.5/5 Skulls
Reviewed by – Jorge Solis
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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