Comics
Review: ‘Nailbiter’ #4
‘Nailbiter’ #4 carves up a superb and intriguing issue this month. Each new reveal raises countless questions in a satisfying and alluring fashion. Combining that with tense action and a good dose of body horror, you’ve got the recipe for a damn good time.
WRITTEN BY: Joshua Williamson
ART BY: Mike Henderson
PUBLISHER: Image Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: August 6, 2014
Reviewed By: Torbin Chimners
We open on a self help group for residents of Buckaroo who are related to serial killers, which in this town is most everyone. This acts as an awesome introduction to another of Buckaroo’s pantheon of serial killers: The WTF Killer. His older sister tells us of his humble beginnings as a young artist and his eventual departure from canvas to flesh. It’s set up so eloquently and subtly that it leaves the mind free to run wild with all the intricacies of mutilating the human body into an art piece. My mind immediately jumped to the cover of Colder #1, Hannibal, Hellraiser and all kind of atrocities. I’m enthralled with the prospect of seeing Mike Henderson render one of The WTF Killer’s grotesque victims in a future issue.
Before the scene changes to our protagonists, Raleigh makes a short speech about taking the power back from the serial killers who’ve ruined all of their lives. I feel like he’s using the idea of making money off of them as a front for something else, there’s no way this guys not hiding something.
Crane and Finch are literally digging for clues in a graveyard when we catch up with them, without much luck initially. Crane informs us of more details about Raleigh’s Grandfathers killings, specifically that he burned down two libraries and only five people died. But Raleigh likes to build it up more than it is. Linking this with the fire in issue 2, and a very cryptic message revealed later in the issue about that same fire, leads me to believe Raleigh is wrapped up in all of this – much more than he’s letting on. Maybe I’m grasping at straws, but it seems like too much of a coincidence for these fires to be mentioned so many times in one issue.
Joshua Williamson and Mike Henderson hit it out of the park again with ‘Nailbiter’ #4. The two work in perfect rhythm, delivering a damn fun read. Remember to buckle your ass down for the final page, or it might just be blown off. The seeds of this epic are beginning to sprout and take shape into the most elegant and horrific flowers you’ve ever seen.
Editors note:
POTENTIAL SPOILERS
For those of you following this series, do you think Finch is more than what he says he is? I reckon he’s a cold blooded killer who used to be a cop, we don’t know enough about him, and I’m terrified to see what Williamson has planned, but I think we’ve been following the worst killer of all this entire time.
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Torbin Chimners AKA Torin Chambers is a rad dude from the nineties who does film stuff or something. Thomas the Tank Engine is his favorite transformer. Find him on Twitter@Vulgar_Rhombus
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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