Comics
Review: ‘The Strain: The Fall’ #1
In its highly anticipated return, “The Strain: The Fall” #1 strikes back with even more vampires and biting action. This is a dark apocalyptic vision of New York being overrun by hungry bloodsuckers. If you loved the best-selling trilogy of novels by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan, you’re damn well going to love the comic book adaptation.
WRITTEN BY: David Lapham
ART BY: Mike Huddleston
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $19.99
RELEASE: July 17, 2012
In order for their survival, vampires have been living off the humans for many centuries. Humanity knows that these creatures of the night exist, but as always, we choose to keep them a secret locked away. Hidden from the rest of the world, there is a book made of silver, which can foretell their inevitable destruction. Now that the Master has conquered New York, he plans to take over the world next. If the sun does not rise, there is no stopping the next wave of vampire attacks. How will a small band of heroes prevent The Master from covering the planet in complete darkness?
Writer David Lapham moves away from the police procedural aspects of the first novel, and narrates a different kind of story. Darker in tone and more violent, this is a group ensemble/adventure tale. The team that Ephraim worked so hard to put together is now slowly drifting apart. After failing to stick to his sobriety, Ephraim has hit his downfall and succumbed to his alcoholic thirst. Will Ephraim rise to the call and be a hero for his son? Or, will he remain thirsty for alcohol, just like the vampires are thirsty for blood?
I was wondering how Lapham would adapt the Concerned Citizens brigade into the story. The Concerned Citizens are a neighborhood watch-type team, armed with heavy artillery. They are protecting their broken-down neighborhood from riots and looting. This resistance group thinks they are dealing criminals and junkies, not bloodsuckers. Though they are in a just a few pages, readers get everything they need to know.
In his artwork, Mike Huddleston depicts our protagonist in shadows, as if he lost all hope. In his poses, Ephraim doesn’t stand tall and strong as he did before. Looking way hung-over, Ephraim doesn’t have the energy to actually keep fighting the good fight. In his illustrations, Huddleston captures the struggling battle between sobriety and relapse in Ephraim’s facial expressions. It’s a serious and realistic depiction of an alcoholic losing self-control.
Huddleston takes away the sexiness and romanticism out of his portrayal of vampires. When Zack confronts his mother-turned-vampire, she is unappealingly naked and sickly thin like an anorexic. She doesn’t see Zack as her son; she sees him as food. Aimed at shock value, Huddleston takes a very creepy turn when he depicts naked vampires.
“The Strain: The Fall” #1 sets up a high octane adventure filled with action and suspense. Even if you haven’t read the novel, newcomers will not be at a loss in the narrative. It’s very easy for new readers to jump on in.
4/5 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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