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SDCC 2025: Horror Icon Roy Lee and AWA Explore New Frontiers in Horror

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Kill or Be Killed

Join horror icon and Producer behind iconic hits like Barbarian, the It Franchise, The Ring Franchise, and the upcoming Weapons Roy Lee, AWA Studios President Zach Studin, and acclaimed comic artists Tim Bradstreet and Mike Choi (illustrators on Look Out and Kill or Be Killed, respectively), at their San Diego Comic-Con panel, The Future of Fear: How AWA and Roy Lee’s Vertigo Entertainment Are Exploring New Frontiers in Horror. The panelists will discuss new graphic fiction projects and TV/film developments for The Future of Fear, a chilling new anthology that’s taking horror to new terrifying levels, on Thursday, July 24, 2025, at 7:00 pm PT in Room 7AB.

In a panel moderated by Variety journalist Jordan Moreau, the group will give attendees an inside look into how this collection of stories is redefining the genre for comics, illustrated prose, and screen. Attendees will hear how viral creepypasta, AI paranoia, and deep psychological dread are fueling stories like Look Out and Kill or Be Killed, and get an exclusive look at upcoming titles, the creative vision behind the collection, and how these creators are probing the frontiers of fear to create the next great horror franchises.

Announced in June 2024, this sinister alliance between AWA and Vertigo Entertainment is forging the next era of boundary-pushing horror franchises with The Future of Fear. The collection delivers a chilling lineup of stories crafted by a handpicked team of master storytellers and artists. Designed to haunt fans across every medium—illustrated prose, comics, film, and TV—this collaboration redefines how terrifying tales are discovered, created, and consumed, promising to leave audiences thrilled, shaken, and hungry for more. As the Eisner Award-winning publisher brings each story from The Future of Fear to life through graphic works, Vertigo Entertainment and AWA Studios (the Film & TV division of AWA) are teaming up to co-produce the film and TV adaptations, ensuring these chilling tales make their way to the screen. 

The first installment, Look Out, is available now, and the second title, Kill or Be Killed, will be released on August 20, 2025. Further titles in The Future of Fear collection will be announced and released throughout 2025 and 2026. 

WHO: Roy Lee (Renowned Film Producer and Founder of Vertigo Entertainment), Tim Bradstreet (Artist of LOOK OUT, from The Future of Fear collection), Mike Choi (Artist of KILL OR BE KILLED, from The Future of Fear collection), Zach Studin (President, AWA Studios), Jordan Moreau (Moderator)
WHEN: Thursday, July 24, 2025, from 7:00-8:00 PM PT
WHERE: San Diego Convention Center (Room 7AB)

Kill or Be Killed, a Chilling New Title from AWA and Roy Lee’s Vertigo Entertainment

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The rules are simple: kill a complete stranger and livestream the murder, or lose everything. Just when you thought it was safe to scroll again, Artists Writers and Artisans, Inc. (AWA) and Roy Lee’s Vertigo Entertainment are back to upend your nightmares. The two have revealed Kill or Be Killed, the second spine-tingling release in their The Future of Fear collection. This pulse-pounding illustrated prose one-shot from acclaimed author Peter Tieryas and visionary artist Mike Choi hits shelves and digital platforms on August 20.

In a world where your “friend” notification could be your death sentence, Kill or Be Killed imagines a tech dystopia where social media and AI collide with lethal consequences. When random people begin receiving mysterious messages that threaten the lives of their loved ones—unless they murder a stranger and livestream it for all to see—they become victims of a mysterious serial murderer known as the Friendship Killer. The perpetrator’s sinister game spreads like wildfire until one victim embarks on a search for the murderer that sets him down a twisted road of advanced surveillance tech, deepfake capabilities, and AI horror.

The 48-page novella blends page-turning prose with razor-sharp social commentary, brought chillingly to life through Mike Choi’s haunting illustrations that immerse readers in a near-future world that feels all too real. Following the buzzworthy debut of Look Out, which hit stores on May 7, Kill or Be Killed continues The Future of Fear anthology, a cross-platform horror initiative spanning comics, illustrated prose, and screen adaptations. Titles from the collection are already in development for film and television through AWA Studios and Vertigo Entertainment.

Kill or Be Killed

It’s an Image Horror Sale with 213 Comics at 50% Off!

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Halloween is almost upon us and now’s your opportunity to get into the spooky spirit with the “Image Horror Sale” at comiXology.

The sale features 213 collections. Save 50% on series like The Walking Dead, Gideon Falls, Coyotes, Kill or be Killed, Hack/Slash, Revival, and more!

The sale ends on Sunday, November 1, 2020.

Image Comics Horror Sale

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Review: Kill or Be Killed #20

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In the final issue of Kill or Be Killed, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Elizabeth Breitweiser get gutsy narrative-wise by killing off their protagonist Dylan on the opening page, trying a kind of alternate ending, and then switching narrators altogether towards the end of the book. It’s unreliable narration at its finest, and Phillips and Breitweiser turn in some final snow blown New York vistas while Brubaker finally unpacks the book’s message in dramatic fashion, which is basically, “Everything and everyone is screwed”. And, in connection to the real world, this message makes much more sense that when the comic first dropped in the relatively halcyon days of August 2016. In a country where children are separated from their mothers and put in cages, women’s reproductive rights are on the chopping block, and there doesn’t seem to be much to be excited for on 4th of July, Kill or Be Killed’s observations about the unbeatable nature of evil sadly ring true. It’s not something that be thrown in jail or gunned down with a shotgun, it simply is.

Continuing a trend that has permeated the series, Ed Brubaker gives the protagonist, Dylan, some great valid points , but when it all boils down to it: he’s a white male gunning down people. The “imaginary” sequence narrated by him from the afterlife where he has a relatively stable life, is in a relationship with Kira, and acquaintances with the police officer who has been hunting him down the whole series culminates in him killing a corrupt cop and continuing to be a vigilante. (Although, he changes his outfit and M.O. every so often to keep the press, criminals, and NYPD off his trail because everyone’s genre savvy beyond the grave.) Brubaker, Phillips, and Breitweiser riff off superhero comics for a bit in these scenes calling Dylan’s vigilante activities “an unsustainable fantasy version of life” and having the images of a masked man gunning down criminals or brooding on a rooftop ring hollow. The ever present snow helps.

Up to this point, I’ve been qualifying Kill or Be Killed #20 and the series as a whole as having a message or point, and it sort of does: the cycle of evil and the futility of violence to stop it. But, to its credit, Ed Brubaker isn’t preachy in the series using the unreliable narrator device to cast doubt on if Dylan is a sympathetic protagonist, and he and Sean Phillips even play to the lizard brain part of humans and give him a kind of “happy ending” that seems unearned and is ripped away for a path of pain and actual consequences. In what constitutes the comic’s third act, Phillips and Elizabeth Breitweiser relax the stylized panel compositions and dark greys, reds, and blacks for something more neutral and slice of life. Kill or Be Killed has gone from the New York of Death Wish to the New York of the “New York, I Love You” episode of Aziz Ansari’s Master of None although it forgoes its diverse POV for the perspective of a dead white man and a white woman. It’s almost like Brubaker and Philips are apologizing for unleashing Bernhard Goetz 2018 edition on 2018’s New York City.

However, this vibrancy is short lived as Brubaker switches narrators one final time from dead, omniscient Dylan (On a craft level, Kill or Be Killed proves that omniscient narrators still work in comics.) to Kira, whose emotions are filtered out in beautifully lettered captions that are like Todd Klein’s elaborate letters on Batman Year One, but on Sticky Notes. She’s angry that her best friend was ground down by his mental health issues, society around him, and his violent coping mechanisms and coupled with men cat-calling her at every corner, it leads to a breaking point and a literal mirror image of the possibly supernatural inciting incident of Kill or Be Killed. It also made me think about how even more fantastic this series would have been if Kira was the protagonist…

After an action heavy penultimate issue, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Elizabeth Breitweiser use Kill or Be Killed #20 to play around with traditional narrative expectations and look at how life is both terrible and precious from a beyond the grave perspective. And, in closing, Dylan’s vigilante activities were definitely not commendable, and he needed psychiatric help much earlier than the final arc, but he made some excellent social observations throughout the series.

Story: Ed Brubaker Art: Sean Phillips Colors: Elizabeth Breitweiser
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.5 Overall: 9.3 Recommendation: Buy 

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: Kill or Be Killed #19

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In the penultimate issue of the series, Kill or Be Killed #19 ties so many threads together as Detective Sharpe finally realizes that Dylan, not some random guy who got shot, is the masked vigilante. But the main event, or basically double feature, for Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Bettie Breitweiser is a ethics debate between Dylan and Sharpe about why he is a vigilante that is bookended by a tight corner, white knuckle shootout in the ironically named Serenity Oaks. Kill or Be Killed is smart and visceral and beautiful too with a blanket of snow covering the whole issue.

Sean Phillips uses different grids for the “interrogation” sequence in Kill or Be Killed #19 going wide when Dylan realizes that Sharpe has no jurisdiction to arrest or charge him and going skinny when he opens up after Sharpe brings up him killing his drug dealer, Rex, the only “innocent” caught in the crossfire. It doesn’t involve any intense violence, but has all the weight of a great reveal as Dylan gives up everything while also justifying his actions and even asking for thanks from the police officer. Phillips adds a nice level of subtext using the motivational posters in the room like “It’s okay to ask for help” when he opens up. The scene is a setpiece in and of itself with Dylan and Sharpe playing all kinds of emotional and moral trump cards when Dylan decides to go back to his room. However, Sharpe isn’t there to make an arrest; like Clarice in Silence of the Lambs, she’s interested in the psychology behind this vigilante killer. And Dylan finds a little bit of catharsis, and Phillips eases the wrinkles on his face for a bit until Kill or Be Killed kicks into action mode featuring its favorite baddies: the Russian mob. This scene plays out a lot like your favorite director just letting a couple great actors loose in a room as Phillips’ facial acting and use of gutters and Breitweiser’s fluctuating use of shadow play out a second act that is one hell of a moral drama.

With the help of a few panels in the beginning of Kill or Be Killed #19 that show how Dylan has been planning to be a better vigilante while on new meds, the fight between him and Sharpe and the Russian mobsters show how far he’s come since a freaked out, Brooklyn hipster shooting bad people to make a demon shut up. Brubaker and Phillips give him one-liners that would be badass without the context of the series, has him coolheadedly direct a plan of escape,  and even has him make a heroic play towards the end, but scenes that would be “Hell yes!” in any other comic or action movie are downright tragic in Kill or Be Killed. Dylan doesn’t need a gun; he needs help. He may make some valid points about how the United States is a plutocracy, but solves this problem by shooting people in the head. However, Brubaker and Philips don’t make any black and white judgments on him (Even though this is how Dylan says he sees in the world in a sequence reminiscient of Heath Ledger’s Joker with less grease paint.) and make the Russians’ arrival at Serenity Oaks the result of a corrupt cop, not vigilantism. This book loves its moral conundrums, which is great, and places it in the well-earned company of Brian Garfield’s original novel Death Wish , not the Charles Bronson and especially not the 2018 remake directed by Eli Roth.

When reading Kill or Be Killed, I either think that Dylan makes some good points about systemic injustice, is a total violent fuckboy, or is somewhere in between. He isn’t a conventionally likable protagonist, especially in an age of white male mass shooters, even though Ed Brubaker gives him the political views of a frustrated progressive. However, towards the end of Kill or Be Killed #19, he and Sean Phillips start to give Dylan a real, guns a-blazing redemption arc. But his actions with Sharpe against the Russians show how numb he is to killing compared to the police officer who is in shock as the snow swirls around them providing Phillips and Breitweiser a visual shorthand to her emotional state.

With beautifully staged debates about justice and corruption and a chilling, closing action sequence, Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Bettie Breitweiser turn in virtuosic shadow drenched and snow blown work in Kill or Be Killed #19. I can’t wait to see how this grounded lofi (at times) approach to the vigilante genre ends…

Story: Ed Brubaker Art: Sean Phillips Colors: Bettie Breitweiser
Story: 9.5  Art: 10 Overall: 9.8  Recommendation: Buy 

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week!

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Wednesdays are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in!

Each week our contributors are choosing up to five books and why they’re choosing the books. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look!

Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this Wednesday.

Joe

 

Top Pick: The Mighty Thor #706 (Marvel) – As if #705 wasn’t epic and sad enough, let’s deal with even more sad. Bash Marvel all you want for wanting a male Thor, I love Odinson too, but this was consistently one of their best titles, and Jane has been an incredible, worthy, and Mighty Thor!

The Despicable Deadpool #299 (Marvel) – We are almost to the end of a great character redefining run. Deadpool has always been fun, but Duggan has been killing it on this title for years. He will be missed, and I can’t wait to see how this ends.

The Hunt for Wolverine #1 (Marvel) – I get that killing characters off and bringing them back is so comics, especially at Marvel the last few years. However, this is Wolverine. This is Logan. This is the little kid in me cheering loudly. Leave my boy alone, Marvel! I am hyped.

Avengers #690 (Marvel) – What a ride it’s been! I’m excited to see how they wrap all of this up and set up the characters for the multiple upcoming new #1s!

Kill or Be Killed #18 (Image) – This is such a great story that breaks the medium of comics. A fantastic modern take on pulp crime by the masters of that art form.

 

Brett

Top Pick: Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #19 (Marvel) – Fun. That’s what this series is to me with each issue feeling like Indiana Jones in space, just starring a lesbian woman. The twists and turns are entertaining and you never know how Aphra is going to get out of a situation, or what trouble she’ll cause. Pure entertainment with each issue.

Abbott #4 (BOOM! Studios) – A solid read, each issue has a gritty sense about it and the setting has been fantastic.

Black [AF]: Widows & Orphans #1 (Black Mask Studios) – A new entry in the world of Black, I want to see what direction this series goes.

Mother Panic: Gotham A.D. #2 (DC Comics/DC’s Young Animal) – The best of the Young Animal series, this one shook things up by taking us to an alternate Gotham. We’re still trying to figure out what that all means.

The Prisoner #1 (Titan Comics) – The classic television series comes to comics!

Graphic Policy’s Top Comic Picks this Week!

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Wednesdays are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in!

Each week our contributors are choosing up to five books and why they’re choosing the books. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look!

Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this Wednesday.

Joe

Top Picks: The Mighty Thor #705 (Marvel) – To say I am looking forward to this may be a lie, but I am in a way. Jane has been an excellent Thor, and we see Odinson seems to be back in the mantle with Marvel’s Fresh Start announcement, but Aaron usually keeps us guessing. What an excellent run this has been.

The Avengers #685 (Marvel) – We are talking about Banner Hulk vs Red Hulk in Iron Patriot armor, or Iron Hulk. That sentence alone is enough to grab this issue.

Kill or Be Killed #17 (Image) – While I changed to trade in reading this series, this will always be a top pick for me. It is a great series full of intrigue and suspense, and Brubaker does that better than anyone.

Batman #43 (DC Comics) – I have enjoyed this arc with Ivy pulling her puppet strings like vines wrapped around Batman, Catwoman, The Justice League and more. I am excited to see how King ends this. Also, it’s drawn by Mikel Janin.

Doctor Strange: Damnation #3 (Marvel) – This has been off the wall craziness that I expected with this event/series, and I cannot wait to read and see more of it.

 

Alex

Top Pick: Ninja-K #5 (Valiant) – This sleek thriller is nigh on perfect in every way a comic should be; writing, art and general presentation. I can’t wait to read this again in print to see Tomas Giorello’s masterful artwork as it is supposed to be seen.

Batman #43 (DC Comics) – The last issue in this series was utter shite. This has to be better, right…? Honestly, I doubt it, but you gotta hope, right?

Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden #1 (Dark Horse) – I’ve been meaning to check this series out for years because a friend of mine kept raving about it, but I was always waiting for a jumping on point – which I always seemed to miss. Not this time!

 

Brett

Top Pick: Cave Carson Has an Interstellar Eye #1 (DC’s Young Animal) – Pulp adventure is the best way to describe this series and this start to the second volume doesn’t disappoint. This really reminds me of the old serial pulp movies and comic strips and that’s just a whole lot of fun.

Deathbed #2 (Vertigo) – The first issue had me laughing out loud, so I’m in for the second.

Infinity 8 #1 (Lion Forge Comics) – A new sci-fi series from Lion Forge. The concept is intriguing, eight different 3 issue arcs explores an agents’ investigation into multiple plots that could lead to their space cruisers’ doom.

James Bond: The Body #3 (Dynamite Entertainment) – I’ve loved the first two issues which is a much grittier take on Bond than we’ve seen on film. Each issue is a standalone story that focuses on one aspect of Bond’s body and goes from there. The first explored all of the damage he’s experienced, the second his mind, the third? We’ll see!

Weapon H #1 (Marvel) – I’ll admit I’m skeptical about this series taking the character that’s a blend of Hulk and Wolverine. A whole story revolving just around him? So, we’ll see how this one goes and if it can beat my low expectations.

Image Comics’ #WeBelieve Focuses on Artists with Wraparound Covers

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Image Comics has revealed the first seven of 14 exclusive virgin wraparound covers in celebration of artists and the importance and impact they have in defining the comics medium. We Believe in Artists will be the first of many initiatives throughout Image’s planned #WeBelieve 2018 campaign highlighting the important, lately overlooked components of the comics industry.

Comics is a visual storytelling medium with artwork as the driving force behind the narrative, tone, and spirit of a comic book’s sequential narrative. Image Comics hopes to cast a spotlight for fans and members of the comic book community on the momentous significance a piece of artwork can have to sell these stories to readers.

Without titles, endorsement quotes, names, logos, or jacket copy, these wraparound covers feature solely the masterpiece artwork that fans won’t want to miss out on experiencing.

The following bestselling series will feature one of these exclusive, undressed, breathtaking collectors’ covers.

Available on Wednesday, March 7th, final order cutoff deadline on Monday, February 12th:

  • Extremity #12 (Diamond Code JAN180743) by Daniel Warren Johnson
  • I Hate Fairyland #17 (Diamond Code JAN180756) by Skottie Young
  • The Wicked + The Divine #34 (Diamond Code JAN180654) by Jamie McKelvie
  • Witchblade #4 (Diamond Code JAN180875) by Roberta Ingranata

Available on Wednesday, March 14th, final order cutoff deadline on Monday, February 19th:

  • Curse Words #12 (Diamond Code JAN180722) by Ryan Browne
  • Deadly Class #32 (Diamond Code JAN180624) by Wes Craig
  • Maestros #6 (Diamond Code JAN180797) by Nicholas Pitarra
  • VS #2 (Diamond Code JAN180842) by Esad Ribić

Available on Wednesday, March 21st, final order cutoff deadline on Monday, February 26th:

  • Kill or be Killed #17 (Diamond Code JAN180793) by Sean Phillips
  • Monstress #15 (Diamond Code JAN180801) by Yoshi Yoshitani
  • Rumble #4 (Diamond Code JAN180820) by David Rubín

Available on Wednesday, March 28th, final order cutoff deadline on Monday, March 5th:

  • Beauty #21 (Diamond Code JAN180700) by Jeremy Haun
  • Spawn #284 (Diamond Code JAN180831) by Todd McFarlane
  • East of West #37 (Diamond Code DEC178255) by Nick Dragotta

New Story Arc of Kill or Be Killed an Electric Shock to Readers and Goes Back to Print

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The highly anticipated new story arc of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ Kill or Be Killed is on fire with fans eager to pick up where the Volume Three trade paperback’s jaw-dropping cliffhanger left off. Kill or Be Killed #15 is being rushed back to print in order to keep up with the overwhelming demand.

A departure from Brubaker and Phillips’ noir leanings, fan and retailer support has positioned Kill or Be Killed as one of the hottest series on shelves. The addictive ongoing series hooks readers with monster-of-the-week style storytelling and gut-punch plot twists.

The series is currently in development for the big screen with John Wick Director Chad Stahelski and producer Basil Iwanyk on board the project.

Kill or Be Killed follows a young man who is forced to kill bad people and how he struggles to keep his secret as it slowly ruins his life and the lives of his friends and loved ones. In this cannot-miss issue, Dylan is forced to confront the reality of his violent actions and his sanity…and nothing will ever be the same again.

Every issue of Kill or Be Killed contains extra content and articles only available in the single issues.

Kill or Be Killed #15, 2nd printing (Diamond Code DEC178235) will be available on Wednesday, February 21st. The final order cutoff deadline for comics retailers is Monday, January 29th.

Kill or Be Killed #16 will be available on Wednesday, February 14th.

Brubaker, Phillips, and Breitweiser’s Kill or be Killed to the Big Screen

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The John Wick team of director Chad Stahelski and producer Basil Iwanyk are working to bring the comic Kill or Be Killed to the big screen. Dan Casey is attached to write the script. The comic is by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, and Elizabeth Breitweiser, and published by Image Comics. Casey has previously adapted Icognito by Brubaker.

Producers for the film include Iwanyk, Erica Lee, Jeff Waxman, and Brubaker will be an executive producer.

The story revolves around a college student who survives an attempted suicide due to a demon. The demon informs the student for every life he takes he may live for one more month.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

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