Comics
Review: ‘Shadowman’ #13
“Shadowman” #13 is a new beginning as Valiant slaps a fresh coat of paint on Jack Boniface with a brand new creative team taking over. Writer Peter Milligan (“Hellblazer”) and artist Roberto De La Torre (“Daredevil”) shift the book into a Vertigo-esque direction with a move towards shedding the superhero’s shortcomings.
WRITTEN BY: Peter Milligan
ART BY: Roberto De La Torre
PUBLISHER: Valiant
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: December 4th, 2013
One of the things that writer Peter Milligan does best is psychological horror and this issue immediately plays to his strengths as a writer. Milligan has immediately turned the book upside down by having the Abettors turn against Jack, which leads him on a path into the voodoo filled swamps to separate himself from Shadowman. Another interesting plot development that Milligan is exploring is the back-story of Jack’s time spent growing up in an orphanage. Growing up in institutions would have had a direct impact on Jack’s mental stability, and here we finally get to see some of the emotional baggage that comes with him being cast away, dejected and unwanted. Milligan is working to break Jack Boniface down psychologically, which makes him that much more terrifying and unpredictable.
Artist Roberto de la Torre delivers one of the best looking issues of “Shadowman”, as his dark and gritty style perfectly captures the mood, feel and seedy elements of the story. One of the problems that plagued this series in the past was the inconsistency on art, as some artists had styles just weren’t compatible with the jarring and unsettling nature of a book like this. Roberto de la Torre corrects that problem by taking the bleak look and feel of the New Orleans streets and transplanting them into these pages.
Valiant did a great job at perfectly matching “Shadowman” with the proper creative team to give the book a new status quo. Milligan and Roberto de la Torre have brought a focused vision back to a title that was floundering with mismatched artistic teams that just were out of sync. ‘Shadowman’ is a book that needs to be skewed towards the dark, sick and twisted to fully be able to seep into the gut of readers and give them a repugnant feeling when they dive into the pages every month. Milligan and Roberto de la Torre have brewed up the perfect cauldron of mystery, despondency and disorientation for “Shadowman” which makes this an exciting book to read.
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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