Comics
Review: “Sundowners” #1
If I had say one thing about “Sundowners” #1 it’d be that it’s engaging. I was sucked in up to my neck in curiosity from the first page. On the second page I was blown away. I can’t imagine any sensible person flipping through the first couple pages of “Sundowners” and the not immediately purchasing it, and hell, it only gets better from there.
WRITTEN BY: Tim Seely
ART BY: Jim Terry
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $3.50
RELEASE: August 27, 2014
Reviewed by Torbin Chimners
We’re introduced to an incredibly unhinged and manic man named David, who you would probably expect to see breaking down at a group session about government conspiracies. He prattles on about how he’s a great listener to the woman he’s meeting while, expectedly, not doing what he professes to be so good at. What happens next is brilliant, it’s like if you take all of the things a crazy homeless man could feasibly say and then make one of them true.
It’s through this we’re introduced to our four, possibly deluded, heroes. They’re all genuinely interesting characters in their own right. Each is chalk full of their share of quirks. When I say quirks I mean they’re all insane. It’s not explicitly stated but none of them seem to actually have powers and instead, are all suffering from a cavalcade of mental disorders.
When you think about it, these are the kind of people in real life who would dress up and try to fight crime. It’s never a ‘normal’ person. The other worrying thing is the voice of reason in this scene is David who was previously borderline deranged. It’s hard to make sense of and trust what’s going on around you in “Sundowners,” it makes you look at each scene differently, it’s engaging. It requires you to actively participate in the narrative.
Jim Terry’s art is marvelous, it reminds me of a more detailed Mike Allred. His visual composition and storytelling are both superb. Sean Dove’s colours are gorgeous, especially during Citizen’s story. The night feels incredibly alive with light during this sequence.
Sundowners is a, excuse the cliché, a refreshing take on superheroes. It’s off to a great start with a lot going for it: tremendously flawed characters that are a joy to read, intrigue pouring out the seams and exceptional visuals. I’ve never been ‘into’ much of Tim Seeley’s past work but this book has made a fan out of me.
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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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