Comics
Comic Book Review: “Wolf Moon” #3 – Is More Of The Same
“Wolf Moon” #3 begins with one of the most haunting sequences a horror comic has ever put together. It establishes a break neck pace that Cullen Bunn and Jeremy Haun don’t let up until the final page, it may be scarce on story but it’s one helluva great ride.
WRITTEN BY: Cullen Bunn
ART BY: Jeremy Haun
PUBLISHER: Vertigo Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: February 4, 2014
I can’t pinpoint where “Wolf Moon” staggers in the execution. On the one hand it’s a great premise that provides lots of action and on the other there doesn’t seem to be much depth outside the deaths on the page. We know that Dillon Chase is driven by vengeance, but we don’t know much else. Every interaction he shares with another person is driven by that vengeance.
In the off chance Cullen Bunn wanted to humanize Dillon he had many opportunities here and really only one of them work. There is a fleeting interaction with the exotic dancer, but he just presses for information. Later, though we see Dillon actually caring about the innocent bystanders in the mall it gives him some personality even as the werewolf tears the place to shreds.
There is a visceral beauty to “Wolf Moon.” Jeremy Huan takes death very seriously, and you can tell. His dizzying assortments of panels depicting death are the highlight of any issue, and he doesn’t really let up here. From the hallucinatory beginning to the final showdown in the mall, the ugly face of dismemberment seems to be a great home for Huan’s art. His clear and expressive work make death a total joy to behold, and I seriously couldn’t imagine anyone better suited for this series.
Every time I pick up an issue of “Wolf Moon” I’m excited. The premise is brilliant, the characters are well motivated, but I’m now starting to see some repetition at three issues in. I haven’t noted any growth in the characters, and there hasn’t really been any major surprises that compel me to keep reading, It’s a shame but the series has told the same story three times over, now.
I hope that the way this issue concludes provides a stage for a shocking turn of events at the midpoint of the series. I’m dying for some progression or reversal of expectations that will challenge everything I thought I knew.
For now, it’s giving me everything I know and love: the visceral action of a werewolf action movie but its forgetting the elements of any good horror story. A character needs to be compelling, challenging, and monstrous for okay horror to become something great. As it stands, “Wolf Moon” relies far too heavily on shock value to tell any sort of compelling story about the nature of man and beast.
It’s a missed opportunity, but not one that has to decide the fate of the entire series. Luckily we’re only three issues in, and the pacing might be the stuff of legend. I’ll stick around for a while yet; I just hope we dig a little deeper next month.
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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