Comics
Review: ‘The Witching Hour’ #1
Full of double toil and trouble, “The Witching Hour” one-shot special is a an awesome collection of nine chilling tales. Fooling around with witchcraft can sometimes bring in grave consequences and powerful enemies. Evil spirits, wicked witches flying in brooms, and flesh-eating spiders lurk inside these twisted pages.
WRITTEN BY: Lauren Beukes, Annie Mok, Kelly Sue Donnick, Matthew Sturges, Ales Knot, Toby Litt, and Mariah Huehner
ART BY: Steve Beach, Gerhard Human, Cliff Chiang, Emily Carroll, Ming Doyle, Shawn McManus, Morgan Jeske, Mark Buckingham, Victor Santos, Tula Lotay
PUBLISHER: Vertigo Comics
PRICE: $7.99
RELEASE: October 2, 2013
Casting the spell right, these tales know how to get the blood rising and the heart racing. In “Daniel,” three little witches stalk a lonely man, who is trying to hide from his past. Not even the red planet is safe from the gruesome reach of witchcraft in “Mars To Stay.” A womanizer is about to his match in “Legs.” In the charming “Fellow Travelers,” actress Marilyn Monroe and author Arthur Miller are in a race against to save the future. In “Rise,” a dead witch possesses an innocent young girl to kill everyone in sight.
In “Daniel,” I found writer/artist Steve Beach’s social commentary to be timely and gut-wrenching. The neighborhood bullies are picking on three little girls because they are dressed as witches. The same bullies then attack a lonely old man because he happens to be gay. Beach demonstrates in his heartbreaking narrative how the fear of being different plagues someone’s mind. Beach cleverly uses the horror genre to tell his message about morality and the inescapable reach of hatred.
In “Rise,” writer Mariah Huehner also has something to say about human nature. An angry witch, who was burned at the stake, blames an entire town for her unjustly execution. But these are not the same people she wants to take revenge on. Fighting for the town’s soul, Elena is trying to convince the witch that times have changed and the town is innocent. Huehner asks through her writing, is humanity really different or has human nature gotten worse over the years?
I particularly enjoyed Shawn McManus’ artwork in “Fellow Travelers.” McManus is having a blast depicting the sweet and playful personality of Norma Jean, aka Marilyn Monroe. As Monroe wears the witch’s black costume, the caricature reminds me of Elizabeth Montgomery in “Bewitched.” McManus has the cheery smile and blonde locks down pat in his drawings. Colorist Jordie Bellaire heightens Ming Doyle’s moody artwork in “Legs” with some striking red tones.
My favorite is the short, “Dead Boy Detectives in Run Ragged.” Toby Litt’s witty humor has such a strong presence in the narrative, especially when Edwin and Charles find themselves trapped in a haunted school. Mark Buckingham’s panel layouts are incredibly creative as the camera follows Maggy and Libby as they leave the tree house to rescue the dead boy detectives. The conclusion makes me excited for the upcoming “Dead Boy Detectives” series in December.
Readers will definitely get themselves in the Halloween spirit after reading the spooky tales in “The Witching Hour”.
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.
You must be logged in to post a comment.