Comics
Review: ‘The Strain: The Fall’ #9
An action-packed finale, “The Strain: The Fall” #9 closes its latest chapter with tons of bloody thrills. Every subplot has been geared up for the mind-blowing finish. With the conclusion of “The Fall,” readers will be amped up more for Guillermo Del Toro’s TV series to surface this summer.
WRITTEN BY: David Lapham
ART BY: Mike Huddleston
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: March 19, 2014
The bloodsuckers will sacrifice themselves in order to bring about world destruction. The Master knows that in order to strike down all his enemies, he must destroy the power plant. With the power plant explosion, humans will suddenly fear the never-ending terrorist attacks. With Ephraim searching for his lost son, Abraham and his small army have to do everything they can to stop the nuclear explosion. The key to humanity’s salvation lies hidden inside the ancient text that has never been translated.
What I particularly enjoy about David Lapham’s adaptation is how the writing captures on the essence of the tragic hero. In the war between humans and vampires, Ephraim is still fighting, even though his wife and son have been taken from him. Abraham, who has been hunting the Master since WWII, is just a heart attack away from dying. Then, there’s the Sapphires gang who are slaughtering the bloodsuckers, in hopes of making money. But in the end, what kind of profit will they stand to make when the rest of the world is gone?
Lapham emphasizes the novel’s themes during the last climatic pages. Because Lapham doesn’t shy away, the concluding tone is bleak and pessimistic. Since the beginning, Abraham knew he was too old and sick to stand up against The Master. When he was really needed in battle, Abraham had to fall back and find his pills for his heart condition. Abraham knew he was going to die, but his ending had to be on his own terms.
In his artwork, Mike Huddleston captures the nerve-wracking suspense and action during the power plant attack. Using crooked angles, Huddleston makes the action sequences seem heightened and exaggerated. During the climatic conclusion, one of the Sapphires gang members takes out a rocket launcher and blows away the bloodsuckers. You do ask yourself, where the hell did he get that? Huddleston’s fantastic artwork makes you forget logic and just enjoy the ride.
Huddleston’s artwork really shines during the pulse-pounding confrontation between the Master and Abraham. Because Huddleston designed the Master as the Grim Reaper, the illustrations make great use of shadows and height differences. The Master looms tall and large over the small and withering Abraham as he extends his long arms. Death is coming for Abraham and there is no stopping him.
Readers won’t know what hit them with the last pages of “The Strain: The Fall” #9. I can’t wait to see how writer David Lapham and artist Mike Huddleston will adapt the concluding part of the trilogy, “The Night Eternal.”
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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