Comics
Review: “Ghosted” #11
“Ghosted” takes a slight detour this month as Joshua Williamson lays out Anderson’s backstory. Making the undead femme fatale the most complex and compelling supporting character of the series, and firmly cemented her as the secondary protagonist in a thrilling chapter that seamless brings us to the beginning of the third arc.
WRITTEN BY: Joshua Williamson
ART BY: Goran Sudzuka
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: July 9, 2014
It’s been a cold two months without “Ghosted.” I feel warmer already after reading Williamson’s detailed account of Anderson’s past. For a while I wasn’t sure about her deal, I knew she was important, but I didn’t really know why and certainly didn’t know what she wanted. This month Williamson shows us exactly who she is, and why she became the killing machine we met in issue one.
I still take some issue with some of her motivations being a little base level, but the story proved interesting enough to stay compelling. She’s a killing machine, and she’s good at it. She followed the money, and for more reasons than one she should be alive instead of Jackson. Yet, she’s too cocksure. A fault that Williamson hammers home here with her pride getting the best of her in the past, she’s good but she’s not the best.
Goran Sudzuka was sorely missed. His return to the series in this issue is worth the cover price alone. His dark style just pops off the page, and he revels in these unsavory characters. His action is clean and the supernatural elements in his work are simply stunning. The final pages of the issue are absolutely chilling as we see Anderson interacting with a broken and beaten Jackson. Sudzuka’s framing and the way he sets up the shots creates such an uncanny sense of dread, hell the dude could give Argento a run for his money.
Williamson has taken the time to ground his characters in a certain blend of fearlessness and desperation that is unique to his genre blend. The result is a irresistible crime caper that channels a unique type of terror. There is something devilishly charming about virgin blood candles, and something equally unsettling. I’m excited to see how deep the darkness of the series goes now that “Nailbiter” is in full swing.
Truly Williamson has proven himself to be a master of horror, and this issue serves as a reminder that he hasn’t forgotten his compelling characters along the way. It’s a breath of fresh air in horror that never seems to run out of steam. The only thing that saddens me this month is that we didn’t go deeper. I wanted to learn more and really get into the core of what drives Anderson. The answer we got here was that she’s driven by her drive, but I think there is still so much more to the character. In any event, her drive has now made her resolve to haunt Jackson for the rest of his miserable life.
We’ll see how that goes in thirty.
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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