Comics
[Comic Review] “Curb Stomp” #4 Statisfies A Craving
Reviewed by Taylor Hoffman // @taylorcheckers
The girls of The Fever gang have seen some real dark shit and their only chance at survival is to protect each other and their home, Old Beach. Curb Stomp is a series full of betrayal, kidnapping, and plenty of killing, and this final issue brings all the brutality to the forefront with vengeance in full swing. Curb Stomp feels like a smoking a cigarette; there’s a rush of endorphins pumping, dopamine fulfillment, billowing smoke everywhere. This final issue makes me crave for more, mostly because the ending wasn’t quite as satisfying as I expected.
Story by: Ryan Ferrier
Art by: Devaki Neogi
Publisher: Boom! Studios
Release Date: 5/27/15
Price: $3.99
Ryan Ferrier and Devaki Neogi build a world of neon that can’t be ignored and shines a light into an underworld that rages with fire reds and brimstone yellow. There isn’t time to play shows, skate, or have family dinners anymore for the gang. Each member of the Fever has their own battle to fight within the war and any attempt at cleaning up this turf war mess only has only made it worse, especially involving the shady exchanges between the corrupt mayor and the self-described King of the Wrath. Machete Betty’s inner dialogue to guides us through the final battles as she focuses on rescuing Sweet Pea while the riot police have been called into Old Beach.
Drugs, gentrification, and dirty politics threaten the residents as much as the internal gang relations, so at this point in the story, everyone is on high alert. Scenes between the police and the members of Old Beach are as disturbing as they are powerful. The story doesn’t delve deep enough into issues of race, class, and gender as much as I wished it had given all the opportunities there were intrinsic to the setting and main characters.
Neogi’s style on the series combines the feel of the Hernandez brothers, very Love & Rockets both in tone and linework. Jeremy Lawson’s coloring separates Curb Stomp from almost every other current comic, there’s something so appealing about the lack of backgrounds in most panels because it shifts such attention to the characters themselves where their faces are front and center in a neon haven for the eyes.
The color pallet is the most striking aspect of the art: Blue, purple, and green take up the sky and foreboding black bleeds into the harsh red. The coloring is integral to the storytelling, highlighting shifting of alliances and the turning of the turf. Overall, it’s gory, but with a dash of cartoonish style that balances out the outright viscera spilling through the panels. However, so much of the detail was lost in this last issue that it looked more like a rough draft in comparison to the rest of the series. There were many times that characters weren’t well defined enough to determine who they were and far too often faces seemed awkwardly frozen and inappropriate for the scene.
Overall, Curb Stomp is an excellent mini-series that satisfies a taste for sweet, sweet revenge.
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.
You must be logged in to post a comment.