Member Reviews

Not the worst, but not the best either. The whole time I felt like I want it to end, for some reason. And the last issue felt rushed.. But it had some pretty good moments, it gave me chills here and there.

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A stand-alone graphic novel which is definitely worth reading! This is perfect for any fans of horror. I could not keep this one out of my mind until I had finished it!

The protagonist of this graphic novel was previously held against his will as a child in a 'dungeon', and now as a fully grown detective, he follows leads to try and solve the mystery of who abducted him all those years ago.

The story is truly captivating from start to finish, with twists I never saw coming. I think the character building is brilliant, considering it is only 144 pages long. Some pages have a lot of words and speech bubbles going on which could put some people off, but I loved this as it built the story up more.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with a proof of this one. I can't wait to explore the other Dark Spaces graphic novels.

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Thanks to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

If you love the horror genre and enjoy detective fiction then I think you will like this dark thriller.

Tyler is a family man. He has a son, a wife, and a lot of money. At fifty, he is already retired. He used to be a very succesful programmer.
One day after a walk through nature he stumbles upon a hatch. A manhole cover that leads to a dungeon full of chambers designed to torture people slowly.

Bodhi Madoc is an FBI agent. When he was seven years old, he was kidnapped and tortured in an underground chamber for three years. One day, he escaped this nightmare. But having not seen the sun for years, he ran through the forest blind until someone found him and helped him. Because of that, he does not remember where the entrance to the dungeon is, but he has spent his whole life searching for it. Searching for The Keep, his kidnapper, who, while torturing him for days, would tell him about his other dozens of victims and dungeons scattered through the country.

When Tyler reports the discovery of this dungeon, he finds himself in danger and gets quickly involved in Madoc's case and investigation.

I think Madoc, as the main lead is great. His character is really well developed and established. The flashbacks to his childhood, the trauma he carries from those three years in hell, all of that makes him such a good lead. However, Tyler is not as lucky. For the most part, he's very shallowly depicted as the desperate father trying to protect his son. And this choice makes sense, but also made it hard to engage while reading the story.

The art style was not to my liking. It's not a pretty story, so the art is not either. It's gritty, but honestly, a little underwhelming.

I think this graphic novel would have worked better with a couple more issues because the ending feels rushed. It also feels predictable. Yet, I feel like it could be a great source for an adaptation. With a little more space, a better characterization of Tyler, it cold have worked so much better.
I also feel like there was a bit of a plot hole in the beginning, in issue 1. But maybe that's just me.

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Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher! Loved this graphic novel! It was thrilling and suspenseful. I read this in one sitting. I am a fan of Scott Snyder so I knew this was going to be good! The art was beautiful and the story was very fast-paced. It pulls you in from the jump! The ending was great and my jaw dropped when it was finished. Looking forward to more.

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What absolute nightmare fuel!! The ending messed me up! And the artwork with that final twist bone chilling! So pleased with receiving this ARC copy from NetGalley I’ll definitely be telling my fellow horror graphic novel lovers to check this out!!

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Overall, the story was pretty good! I liked the twist at the end. I think I would have enjoyed the story more if it was longer if that makes sense? I feel that some aspects could have been built upon more. In the end, the premise was exactly what I was looking and what I got!

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A dark thriller about a man who tortures people for fun and those caught up in his traps. There's not a lot of character depth here (escapee becomes FBI agent to solve the mystery, rich man wants to find stolen son, etc) but the hook and the stakes are just so intriguing that I flew through it. I can't decide how I feel about the twist at the end, but I will say I was so engrossed that it took me by surprise (I'm a simple reader like that). The artwork is phenomenal.

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Entertaining enough to spend a couple of hours on, but overall Dark Spaces: Dungeon feels like a later season episode of Criminal Minds with a trite and completely predictable twist ending. I feel like having one more issue (or ideally trimming some of the fat off the existing issues and reallocating that space) to focus on developing that twist or adding something novel to the narrative would have served the story well. Snyder and Sherman seem to be trying to ride the line between graphic, pulpy horror and a more psychological thriller, but more commitment to either avenue would have packed a much harder punch. The whole "you never escape your torture because you're obsessing/still there in you head" angle feels extremely overdone to me at this point, and I have a hard time ascribing much added value to this even as a true horror comic because the horror element of the story receives so little page time.

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This story is so messed up in the best way. It reminds me of an even more twisted episode of Criminal Minds. Without a doubt, I will be reading the next book in this series.
For the past 20 years, the serial killer known as The Keep has been stealing people and torturing them in underground tunnels. Only one person, Bohdi, is known to have survived and he has become an FBI agent hellbent on taking down The Keep.

My only slightly negative critique is about the artwork (and this may be due to the fact that I was reading on my ipad with that watermark on the center of every page) but I found some panels to be a little hard to read and the coloring a bit dark. The palette works for the tone of the story but like I said, sometimes it was hard for me to see the images really well.

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Not nearly as good as the first in the series. This was probably my most anticipated ARC so far because I ADORED Wildfire, but it fell so damn flat. I'm just not into brutal torture serial killers who build crazy contraptions because of "sadism", and there is nothing more to Dark Spaces: Dungeon's story. The twist the whole thing hinges on is blatantly obvious from pretty much the beginning, the characters aren't fleshed out in a meaningful way whatsoever - everything I liked about Wildfire is either absent or not as well executed. Also, I don't know if my eyesight is getting worse, but the art was substantially less exciting in this one, even though both Wildfire and Dungeon are illustrated by the same artist - which is a shame cause I loved Wildfire's art and was really looking forward to Dungeon's visuals.

I might've found it okay if I hadn't read the first volume, but I'm just kinda disappointed. For what it's worth, I think Dungeon didn't align with my personal taste as much, so that definitely plays into me liking it less. Since all volumes are standalones, I'm still looking forward to the next one. Fingers crossed it's gonna be better again.

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**Disclaimer: I recieved a free eARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really twisty and dark story, but I loved it.  I found it really compelling to watch them try to catch this serial killer, and to solve the mystery of who he was.  I liked the main investigator character.  The art was well done, though not my favourite that I've seen recently.  That being said, it was definitely well-suited to the story that was being told.  I loved how it all came together.

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Honestly obsessed...Meant to start this as a break time treat but ended up being sucked in; I finished it in one sitting! Each Twist has you on the edge of your seat!

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It’s been a very long time since I’ve read a graphic novel that really blew me away, but I loved this. It’s very similar, in vibe, to NBC’s Hannibal, only much more condensed—truly lightning in a bottle.

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My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher IDW Publishing for an advance copy of the latest addition to the Dark Spaces horror series, this one dealing with confinement, a brutal captor and the fear that even after escaping, one is never truly ever free.

Confinement is something that most humans agree bothers them most. Red tape, rules, regulations speed limits, these are the small confinements that government use to control us every second of every day. Solitary confinement, even though there have been court cases proving that it is brutal and inhumane, is still the number one punishment for people who cause problems in prison. One of the big side effects of confinement, is that one never is sure if they are dreaming about being let go, or if it is all one big hallucination, and one will awake in the dark trapped again. To add to the fear, what if one awoke in confinement, but had no idea why. Stolen from their bed, trapped in a dungeon, crushed by stones, taunted by a voice, never knowing if they would ever escape. Either for real or by dying. Dark Space: Dungeon is written by Scott Snyder and illustrated by Hayden Sherman and is one dark tale about a serial killer, the one who got away, and an innocent who thought he was doing the right thing, and what of course lies underneath.

Tyler is living the American dream. Wife, son, and a huge payout from designing a program to help keep track of one's photos. One day while jogging in the woods, Tyler finds a manhole cover in the middle of no where. Instead of leading to a sewer, it leads to a dungeon, with individual cells, that are equipped to keep people alive, as well as crush bone, and contort spines. Agent Madoc knows all about this. As a child he had been kidnapped, and keep in the cell, broken in many ways, except for his need to escape. However by helping Madoc, Tyler has made himself a target to the dungeon"s master, known as "The Keep". And this sadist has his eyes on Tyler's family. As Madoc and Tyler travel the country, finding clues, "The Keep" makes it clear that no one is safe.

This is one creepy, creepy story. The tension ratchets up like one of "The Keep's" cells and just when one thinks ok, it can't get worse, yup it does. Snyder is very good at storytelling, his long Batman runs prove this, but even more Snyder understands horror, and how to make things mean something. The use of flashbacks to tell Madoc's story, how even being free of the dungeon, nothing seemed real. The subtle hints and clues, the bits of story. All add to a really good story, well good in a rough way. There is some violence, but not as much as one expects graphically. Psychologically though, this book plays with you. The art is excellent. Spooky sure, but Sherman creates these wonderful nature landscapes, the woods, the desert, the trailer park even the birds, that lull the senses, and suddenly one sees the dungeons, or something happens, an almost jump scare, maybe the better term would be a panel scare. Even sitting here typing I am still thinking about the interplay of story and art, and it really is impressive.

Recommended for readers who love horror. These is a rough, creepy and tough little story. I'd push this on people who like scary movies, but have never thought of comics. This would be a perfect movie to make, but I think the story would make most streaming services cringe. So read it here.

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Nice comic, great detail in each drawing. Very interesting story. I loved the twist at the end and had a good creepy vibe. I'm giving it a 4.25 stars a little flat in the beginning but started to get better and kept my attention in part 2. I would love to read more from Scott Snyder.

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Received as an ARC from Netgalley:

THIS WAS HORRIFYING. It is really rare that a horror comic actually manages to disturb me nowadays, but this one definitely did. The art combined with the central idea was fantastic.

Scott Snyder is such a skilled horror writer.

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Thank you to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review

I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend and I can’t wait to buy a copy for myself 🙂

Rating 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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This one blew my mind!!

For all the horror enthusiasts like me, keep your eye out for Dark Spaces: Dungeon. I wouldn’t be surprised if it would be adapted for tv.

A fascinating serial killer has kept agent Madoc in one of his unique dungeons for years as a child. We get Madoc’s backstory through flashbacks and from what he tells his new “partner” and we see him in action on the job. You can only root for him to get his revenge, planning it is what kept him alive down there.

Tyler, a retired programmer, finds a hatch in a forest and this leads to Madoc finally finding the dungeon where he was kept. He was kept in the dark and was practically blind when he escaped so he was never able to find it again. But in the dungeon there’s a message for whoever enters and this leads to Tyler’s family being in danger and soon even worse.. Madoc is taken off the case for endangering a civilian but Madoc and Tyler are a dream team and they keep chasing The Keep. He supposedly has dungeons all over the country and time is running out for someone very dear to Tyler. We learn more and more about this fascinating serial killer and other interesting characters and Madoc’s worst nightmare might be yet to come.

I read this in one go and I was on the edge of my seat and completely glued to “the page” the whole time. This was done so well and I’m grateful NetGalley and IDW Publishing provided me with this arc, I had the best time reading it!

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This book was somewhat a disappointment. The premise for this book was exiting and in fact, the story told in the book was interesting and refreshing, however, I think that the overall comic was not that good. There was way too much writing per page and specially on a small screen like my phone it made it really hard to read. There were certain pages that I simply had to skip because the text was unreadable. The art style was overwhelming as well with too many details that just felt like noise after a few pages.

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Scott Snyder (American Vampire) returns to his Dark Spaces anthology series with “Dark Spaces: Dungeon”, a haunting crime story of a mysterious kidnapper with a penchant for torture and the people who want to bring them to justice. This book is full of beautiful illustrations and visceral storytelling. Check it out!

Similar Vibes: Nailbiter Series by Mike Henderson & Joshua Williamson, Silence of the Lambs

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