Comics
Review: ‘The Fuse’ #1
“The Fuse” #1 is a fresh breath of air in the cop procedural/crime comic book genre. Set 22,000 miles adrift planet Earth on an orbiting energy platform, “The Fuse” tells a story of the crime and corruption amongst half a million people living in Midway City — a five-mile-long steel pressurized environment. Completely emancipated from Earth, Midway City needs all the help it can get. Enter Detective Dietrich…
WRITTEN BY: Antony Johnston
ART BY: Justin Greenwood
PUBLISHER: Image
PRICE: $3.50
RELEASE: February 12, 2014
Dietrich has just arrived in Midway City when a woman stumbles through the shuttleport and collapses to her death. He’s immediately thrust into the job, a job that requires him to protect a pressurized city that supposedly allows no guns. Yet cablers (homeless people with a twist, a twist we are left wondering about in the final pages of the issue) are being shot. The Fuse has a gun smuggling problem, but that’s nothing compared to Dietrich’s new partner problem.
Sergeant Klem, Dietrich’s new partner is an older female, completely hardened by the job. She’s the exact definition of a bitter, world-weary cop. While Dietrich questions her skill due to her old age, Klem questions Dietrich due to his young age. It’s the Odd Couple of ageism. But with a lot more hatred and violence.
They are immediately thrown into working with each other without any buffer, and the insults fly. That, combined with the cabler murders, makes for a seriously intense first issue. Crime comic books are a dime a dozen, but ‘The Fuse’ hits fast and hard, with unapologetic wit and a no-nonsense attitude toward different classes of people, an issue that is very apparent in Midway City.
Because of the strong voice and gritty art, ‘The Fuse’ which is technically science fiction, hardly feels that way. It doesn’t feel like you are reading some post-Earth, hundreds of years into the future, experimental society, tired sci-fi plot. It has more of a ‘Repo! A Genetic Opera’ feel, a storyline and concept so strong that it collapses the genre itself. I commend Johnston and Greenwood for accomplishing this very difficult feat.
The art is very stark, simplistic in style yet detailed in plot. No one is attractive, and no one is unattractive. They just… are. I find this to be a very important factor in the grand scheme of the issue. When dealing with a corrupt city in a troubled environment, exquisite art with beautiful people and rich colors would feel completely out of place. Or worse, might tamper with the tenacity of the writing. Johnston and Greenwood have struck a perfect balance to make you feel unease while simultaneously feeling fascination.
I’m excited to see what these creators have in store for us. This first issue wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty dang close. It’s clear that Johnston is playing his cards close to the chest, leaving many questions unanswered, keeping you hanging on to the final pages begging for more.
4/5 Skulls
Reviewed by – Bree Ogden
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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