Tag Archives: where monsters lie cull de sac

Preview: Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #4

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Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #4

(W) Kyle Starks (A/CA) Piotr Kowalski
In Shops: Feb 12, 2025
SRP: $3.99

The sequel to the breakout hit Where Monster Lies comes to a terrifying conclusion! Special Agent turned Final Girl Connor Hayes and his family are up against a town full of slashers, killers, and witches; can he survive yet another final battle with these monstrous creatures? There’s only one way to find out and that’s to check out the epic final battle!

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #4

Preview: Where Monsters Lie: Cull-de-sac #2

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Where Monsters Lie: Cull-de-sac #2

(W) Kyle Starks (A/CA) Piotr Kowalski
In Shops: Nov 20, 2024
SRP: $3.99

Welcome to Site C! Home of hillbilly slashers, backwoods cannibals, and all the rural killers. I’m sure everything will be perfectly fine here. Oh, and the other monsters send Final Girl turned Special Agent, Connor Hayes out to kill a babysitter to prove his loyalty to them. I’m sure that also will turn out absolutely fine. The monstrous terrors increase in the second issue of the second arc!

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-de-sac #2

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-de-sac #2 delivers laughs and over the top kills

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Where Monsters Lie: Cull-de-sac #2

Welcome to Site C! Home of hillbilly slashers, backwoods cannibals, and all the rural killers. I’m sure everything will be perfectly fine here. Oh, and the other monsters send Final Girl turned Special Agent, Connor Hayes out to kill a babysitter to prove his loyalty to them. I’m sure that also will turn out absolutely fine. The monstrous terrors increase in Where Monsters Lie: Cull-de-sac #2!

Written by Kyle Starks, Where Monsters Lie has been twisted fun. The basic concept is it takes place in the community that serial killers go when they’re not terrorizing communities. Not real world type killers, think more like Jason or Freddie. The “gimmick killers” from classic slasher films. With that, Starks has crafted characters that feel like both a spoof and homage to all of those classics.

The issue introduces us to Site C, another home to killers, this one playing off the “Southern” stereotype. Fuckmaster is the focus here where we learn he’s one of the top five slashers out there but is now looked upon as a traitor to the cause. This part of the comic delivers the slashing gore that’s so over the top it turns into comedy. Subtlety is not this series forte and it holds nothing back delivering a bloody symphony of carnage.

But the main story is really about Agent Hayes who has been turned by the killers and has learned his wife is the daughter of one. Sent on a mission to prove his loyalty the comic takes an expected route but still an entertaining one as logic is dropped by Agent Hayes that makes every decision seem logical and well thought out. It’s a solid part of the comic that keeps things focused and more grounded, in a way, than the outright senseless carnage we’ve seen so often.

The splattering of blood is brought to the page by Piotr Kowalski whose art enhances the glee of destruction. With color by Vladimir Popov and lettering by Joshua Reed the comic has fun with its blood bath and doesn’t take itself seriously. It purposely goes big and drags the comic into comedy instead of slasher gore porn. It’s hard not to laugh at how exaggerated everything is, clearly done on purpose. The series could easily play it all as straight but instead chooses to have fun with winks as nods as the blood flows.

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-de-sac #2 is another fantastic issue that takes classic ideas and gives them whole new spins. It both loves and mocks the slasher genre, leaning more towards the love. It exaggerates what has come before and takes things to extremes doing things on the page that can only really be done on the comic page. It’s a cathartic comic of destruction and bloody glee and is a hell of a good time to read.

Story: Kyle Starks Art: Piotr Kowalski
Color: Vladimir Popov Letterer: Joshua Reed
Story: 8.4 Art: 8.4 Overall: 8.4 Recommendation: Buy

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – Kindle

Preview: Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1

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Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1

(W) Kyle Starks (A/CA) Piotr Kowalski
In Shops: Oct 16, 2024
SRP: $3.99

The hit meta-horror comedy by Eisner-nominated writer Kyle Starks returns just in time for Halloween! Come join us, friends, for it’s time to visit another gated community for slashers and meet a new cast of horrible monsters as we return to the world of Where Monsters Lie. Connor Hayes, final girl turned apex monster hunter, has been brought to Site B and expected to be a good little killer, but will he cooperate? And what sort of bone-tingling secrets inhabit this new horror hamlet?

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1 is continued WTF laughs

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Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1

Where Monsters Lie was one of my favorite comics of 2023. Now, it gets its next chapter with Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac, and it’s a debut I couldn’t be more excited for.

In the first series, it answered the question as to where all of the serial killers go when they’re not upping their body counts, a quiet community where they all lived. By the end, a federal agent, Connor Hayes, had his revenge against them destroying the community but also became what he wanted to destroy.

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1 introduces us to another gated community for slashers. It’s a whole new cast of horrible monsters at “Site B,” where the surviving killers and Agent Hayes, have wound up going to after their tragedy. Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1 teases a lot, including that there’s higher up calling the shots, and questions if Agent Hayes will cooperate and become a happy, helpful, serial killer.

Written by Kyle Starks, Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1 continues with moments that’ll cause you to pause and drop a “holy shit” as to what has been said. There’s a comedy about it all that’s part of the charm of the series. It goes extreme so often in so many ways that the series’ dark comedy roots oozes into everything.

Starks and the team also deliver some amazing new killers, much like the first issue. One who only kills for the holidays must head back out and do so sooner, and spends the issue figuring out what holiday works. Will Arbor Day be ok? How do the kills work into that theme? If that simple bit of debate get you to chuckle, you’ll appreciate the comic which is packed with quick comedic hits along with the more messed up moments.

Starks again is joined by Piotr Kowalski who handles the art, color by Vladimir Popov, and lettering by Josh Reed. Much like the first series, part of the comedic fun of the comic are the visuals. The killers themselves are extremes visually and you’re often guessing what their theme is before they even get a proper introduction. The body language, the head movement, add to the dialogue to help create awkward hilarity.

Like so many horror series, it’s hard to top the original. You need to ramp things up in unexpected ways and Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1 does that. Much like the original, it caused me to pause and laugh, a smirk on my face at the twisted ideas, and has me excited to see what’s next.

Story: Kyle Starks Art: Piotr Kowalski
Color: Vladimir Popov Letterer: Joshua Reed
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Purchase: TFAW – Zeus Comics – Kindle

Preview: Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1

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Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1

(W) Kyle Starks (A/CA) Piotr Kowalski
In Shops: Oct 16, 2024
SRP: $3.99

The hit meta-horror comedy by Eisner-nominated writer Kyle Starks returns just in time for Halloween! Come join us, friends, for it’s time to visit another gated community for slashers and meet a new cast of horrible monsters as we return to the world of Where Monsters Lie. Connor Hayes, final girl turned apex monster hunter, has been brought to Site B and expected to be a good little killer, but will he cooperate? And what sort of bone-tingling secrets inhabit this new horror hamlet?

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1

Early Review: Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1 is continued WTF laughs

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Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1

Where Monsters Lie was one of my favorite comics of 2023. Later this year, it gets its next chapter with Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac, whose first issue comes to comic shops on October 16, 2024.

In the first series, it answered the question as to where all of the serial killers go when they’re not upping their body counts, a quiet community where they all lived. By the end, a federal agent, Connor Hayes, had his revenge against them destroying the community but also became what he wanted to destroy.

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1 introduces us to another gated community for slashers. It’s a whole new cast of horrible monsters at “Site B,” where the surviving killers and Agent Hayes, have wound up going to after their tragedy. Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1 teases a lot, including that there’s higher up calling the shots, and questions if Agent Hayes will cooperate and become a happy, helpful, serial killer.

Written by Kyle Starks, Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1 continues with moments that’ll cause you to pause and drop a “holy shit” as to what has been said. There’s a comedy about it all that’s part of the charm of the series. It goes extreme so often in so many ways that the series’ dark comedy roots oozes into everything.

Starks and the team also deliver some amazing new killers, much like the first issue. One who only kills for the holidays must head back out and do so sooner, and spends the issue figuring out what holiday works. Will Arbor Day be ok? How do the kills work into that theme? If that simple bit of debate get you to chuckle, you’ll appreciate the comic which is packed with quick comedic hits along with the more messed up moments.

Starks again is joined by Piotr Kowalski who handles the art, color by Vladimir Popov, and lettering by Josh Reed. Much like the first series, part of the comedic fun of the comic are the visuals. The killers themselves are extremes visually and you’re often guessing what their theme is before they even get a proper introduction. The body language, the head movement, add to the dialogue to help create awkward hilarity.

Like so many horror series, it’s hard to top the original. You need to ramp things up in unexpected ways and Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1 does that. Much like the original, it caused me to pause and laugh, a smirk on my face at the twisted ideas, and has me excited to see what’s next.

Story: Kyle Starks Art: Piotr Kowalski
Color: Vladimir Popov Letterer: Joshua Reed
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy

Dark Horse provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Pre-Order: TFAW – Kindle

Return to Where Monsters Lie with Cull-De-Sac

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Slashers always come back for more, so it should be no surprise that Wilmurst and all its residents will return in Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac, the next volume in Kyle Starks and Piotr Kowalski’s Where Monsters Lie series. The hit meta-horror comedy by Eisner Award-nominated writer Starks, illustrator Kowalski, colorist Vladimir Popov, and letterer Josh Reed returns just in time for Halloween.

Come join us, friends, for it’s time to visit another gated community for slashers! Meet a new cast of horrible monsters as we return to the world of Where Monsters Lie. Connor Hayes, final boy turned apex monster hunter, has been brought to Site B and expected to be a good little killer, but will he cooperate? And what sort of bone-tingling secrets inhabit this new horror hamlet?

Where Monsters Lie: Cull-De-Sac #1 (of 4) will be available in comic shops on October 16, 2024. It is now available to pre-order from your local comic shop for $3.99.