Comics
Review: ‘The Strain: The Fall’ #5
Never slowing down, “The Strain: The Fall” #5 delivers a twisted roller-coaster ride at full speed. While anxiously awaiting for the TV series to surface on FX, fans will have to settle for this amazing adaptation of the best-selling trilogy of novels by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan.
WRITTEN BY: David Lapham
ART BY: Mike Huddleston
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: Nov. 20, 2012
With so much burden resting on his shoulders, Ephraim has to give up the only thing he truly cherishes before he can go after The Master. Unable to protect him as a father and a hero, Ephraim has to let go of his son, Zack, and send him off to safety. While Ephraim is saying his last goodbyes, Vasiliy the exterminator has to set off bombs down below the subway tunnels. As the clocks starts ticking, Vasiliy has to make sure this is a deep wound in the Master’s plans, without actually getting himself killed in the process. But with Manhattan surrounded by vampires, how long does humanity have before The Master covers the entire planet in darkness?
What I particularly liked about David Lapham’s adaptation is how the writing jumps back and forth between subplots in a nonlinear fashion. Though we don’t see the much-talked about subway explosion, you can tell Vasiliy caused so much destruction to himself and the vampires. I wouldn’t think of this as a cheat because the narrative focuses on its themes about consequences and redemptions. Lapham follows the ensemble cast as they react out of desperation when they are pushed into a corner.
Ephraim’s downfall is spiraling out of control in this installment. Without his son by his side, Ephraim has no one to hold him back as he succumbs to the bottle. No longer sober, Ephraim forces his son to leave before he sees him as a truly fallen hero. While Ephraim loses himself to alcoholism, Nora jumps into the forefront. Though she is not related to Zack, she leaves behind Ephraim and protects Zack as if he were her own child.
In his artwork, Mike Huddleston heightens the suspense during the dramatic high points of Ephraim’s narration. While Ephraim is describing how the demons of the past affect the future, Huddleston illustrates the Brooklyn Bridge wrapped in fire and smoke. Ephraim has given up on hope and Huddleston conveys that emotional loss through extreme close-ups. As the camera closes in on their faces, Ephraim is on the brink of losing his mind while Nora is trying to hold back tears.
My favorite part of Huddleston’s illustrations is the railroad massacre, which has no dialogue whatsoever. There is no emphasis on sound effects, nor on the screams, as the vampire wipe out the train passengers. Huddleston wants you to see the panic on the faces of the passengers as they run from one train car to another. Aimed at shock value, Huddleston illustrates the bloodsuckers tearing at the necks with their long serpent-like tongues.
It looks like Ephraim and the rest of his team are on a losing streak in “The Strain: The Fall” #5. I really can’t wait to see what happens next issue.
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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