Comics
Review: ‘The Walking Dead’ #123
“The Walking Dead” continues its foray into war with another chapter that feels undercooked. Small more subtle moments are met with bombastic action pieces that serve to compliment the fact that Kirkman has been leading us along a very murky path all along. The constant back and forth of this arc continues here, to diminishing returns.
WRITTEN BY: Robert Kirkman
ART BY: Charlie Adlard
PUBLISHER: Image
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: March 12, 2014
When All Out War began I was probably first in like to tell you it was going to be the best. Negan was getting some real depth and the characters felt ready for a huge conflict that threatened to change the series forever. Instead, we’re given a wholly undercooked look at war through isolated pockets of battle and teases of character moments.
This arc has locked all of the main cast in this perpetual state of backtracking. With the exception of Ezekiel, no one has grown or changed since the beginning of the arc. Maggie still mourns Glenn, Andrea is still coming to terms with being a lonely defender, Carl is still angry, and Rick is still determined. Which is all well and good, but it doesn’t make for a very interesting read.
Adlard’s pencils provide a lot of depth to the somber moments of the issue this month. He shows the staggering size of the new camp, and just how many people’s lives are at stake. He deals with a ton of characters at once and his layouts provide more than enough room for everyone to get the attention they deserve in the frame. Action beats are cleanly communicated and nothing ever feels overly busy.
I’ve grown weary of this series. This issue ends with something that is supposed to be shocking and devastating but acts as somewhat of a cop out. If the actual implications do come to fruition than I’ll be ecstatic and read the following issues with renewed vigor. I suspect however, that the final moment is a tease to keep readers on the edge of their seats, and nothing will actually come of it.
Perhaps I’m in the minority but I’ve felt that this arc has been a series of elaborate dodges in service of prolonging the story. There is an even slower pace than ever before and things feel drawn out to the point of boring, which is never the emotion a war should inspire..
Negan’s charisma only goes so far, and unfortunately it has stopped charming me. He is a cunning villain who much like Kirkman has hit a wall. There can be no forward progression in this book until he dies, and with so many opportunities on the page for Kirkman to kill him, I suspect sales are keeping him alive. The natural energy that “The Walking Dead” once had has finally been sapped out.
Rating: 2.5/5 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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