Comics
Zomblog – Designing The Zombie Apocalypse
Working within someone else’s world requires a certain degree of intimacy between that world and your work. You can’t just come in with a one-man war of attrition. That’s not how great stories are told. On Monday we talked about the larger freedoms of working in a defined world, and today I want to tell you even more about Double Take’s behind the scenes plan.
By now I’m sure you’ve all thought about how you’d deal with a zombie outbreak, but have you ever had to plan one? That’s what Double Take has brought upon themselves with their “Big Bang” initiative. (Pre-order now) For the unfamiliar, Double Take is launching ten zombie comic series on one day, all based in George A Romero’s Night of the Living Dead universe. So yeah, things may seem daunting, but I assure you they have a plan, and it’s a damn good one.
Zombies always shamble in, kill thousands of people, destroy society as we know it, we fight back, we win, we lose our humanity in the process and the credits roll. But, what if it didn’t have to be that way. What if we had a plan? Well like I said, Double Take’s plan is handed out to every writer in a document called the “escalation schedule.”
So far everything is broken down over a set amount of days. We’re briefed with what happens every hour, as well as given a overview of what that day looks like.
For example:
Sunday – April 24, 1966
Overview:
The titular Night of the Living Dead. Informal posses form in conjunction with local law enforcement. The National Guard is deployed. Z-Men come to Pennsylvania to investigate.
Midday
Murders start.
Murderers band together.
That’s the first day, and the events that kickstart this whole mess into high gear. You might not remember the Z-Men from Romero’s films. But, I assure you while this is the basis for the story, we’re going much further.
Here’s an overview of what’s happening a few days later:
In most areas, the posses and the government seem to be [redacted]. The zombie tide is [redacted]. The military uses a [redacted] with civilians and [redacted]. As the day goes on, however, the [redacted] show that they are still stronger than many have thought. The goal of the government shifts [redacted].
You didn’t think we’d give you the whole story just yet did you?
After a brief like this, Double Take has filled the document with sound bites from some of the most important infrastructures in the United States. We know what NASA is saying, we know what’s happening in DC, and we know what the reporters are saying.
Each individual story has the same tools used to inform it’s storytelling, but that doesn’t mean all the characters will be privy to the information outlined in this escalation schedule. Moreover, it serves as a bible like document for our own internal purposes to ensure everyone is on the same page.
So remember that time Swamp Thing showed up in the pages of Animal Man and your brain melted?
Well Double Take figures it’s high time we start telling zombie stories that way.
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.