Comics
Review: ‘Umbral’ #1
Antony Johnston and Christopher Mitten examine the scope of imagination and adventure, in their new Image Comics series, “Umbral”. Having already demonstrated an incredibly strong creative relationship, through their work on the post-apocalyptic series “Wasteland”, the smooth cohesiveness of the team’s combined talents on this new project comes as no surprise.
WRITTEN BY: Antony Johnston
ART BY: Christopher Mitten
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: November 13, 2013
“Umbral” presents itself as a dark and mysterious foray into the high fantasy genre of world-building and character creation. There’s a richness of imagination that pours through Johnston’s narrative, and it’s only spurred on by Mitten’s artistic vision. Furthermore, there’s an engaging mythopoeic conception of land, history, and life that is as generous as it needs to be for a successful debut issue.
While it’s always best to experience the art of speculative fiction firsthand, rather than reading a regurgitated summary that will never truly encompass the breadth of creativity, talent and foresight involved in the overall process of creation, here’s the rundown for sake of clarity. The Kingdom of Fendin is preoccupied in the exciting event of a highly anticipated solar eclipse. Taking advantage of this distraction is the bold and adventurous thief Rascal, and her surprising spell-casting partner in crime, Prince Arthir. Together, they embark on a seemingly uncomplicated journey to steal a powerful item from the Red Palace, only to be swept into a gruesome world of blood, death, and dark legends. The fate of the Kingdom now rests on Rascal’s shoulders as she tries to make sense of nightmare she fell into.
“Umbral” #1 is a great introduction to what is looking to be a distinguished and thoroughly thought-out series. The pacing of Johnston’s narrative in terms of plot development is not overbearing considering the intricate process of building a dark fantasy world, but it manages to be perfectly informative without giving too much away in order to maintain reader interest. Both writer and artist provide a variety of differently envisioned characters to help establish a feel for the time and setting. Moreover, they present a surprisingly filled-out Tolkien-esque map of the Kingdom of Fendin, which only shows how big the creative team is dreaming for this series.
The artwork is a collaborative effort between illustrator Christopher Mitten, and colorist John Rauch. They work in tandem to produce a dark, gritty, and a trope-heavy medieval European world — in terms of style, setting, and dress — and effectively find a balance between Rauch’s dark palette of purple and blues, and Mitten’s scratchy stroke techniques and bold inks. On the topic of bold inks, Thomas Maur’s letters are hard to decipher at times, specifically the dialogue provided for the evil spirits, but chalk that up to an understandable, though poorly executed creative choice. Mitten continues to establish himself as a stylistically recognizable and distinguished artist in the industry, and his work within this book and outside this series has been visually stimulating.
“Umbral” #1 proves to be another successful comics endeavor for Johnston and Mitten, and highlights many of the typical core elements of the high fantasy genre. Looking forward to more.
4/5 Skulls
Reviewed by – ShadowJayd
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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