Comics
Review: “Odyssey” Volume 1
“Odyssey” follows one soldier’s grand disillusionment with the American war machine. It’s a story we’ve seen countless times before, a regular man turned super solider against his will, but small sadistic twists stand out amongst the heavy handed political message to create something more, albeit a little undercooked.
WRITTEN BY: Dave Elliot
ART BY: Garrie Gastonny & Toby Cypress
PUBLISHER: Titan Comics
PRICE: $19.99
RELEASE: August 6, 2014
There is something about this book that I find oddly alluring. It has a similar framework to Captain America but distinctly pursues an alternative route by channeling something more horrific for the origin of the super solider.
And sure – you’ve got a sequence where Blazing Glory rips out Hiter’s heart and makes a mural of his blood, but it’s too much. Don’t get me wrong, typically I’d be all for something like that, but in this story it feels incredibly tonally jarring.
See, “Odyessey” can’t make up it’s mind. It’s unsure of itself and finds a wavering protagonist in Blazing Glory. It’s a story we’ve seen a thousand times before, a super solider turned government tool. It’s got fantastic set pieces including a fantastic reveal that a mission to post 9-11 Iraq was actually to retrieve Dracula, but still it feels incredibly tonally jarring.
Even more still is the stellar work of artists Garrie Gastonny and Toby Cypress. I’m a huge fan of Cypress after his work on “The White Suits” but man oh man are his talents underused in his particular section of the book. He’s got a more surreal and animalistic style that was screaming for a showdown with Dracula. Instead he’s saddled with the most dialogue heavy part of the script, leaving his wild style at the most reserved I’ve ever seen it.
Garrie Gastonny has a beautifully detailed and clean approach that causes the rest of the book to shine. The panels are easily digestible and the character work is vivid and detailed. The above-mentioned scene with Hitler will haunt my mind for some time to come.
The final pages of this first volume come to define Blazing Glory in a brand new way that I found completely captivating but couldn’t help but feel a little shortchanged when it came right down to it, only because I wanted to know more about this huge change of status quo. I craved to know more about it, and just when everything was coming together the book ends.
It’s the tonal shifts that cause this book to falter. Dave Elliot can’t seem to make up his mind between the world of the supernatural and the political, and because of this the book feels lost somewhere in the middle. The supernatural elements complete shine and come to define the book against the whole cavalcade of stories like it, where the political elements feel far too undercooked and under researched to really make an impact.
So the whole experience is rather polarizing. If you’re a fan of either type of story you’ll probably leave a little disappointed, but if you’re looking for something truly unique that swings for the fences with ambition then this is the book for you. Yet, I caution that ultimately both stories fail to deliver on their premise. Proceed with caution.
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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