Comics
Review: ‘Revenge’ #1
Jonathan Ross is a British late night television host that made the transition into comics a few years back with the release of “Turf”, a supernatural gangster tale set in 1920s Prohibition-era of New York. Ross then teamed up with artist Bryan Hitch for his sprawling superhero epic “America’s Got Powers”, a tale of super-powered teens battling on television for your entertainment. Now Ross has returned to challenge reader’s expectations with a new twisted horror series entitled “Revenge” that is overflowing with graphic violence and sex.
WRITTEN BY: Jonathan Ross
ART BY: Ian Churchill
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: February 26, 2014
The book centers around Griffin Franks, a washed up action star that has seen his stardom slowly fade away with age. Hollywood decides to do a modern re-make of the movie The Revenger, the classic film where Franks got his big break. He is given the opportunity to reprise his role in the re-make and quickly finds his career back on the rise. When talk of a sequel begins, Franks realizes that his age is a determent to his success when producers of the film threaten to replace him in favor of a younger actor. It’s at this time that his trophy wife suggests Franks undergo a risky surgical procedure in Mexico that will make him look decades younger, but that is where his life goes off the rails.
Franks is the perfect protagonist for this book, as his situation story mirrors the celebrity obsessed culture that currently pervades our society and becomes a “Bread and circuses” type distraction for the general public. His character is deeply flawed and there are many moments where his actions are downright deplorable to the point where the reader has a hard time feeling sympathy for him. The flaws are what make Franks intriguing enough for readers to want to stick around for future issues.
Ian Churchill art takes center stage in this book and he brings down the house with some stunning hyper detailed line work. Right out of the gate Churchill delivers a jolting nightmarish splash page of a face being ripped off that is truly repulsive. The artwork on this book is worthy of being framed as the images are so intensely detailed that readers will find themselves staring at the pages for lengthy periods of time just to soak in how outrageous it all is.
There’s something uniquely satisfying about a hard boiled revenge tale that we can all take solace in. Everyone has had an experience where they’ve been screwed over and wanted to extract revenge against those that have dared to cross us. Jonathan Ross and Ian Churchill have taken our darkest fantasies about revenge and boiled them into grotesque grindhouse comic that truly gets under your skin. Every page of “Revenge” was tailor made for horror fanatics who can rejoice in blood, sex, violence and crazy plot twists.
4.5/5 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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