Comics
Review: ‘Hinterkind’ #1
Fast-moving and action-packed, “Hinterkind” #1 takes readers on an entertaining ride through the apocalypse. It’s not brain-eating zombies that have taken over the world. This time around, the human race has to fight against ogres, trolls, and talking unicorns if they ever want to survive.
WRITTEN BY: Ian Edginton
ART BY: Francesco Trifogli
PUBLISHER: Vertigo Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: Oct. 2, 2013
No one has left the island of Manhattan and returned to tell their tale. When a distress call is heard on the radio, who will really answer and risk their lives to help someone? What if the plague has decimated the human population in Chicago and Detroit as well? The plague has sent the world backwards in time, where sword and sorcery were kings of their period. Due to the rising infection, people are slowly turning into wild animals. Soon there will be nothing left but savages if someone doesn’t find out what’s lurking outside of New York.
Writer Ian Edginton presents an apocalyptic world based on American folklore and children’s tales. What I found really impressive is how Edginton establishes the wilderness environment in the opening pages. Because there is no one left to guard the cages, the animals have escaped from the Central Park Zoo. As they roam freely, the animals have marked certain New York landmarks as their own territory. With the last remaining human survivors searching for food, who will be the hunters and the hunted?
Readers will be immersed with Edginton’s snappy dialogue between Prosper and Angus. Edginton has created two likeable characters who are lost in their own coming-of-age tale. Angus is an outcast who wants to belong but can’t because of the terrifying secret he’s hiding. Feeling like she’s trapped in a box, Prosper’s curiosity craves the knowledge to find out what really lies outside the walls of New York. As readers, we want to join Prosper and Angus on their journey into the terrifying unknown.
Artists Francesco Trifogli captures the gloomy and jungle atmosphere in the opening pages. In a two-pager, we see the Empire State Building abandoned over the years and covered in green bushes. Giant trees are growing on the side of empty buildings. In an epic wide shot, Central Park is now a small haven for the survivors. Cris Peters’ fantastic green hues will instantly grab the eye’s attention.
Readers might mistake Prosper as just another Katniss-wannabe because of her bow and arrow. But in Trifogli’s character design, Prosper is wearing a green cloak, which harkens back to the adventures of Robin Hood. There is a suspenseful chase sequence mid-way through the narrative. Prosper and Angus dash across the Queensboro Bridge, trying to outrun the hungry lions right behind them.
With its engaging protagonists, “Hinterkind” #1 does a fantastic job of establishing its apocalyptic vision. I look forward to seeing what happens next as the story progresses.
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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