Comics
[TV] “The Walking Dead”: ‘The Distance’ Review
“The Distance” managed to salvage the inescapable tone of dread from last week and manufacture some well warranted tension thanks to the new arrival to the group: Aaron.
This episode can easily be summed up with what Carol says to Rick during the final minutes “even though you were wrong, you were right.” This episode belongs to Rick thanks to some well warranted trust issues. Aaron arrives to the camp, and within moments is taken prisoner against his will.
Luckily he was incredibly forthcoming with everything that he could safely offer the group. Despite this, Rick has been put on edge. His marching across the barn to punch Aaron in the face shows his inability to trust, and no he’s not wrong. People are natural storytellers, Rick knows this, and they’ve been tricked many times before. What may have felt forced in the past, felt perfectly in place here because Aaron is a little too easy going.
With Michonne taking point in the quest to find Aaron’s cars and hopefully his partner, we get to see a different perspective of the ordeal. Michonne’s is one of more hope, she’s driven by the same ideals but makes a valid point, these dudes trusted her – a woman with a samurai sword, and would you? She’s comforted by this, and isn’t that exactly what they want you to think?
Despite several signs that Rick is talking to a genuinely good person, he can’t let up. When he’s struggling to make some real shit food for Judith, Aaron offers him solace in some applesauce. Although he initially slaps his hand, Rick does come around and taste the dish, with fantastic Rick Grimes’ smiley results.
Of course the others succeed in finding the cars and the food within. Rick takes it upon himself to create another route toward the camp than the one offered by Aaron. Again, his aversion to trust is well warranted, but as they solider along the highway we see just why Rick was told to go a certain way.
We get walker chaos for a while, and the perfectly dark and confusing night scene capped off with Aaron helping the group when by all means he should have just hightailed it into the darkness. Leading to the most heartfelt scene of the night: Aaron’s relationship to Eric. And, bravo to AMC for flat out showing their embrace and treating it as if it’s nothing, Aaron and Eric have an incredibly strong relationship thanks to that one scene.
So we arrive at the mysterious “Alexandria” by the morning, and it seems that Rick was indeed wrong. Suffice to say, that still remains to be scene, but the sounds of laughing children don’t seem that ominous. The group has been on the run for a whole season and subsequently without hope, so the return of home-base, a safety net of sorts, could really be something special.
The Walking Dead has never been a story about hopelessness, because at its core there is a tone of hope. To restart what we lost, but better this time. Alexandria effectively offers some glimmer of that, but where there are people there are politics, and sometimes they can be more damaging than the walkers outside the walls.
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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