Comics
Review: “The Vertigo Quarterly: CMYK.”
Vertigo has decided to melt our simple little minds with their new anthology concept, “The Vertigo Quarterly: CMYK.” This quarterly zine will feature an expansive range of talent with a wide range of story ideas. Save for the one thing they all have in common: a color. From Vertigo: “The four colors that are the basis of comics coloring serve as the jumping-off point for creators to push the boundaries of short graphic fiction in the new VERTIGO QUARTERLY: CMYK series. Starting with stunningly simple, bold covers, CMYK will defy all conventions of traditional comics anthologies. The unifying color could suggest a mood, a plot point, a coloring technique…” Go own this anthology. Every single story is solid gold. The art is unique to each tale and the juxtapositions from story to story will keep you flying high.
WRITTEN BY: Various, Group Editor: Will Dennis
ART BY: Various
PUBLISHER: Vertigo
PRICE: $7.99
RELEASE: April 30, 2014
Both similar and yet so different from the pulpy material hidden between the covers of magazines such as “Creepy,” “Eerie,” and “Vampirella,” “VQ: CMYK” plays with our baser instincts, drives, and desires, but does so in shockingly vivid color, using the color in such an fundamental way. It spans genres from horror, to science fiction, to superhero, apocalyptic, fantasy, contemporary, and pulpy classics. It’s simply stunning. It’s a ridiculously unique concept, and by the end of the 80 pages, you feel like you’ve won the comics lottery.
You never want to start an anthology off with a whimper, or even a slight roar. No, you want to start it off with an explosive blast, which is exactly what “VQ: CYAN” (“cyan” being this quarter’s color) does. Writer Shaun Simon takes us into the lives of two con artist funeral home owners who kill old people to stay in business. Only, one of them is a bit more into the art of killing rather than the money of business, being referred to as “The Banksy of Murder” …let your mind do the walking on that analogy. It’s a gloriously strong start to what continues on as a striking anthology.
Joe Keatinge delivers the most fucked up ride of a story that you’ll have to read it 37 times before you realize it’s only getting crazier. Remember that scene in “Trainspotting” when the dead baby is crawling on the ceiling? It’s that times 700. And if I were to tell you that writers Lee Garbett and Jock followed up Keatinge’s psychedelic fuck ride with a “Shaun of the Dead” style supernatural tale in which two ice cream men fight off a werewolf with lollies, you’d punch me in the face and say, “photo or it didn’t happen.” But it does, my friends. It does. And it’s glorious.
I’m not going to sit here and detail each short story within the anthology, but I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you all that the final story in “VQ: CYAN” brought a tear to my eye and tightened my chest cavity. I have a lot of emotions about that story and to close out the anthology this way was a bold move of sheer brilliance.
“VQ: CYAN” treats us to nine gluttonous tales of murder, depression, betrayal, taboo, self-loathing, failure, heartbreak, lovesickness, and psychosis. I think this anthology is what Sir Elton was talking about when he sang, “I guess that’s why they call it the blues.” This is… Cyan. And Cyan is letting your demons come out to frolic.
Review by – Bree Ogden
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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