Comics
Comic Picks of the Week
Every week we cover what we hope to be the best comics of the week on Wednesday, but for a lot of you that’s far too late. You’ve hit the shop and you’ve got your stack by lunchtime. So now we’re going to hit you ahead of time and show you what we think are the best offerings of the week. This way you can leave the shop Wednesday knowing you have a real winner in your pile, or at the very least grab something before it sells out.
DARK ENGINE #1
Ryan Burton and John Bivens are not fucking around. They want a female unstoppable force like Conan, but with a hint of Lovecraft and time travel. I’ve already had the pleasure of looking at the interior pages for the issue and I can tell you that Biven’s art is the right kind of visceral to showcase this unstoppable force, and the narrative leaves lots of intrigue. This is one you’ll want to grab before selling out, these dudes may be relative unknowns, but after this week that’s all going to change.
BLACK MARKET #1
This should be a no brainer. Frank Barbiere has proven to be a safe bet when it comes to comics. His storytelling is captivating and expertly paced. He blends real character drama with a huge premise. While Victor Santos has is one of the best stylized cartoonists out there. I can’t think of a better team to tell the story of “Black Market” which see’s superhero blood trading in the shadiest alleys. We’ve already reviewed it and loved it. Our own Brent Hirose had this to say. “A well crafted story that finds compelling material in well traveled territory, “Black Market” is the real deal. Buy it now.”
THE SQUIDDER #1
Ben Templesmith hasn’t had a creator owned comic in quite some time, and never anything like this. “The Squidder” follows an old solider’s return from war, and is written and drawn by Templesmith himself. The project was recently kickstarted and funded within twenty four hours, now we get to see the excellent fruits of Ben’s labour, and they are absolutely haunting and delicious.
SPIKE–INTO THE LIGHT
This is something so rare and special. Here we have a Buffy The Vampire Slayer story written by Spike himself. It’s a tale involving the vampire with a soul that takes place during season seven of the show, and is actually WRITTEN BY JAMES MARSTERS. You can probably hear our own Shadowjayd’s squeals of excitement from here. This is an opportunity unlike any other, and for a Buffy fan this is the must own comic of the week.
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.
You must be logged in to post a comment.