Comics
[Comic Review] “The Mantle” #1 Is Brutally Fun And Self Aware
“The Mantle” #1 is a self-aware superhero book with an uncommon twist: Mantles die a lot. The Mantle is hunted by The Plague, for reasons yet unknown, and when The Mantle is killed, like the Slayers and Green Lanterns before him, the power is immediately and unceremoniously transferred to a new host. If you are looking for some capes free from events and crossovers this summer, “The Mantle” might be the brutal book you’re looking for.
WRITTEN BY: Ed Brisson
ART BY: Brian Level
PUBLISHER: Image
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: May 13, 2015
This first issue wastes no time getting down to business, and in fact directly addresses the expositional burdens of introducing characters and concepts. For me, this week and nod to the reader didn’t really play. It was kind of like Brisson saying “Look, this is how super hero stories start, we have to explain where their powers came from and the world they belong in now that they have them. I know origin stories are boring, but at least you know I’m trying to rush through it so we can get to the good stuff.” I don’t really want stories to apologize to me for being told, I want to be invested. Tongue-in-cheek and satire aimed at the medium work great in books like “God Hates Astronauts” when they commit, but the way that “The Mantle” is self-aware is something in between that comes across as shrug.
If you get past the awkward introductions “The Mantle” has a pretty interesting concept. The Mantle is a being of unlimited power provided he or she has the time to practice and train to unlock his or her full potential. The Plague wants to eliminate every Mantle as soon as they are chosen to avoid this. It means that the clock is always running and that the story has a built in tension and sense that The Plague is always right around the corner. By the end of this issue it would seem The Mantle for this story has been selected, or in other words “our” Mantle, but this series could just a likely take a “Death Note” approach and continue to introduce new protagonists every so often, which would be pretty unique.
The cast of supporting characters is unique enough; between them a teleporter, a medium, and a hulk. These three seek out each new incarnation of The Mantle, train them and try to protect them from The Plague. We haven’t seen the medium use her powers to talk to the dead yet, but I can only imagine how significantly this will play in later. There are hundreds of dead Mantles that may offer some guidance, for instance.
The dialogue is pretty atrocious, and that is the main reason I find it difficult to recommend this book. It has a lot going for it terms of style and substance, but I cringed so hard at lines like “Guy looks meaner than my Step Dad after a night at the pub”, “cock nozzle” and “eat fist, dick bag” it practically ruined it for me and narrowed the audience down to pre-teen boys. Which is strange, because Brisson’s recent “Murder Book” was unquestionably good and not a single line bumped me in that entire anthology. “The Mantle” on the other hand, is fun, but I can’t say it’s great.
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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