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Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2 plunges the crew, and readers, further into the horror

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Event Horizon #2

After activating the experimental gravity drive aboard the ship, the crew of the Event Horizon are transported to an outer-space hellscape that defies comprehension. Already, this new realm is making some of the crew behave…strangely. And still, the worst is yet to come, as the king of this hell is about to make his entrance! Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2 continues to build off the visual horrors of the original film.

There are a few films that have trouble watching. When there’s extreme gore and body horror, I tend to wince and often struggle to get through it. Hellraiser and Event Horizon are two that I’ve watched and dread watching again. So, I went into the first issue of Event Horizon: Dark Descent with a slight PTSD of the film and slight tenseness knowing my experiences from watching the movie. I was able to make it through the comic, though with unease. Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2 continues that unease as to crew is plunged into hell and are confronted by the demons within.

Written by Christian Ward, Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2 focuses on the maiden voyage of the ship and what happened to it and its crew before the events of the film. With the drive activated, they have found themselves in hell surrounded by cosmic horrors and their own horror within. Quickly the crew succumbs to it all and that could be the only gripe of the comic. Yes, we know that something terrible happened, but there’s little tense build up to all of that and the second issue dives right into much of the crew being driven mad. It’s not a build up of visions or haunted by ghosts of their pasts, it’s just straight up madness at times resulting in their self harming with a popular one being gouging out their eyes. It’s quick to get to gore.

But, it’s not everyone, and that’s what’s interesting. There are some crew focused and not impacted, as far as we know. Instead they want to figure out what has happened and do what they can to get back to safety. It’s the levelheaded having to deal with the madness that will make what’s to come rather interesting.

The art by Tristan Jones delivers the carnage with color by Pip Martin and lettering by Alex Ray. There is some solid, and disturbing imagery, with eyeballs hanging out and the bloodshed by crew. The comic’s art drives right up to the line of butchery that might distract. There’s gore. There’s some crazy stuff. But, it’s not quite to the level where you need to look away at the abject horror of it all. The look overall is a dirty style that fits the horror aspect of the comic and delivers an unease in the visuals.

Event Horizon: Dark Descent #2 is an interesting issue that dives right into the madness we all knew was coming. We only have hints as to what happened to this crew and there still some things yet to come that we know about. Overall, the comic feels like it’s doing a solid job of expanding this version of hell and the world of Event Horizon.

Story: Christian Ward Art: Tristan Jones
Color: Pip Martin Letterer: Alex Ray
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy

IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

Everything Dead and Dying #1 adds an emotional gut punch to the zombie genre

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Everything Dead and Dying #1

Jack Chandler is the sole survivor of the zombie apocalypse in his rural farming community, but rather than eliminate them, he has chosen to continue living alongside the undead—including the husband and adopted daughter he fought so hard to have. But when his town is discovered by outsiders, Jack suddenly becomes the one thing standing in the way of those who hope to kill his family for good. Everything Dead and Dying #1 is a new entry in the zombie genre but delivers something new and different with the debut issue.

The zombie genre goes back over 200 years. Over the centuries, there’s been classic movies, books, television shows, comics, and video games all taking advantage of the genre. Generally, we think a story of survival against ravenous mindless hordes but The Walking Dead, World War Z, and even Romero’s classic Night of the Living Dead all showed the genre could be more, exploring our world, exploring humanity, or delivering the story from new perspectives. So, it gets interesting when there’s something new added to the genre when there’s so much out there. Everything Dead and Dying feels like something new and different.

Written by Tate Brombal, Everything Dead and Dying #1 introduces Jack Chandler. Through a tale told to his daughter, we learn about Jack’s life. His rough childhood, being ostracized by the community because of his sexuality, his meeting the love of his life, and their eventually adding a daughter to their family. It’s all a sweet tale but through it, you can tell there’s a bit of melancholy. And then we find out the reality. Jack is alone. Not because the story isn’t true. It’s because a deadly outbreak has happened turning those who catch it into zombies. Jack is immune though.

So, what does a person do if they’re alone and survived the zombie apocalypse? You go about your life, finding purpose in taking care of your zombie community. A slightly different take on the concept, a more passive zombie that seem fine as long as they’re taken care of as far as food. Jack is a farmer, so he has plenty to live off of and the knowledge to survive, but he sees the inevitability of it all and wonders what’s next for him. His animals get sick, he’s getting old, time is wearing on him and what he needs to survive. All the while his family, now zombies, live in the house, and the city is still filled with the shambling remains of his neighbors. He protects them and in some ways they protect him by giving him purpose and drive. He has them to take care of.

So, what happens when that quiet, peace, and routine are shattered by outsiders? That’s what we’ll find out in Everything Dead and Dying, a new exploration of the definition of humanity and what drives us to live.

The art by Jacob Phillips nails the rather sad, at times morose, story. With color by Pip Martin and lettering by Aditya Bidikar, the comic features a color palette that adds to the rather dour situation but also balances that with the brighter, sunnier, surroundings it all takes place in. We get the feel of the situation with zombified individuals dirty, falling apart, worn, but balanced with the beautiful nature that is Jack’s land and farm, and the small town feel of it all. This isn’t a story of survival in the big city, it’s survival in the small towns that have been left behind in modernity and the art captures that feel. Bidikar’s lettering too stands out as it’s not just Jack’s dialogue and recounting of everything, but even the zombies themselves have a bit of personality through the choice of lettering that emphasizes and reminds us of their nature.

Everything Dead and Dying #1 is a hell of a start that has a chance of going down as a classic in the genre. It presents a new and different take on the genre and feels like it has something to say underneath it all. Beyond the shambling remnants of society, it’s the story of a man who finds purpose in a horrible situation and will have to fight to keep it, even when it feels like madness.

Story: Tate Brombal Art: Jacob Phillips
Color: Pip Martin Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1 captures the horror of the film

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An all-new cosmic horror story set in the universe of the terrifying cult-classic film! The Event Horizon was a revolutionary spaceship designed for one mission: faster-than-light travel with a top secret and experimental gravity drive. But upon activating the device, the ship journeyed across the borders of HELL ITSELF. In a nightmarish realm of torments beyond imagining, Captain Kilpack and the first crew of the Event Horizon must resist all manner of demonic forces including Paimon, the eyeless King of Hell, and their own descents into madness and bloodlust, if they’ve any chance of escaping back to their own world. Abandon all hope and board the Event Horizon.

Story: Christian Ward
Art: Tristan Jones
Color: Pip Martin
Letterer: Alex Ray

Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.

Zeus Comics
Kindle

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Cult-Classic Horror Film Event Horizon gets a Prequel Comic Series from IDW Dark

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For the first time in almost 30 years, fans can board the Event Horizon for a twisted new tale…

Event Horizon: Dark Descent is the first expansion of the cult horror favorite since it was released in theaters by Paramount Pictures in 1997. The terrifying cinematic universe was originally created by director Paul W.S. Anderson and writer Philip Eisner, and now an innovative crew of acclaimed comic book creators – multiple Eisner Award-winner Christian Ward, powerhouse sci-fi artist Tristan Jones, and rising star colorist Pip Martin – proudly present the official prequel to the unforgettable film that has haunted fans for decades.

Embracing the hard-R rating of the shocking movie, Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1 (of 5 issues) will lightspeed jump into comic shops this August. Taking place before the events of the film and completely accessible to new readers, this is the unbelievable story of the final fate of the original Event Horizon crew. What really happened to Captain Kilpack and the first crew as their ship journeyed across a nightmarish realm of torments beyond imagining? Abandon all hope as demonic forces – led by Paimon, the eyeless King of Hell – unleash agony and pure evil upon the crew in a gripping story.

Event Horizon: Dark Descent #1 (of 5 issues) is on sale August 20, 2025 with a pre-order deadline of July 14, 2025. The first issue will feature a primary cover by Jeffrey Alan Love, variant covers by Christian Ward, Martin Simmonds, and Joshua Hixson, a foil full art variant of Ward’s cover, and a sketch cover.

The Enfield Gang Massacre #1 promises a whole new chapter in the world of Ambrose County

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The Enfield Gang Massacre #1

Westerns are bursting at the seams with infamous towns and counties whose histories are written in blood. The city of Tombstone in Arizona, the town of Deadwood in South Dakota, these are places that birthed stories and legends about how wild the West really was, and how violent the men in them were. Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips already had their very own dark Western town in their Neo-Western comic That Texas Blood, a place called Ambrose County. Now, fans of Texas Blood get a kind of origin story for it in a new spin-off series called The Enfield Gang Massacre, a story that goes back to the time of cowboys to unearth the violent happenings that gave birth to the land future criminals will take up residence in.

The story centers on the pursuit of Montgomery Enfield, an outlaw with a gang of his own, that’s believed to have authored the grisly murder of a bank worker back in 1875. The people of Ambrose County, a small Texas town at this point in time, demand justice at any cost. A mob of angry people have decided this man’s particular killing demands justice be repaid in kind, a comment on how thin the lines is between legal consequences and revenge. Just how fair the whole ordeal will turn out to be remains to be seen, but things are pointing to a very messy end, something that’s given credence by the comic’s title itself.

The Enfield Gang Massacre #1

Condon brings the same attention to detail to character development and world building that’s present in That Texas Blood. Both the people of Ambrose and the members of the Enfield Gang feel storied, complete with their own stubborn prejudices and ideals. It’d be easy to equate the world and character work done here with that seen in the crime films of the Coen Brothers, and while there’s certainly some of it here, Condon’s approach is specific enough to warrant its own space in the genre.

The same carries over to Phillips’s art, another showcase of nuanced character design and geographic cohesiveness. Phillips’s attention to character is as focused as that afforded to Ambrose County. Personalities and attitudes jump out of every person displayed on a panel, while the location’s essence is felt throughout. Phillips harnesses the violence Condon extracts from his dialogues and makes sure everything follows suit.

The Enfield Gang Massacre #1

The coloring, done by Phillips along with Pip Martin on assists, makes sure there’s an aesthetic link to Texas Blood. There’s an interest in capturing an overarching feel to the story that places Enfield Gang in the continuum of Texas Blood‘s history. Every single element is tuned to that particular frequency, and it allows for a personal type of worldbuilding that favors the minutia of shared experiences rather than large scale events to hold everything together.

Special mention has to be given to the faux newspaper article exploring the titular massacre found in the last pages of the book. It takes the form of a special investigative report on the myths behind the massacre and how important it is to remember that facts are always pulling in one direction while local legends push with equal strength in the other. It puts the story’s essence on a slab for readers to dissect, inviting discussions on the nature of verifiable truth vs. agreed upon truths. I look forward to more of them.

The Enfield Massacre #1 promises a whole new chapter in the world of Ambrose County, giving it a longer narrative reach while opening numerous doors for more stories spread throughout the location’s history. Condon and Phillips are producing career-defining work here, and we’re lucky to be witnessing it one comic at a time.


Story: Chris Condon, Art: Jacob Phillips Color Assists: Pip Martin
Art: 10 Story: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Read and make sure you’re also following That Texas Blood.

Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle

Charlie Adlard and Simon Spurrier Unleash Hell in Damn Them All #1

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BOOM! Studios has revealed a first look at Damn Them All #1, a brand new original horror series from legendary The Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard and highly acclaimed writer Simon Spurrier, colorist Sofie Dodgson, and letterer Jim Campbell, that introduces your favorite new occult antihero in a dark supernatural thriller on October 26, 2022.

Meet Ellie “Bloody El” Hawthorne: occultist-for-hire. Following the death of Ellie’s uncle, an infamous magician and occult detective, the 72 devils of the Ars Goetia are mysteriously freed from their infernal realm. Now it’s up to Ellie to track down each of these exiled demons and damn them right back to Hell by any means necessary… holy water, conjuration, or just her trusty, rusty claw hammer.

Damn Them All #1 features main cover art by series artist Adlard, and variant covers by acclaimed illustrators DANI with Tamra Bonvillain, Christian Ward, Sean Phillips with Pip Martin, Becky Cloonan, and InHyuk Lee.

Damn Them All #1
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