Comics
Review: ‘Three’ # 2
Kieron Gillen’s revisionist look at Sparta continues this month in a more compelling issue than its debut. Due to a clarification of the narrative, the muddy exposition is out of the way and the story proper can begin.
“Three” is a historian’s dream. It’s a visual history of a place lost to time. Sparta doesn’t have much of its own memories in tact. The ramblings of those who opposed it fill our history books. So Gillen aims to tell a more robust history of the time and state. He succeeds admirably while also delivering a compelling story about slavery.
WRITTEN BY: Kieron Gillen
ART BY: Ryan Kelly
PUBLISHER: Image
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: November 13, 2013
I wasn’t too sure of anything after I read the first issue of “Three.” A lot of groundwork was laid out, but there wasn’t a clear protagonist rising above the rest. Gillen treated readers to an interesting snapshot of history and didn’t even attempt to hold their hand. The results were a little disorienting albeit historically accurate.
The narrative becomes much more clear, and the title of the book makes a lot more sense. Gillen aims to tell a story about the reality of Sparta. What’s more is that he’s done an amazing amount of research to bring this area to life.
Ryan Kelly’s artwork shows Sparta at its peak. It was like looking into my classics textbooks from my undergrad. The visualization of the city seems spot on, and the character designs are more interesting and accurate than we’ve ever been treated too.
Kelly seems to really enjoy the pages that are soaked in blood, as he should. Here the book hits its full stride as the messy nature of combat translates through the art. Sword fighting was not elegant at this point in history. The Gladius was meant to tear flesh from bone, and make for quick deaths.
Kelly and Gillen give the reader something special in a book about Spartans. They give us civil dispute. That is to say that the Helots are done serving their masters and we get to see a lot of Spartans meet their end by the hand of less skilled warriors.
This is a fantastic device to show the strong society in a new light. The perspective of the disenfranchised is always more interesting within a powerful nation. Gillen seems to know this, and rides this detail to the bitter end. We’re given a fantastic tease as to where things are headed next, but the issue revels in the class dynamics it so powerfully establishes.
There are not many comics like “Three” it straddles the line between history and historical fiction. The interviews featured in the closing pages show the incredible amount of research that went into the book’s creation. I heartily recommend this series for any lovers of history, especially the classical age, as this is a look at Sparta unlike any other.
Rating: 4/5 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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