Comics
Advance Review: ‘Ballistic’ # 2
Adam Egypt Mortimer and Darick Robertson’s ‘Ballistic’ continues this month with a story centered around separating our hero and his sidekick as they reel from the events of last issue. ‘Ballistic’ continues to be a modern marvel in the comics world, giving a truly original premise and characters, with an uncompromisingly dark look at a bleak future.
WRITTEN BY: Adam Egypt Mortimer
ART BY: Darick Robertson
PUBLISHER: Black Mask Studios
PRICE: $3.50
RELEASE: Sept 11, 2013
Adam Egypt Mortimer takes some time at the beginning of this issue to establish just how his fucked up version of the future came to be. It’s excellent stuff dripping with criticism for the current state of affairs, and offering a silver lining in a biotechnological future. Yet, we’re quickly reminded that said future is lined with just as much scum and villainy as before.
Butch and Bang Bang are seriously screwed after the botched bank job. Bang Bang is seriously out of it and needs a fix. Butch obliges and takes the gun to a shop in which he feeds off the tit of some transvestite. The two make up and shit hits the fan all over again. Butch is pulled into a deeper scheme and convinced that Bang Bang holds something much more important within him than we originally thought.
Mortimer shows us just how codependent Butch and Bang Bang are by separating them for the bulk of this issue. As Butch is pulled further into the criminal underworld of Repo City State, his main concern is his gun. He is surrounded by danger, and even has a being on his arm that threatens to sever his hand, but he just wants his gun. The buddy cop dynamic is further solidified.
Repo City State is truly the product of a lot of research. ‘Ballistic’ never fails to surprise or impress. The sheer level of creativity behind this twisted world is staggering. Every device is inherently unique, and Mortimer uses every page to further build this dark and disgusting future. The drug and criminal underworld should be the most interesting concept at hand, but then Mortimer has Butch shoot a flaming enzyme from his veins and it all goes out the window.
‘Ballistic’ exists in a league of its own. The world is unlike anything put to paper before it. Darick Robertson’s art brings this fucked up future to life in a way only he can. Another BigDick breakdown is sure to please readers. The unique way it offeres information about the big players in Repo City State is perfect. (Not to mention Butch’s personal interest in BigDick.)
Phallic devices that excrete tapwater, flesh eating acid rain, and hyperfamine are all panels that shock and awe. Robertson doesn’t make any compromises and often airs on the side of extreme graphic violence. It fits this world and feels like a natural extension of hell.
The art gives weight to the book unlike anything else. The disgusting coils and living technology that hang in the back of every panel is masterful. Designs channel the best of HR Gigar’s work while existing in an even more fucked up Cronenberg inspired future. It all culminates in something truly original, hard to look at, and impossible to turn away from. If certain panels don’t leave you with a pit in your stomach, than you are a twisted individual beyond the reach of help.
‘Ballistic’ is currently my favorite thing happening in comics. There is no better place to spend your money than on Repo City State. The book defies most conventions of the science fiction genre and masterfully blends biology with technology. There is so much under the surface of this book that multiple readings should garner something new each time. Don’t miss it, and tell everyone you know about it.
Rating: 4.5/5 Skulls
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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