Storm King Comics Dark & Twisted: Long Haul

by Cullen Bunn, Heath Amodio, Andrea Mutti (Artist)

there are over 700 missing people along America’s interstate highways, hunted, taken, and killed by more than 300 active serial killers.

When Sarah Blake went missing on her way to work, it was too much for her sickly father to handle. His passing, coupled with Sarah’s disappearance, left her older brothers Danny and Carl filled with rage and loss. With nothing and no one left to lose, the two men decide to spend whatever time they have left hunting down long haul serial killers, uncovering the truth about Sarah, and taking the murderers out in brutal fashion.

During their mission for revenge, they learn about a convoy of sociopathic killers known only as The Nine. One of them stole Sarah from beside her broken down car, and the Blake brothers must violently work their way through the Nine and their protectors until they come to the member who took her.

Genres: Fiction

120 pages, Paperback

Published February 21, 2024

About the author

Cullen grew up in rural North Carolina, but now lives in the St. Louis area with his wife Cindy and his son Jackson. His noir/horror comic (and first collaboration with Brian Hurtt), The Damned, was published in 2007 by Oni Press. The follow-up, The Damned: Prodigal Sons, was released in 2008. In addition to The Sixth Gun, his current projects include Crooked Hills, a middle reader horror prose series from Evileye Books; The Tooth, an original graphic novel from Oni Press; and various work for Marvel and DC. Somewhere along the way, Cullen founded Undaunted Press and edited the critically acclaimed small press horror magazine, Whispers from the Shattered Forum.

All writers must pay their dues, and Cullen has worked various odd jobs, including Alien Autopsy Specialist, Rodeo Clown, Professional Wrestler Manager, and Sasquatch Wrangler.

And, yes, he has fought for his life against mountain lions and he did perform on stage as the World's Youngest Hypnotist. Buy him a drink sometime, and he'll tell you all about it.

Visit his website at www.cullenbunn.com.

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans]

I'm not always the biggest fan of Cullen Bunn's work - just about everything outside of Harrow County seems very cliched, and he seems to have internalised the idea that he's especially good at horror (which he doesn't seem to be).

BUT. I quite liked this! It's a nice little thriller about a group of psychopath truck drivers, and the family of one of their victims' revenge on them. I do like a revenge story, and Bunn gives us one. Yes, I would've liked to see more of The Nine (as the psychos are called) as characters before they get slaughtered, parts of the story feel a bit rushed because of this. Maybe The Six would've left more room? The Five?

Anyhow, nice work, mr. Bunn.

(Thanks to Storm King Productions for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)

[Glen]

I don't get it, we have a intro by the author, panels of graphics without any dialog, then there is an explanation of what we just 'read'. Have graphic novels changed?

[Adam Fisher]

Review submitted to Diamond Bookshelf for potential professional publication.

[Christopher Campbell]

Thanks to Storm King Comics For The ARC, and the opportunity to read it.

One of the toughest jobs on the market has to be a truck driver. The physical aspects of the job can be hard, the responsibility of having to drive a truck full of expensive cargo, dealing with loneliness, etc. But it is also a job that has been common in human trafficking activities. Today’s story takes us in a horror/suspenseful approach on a hot button topic that includes human traffiicking and kidnapping.

Storm King Comics Dark & Twisted: Long Haul features a powerhouse creative team consisting of writers Cullen Bunn (The Sixth Gun, Harrow County, Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe), Heath Amodio (The Keeper, The Heathens, Swords in The Shadows) and artists Andrea Mutti (Haunt You To The End, Bunny Mask Hollow Inside, Dark Interlude), and Gigi Baldassini (DCeased: Dead Planet, Over My Dead Body, Adventures of Zannablu).

Over 700 people have gone missing along America’s Interstate Highways. Either hunted, taken, and killed by more than 300 serial killers, this tale focuses on Sarah Blake, who vanished without a trace on her way to work. Her disappearance was too much to handle for her sickly father. Between their father’s passing and their sister’s disappearance, the Blake Brothers were left with rage and loss. With nothing left to lose, the brothers decided to spin whatever time they had left looking for their missing sister, and to hunt down the long haul serial killers, to not only uncover the truth about Sarah’s disappearane, but to take out the murderers in a brutal fashion.

If you’re looking for something action-packed and extremely gory, then I have something for you! Storm King Comics Dread & Twisted: Long Haul was certainly a book that grabs piques your interest quickly, Bunn and Amodio’s approach to horror is fascinating (speaking as a first time reader of both writers), giving us a glimpse into the mind of a serial killer and its cult. The Nine are a sick, psychopathic bunch of serial killers that pose as truck drivers. Both writers offer the perfect disguise for the Nine to use in order to carry out their task. But you can’t give all the credit to the antagonists, I have to give praise to the Blake Brothers, who channeled their loss and anger into taking down their new enemies. The only downside to this was that the story felt rushed, it may be a graphic novel, but 120 pages doesn’t feel long enough to cover the story, explain The Nine or offer any type of lore to build on for this story’s timeline which makes it confusing at times. But it is still great story that is well-written.

As for the artwork in this story, Andrea Mutti and Gigi Baldassini do a fantastic job of portraying how sadistic and twisted both The Blake Brothers and the serial killers can be. It was clever to include several elements of John Carpenter and Sandy King Carpenter’s work into well-placed easter eggs, giving the graphic novel a horror film vibe to it. The color tone for the book was handled well thanks to Valerio Alloro (John Carpenter’s Tales of Science Fiction: Civilians, Star Wars: Hyperspace Stories, Darek) who helped capture the horror aspect of the story with Mutti and Baldassini’s linework.

[Maxine]

In the graphic novel King Comics Dark & Twisted: Long Haul, two brothers, Danny and Carl, set to discover what happened to their younger sister, Sarah, who disappeared on her way to work. Her car was found abandoned and she was seen getting into a long haul truck. The police figure she has just run away but the brothers don’t believe it. During their search for her they learn of a psychopathic gang of truckers known as the Nine. Convinced this gang is responsible for Sarah’s disappearance and likely murder, they set out on a quest for revenge and will not stop until they find out what happed to her or die trying.

The story is written by Cullen Bunn and Heath Amodio and Dark and Twisted is a fitting description of Long Haul, along with extremely violent. There is not a lot of dialogue or prose here but the art by Andrea Mutti and Gigi Baldassini does a brilliant job of telling the tale. My one quibble was the back and fortth in time and events. Without any written storyline to explain how events always fit into the timeline, it did occasionally get confusing, Despite this, I quite enjoyed the story. The brothers are likeable despite the violence and the bad guys are, well, deliciously evil making for a very fast and engrossing experience.

I received an arc of this graphic novel from Edelweiss+ and Storm King Comics in exchange for an honest review

[Chad]

Bunn's horror is hit and miss but I thought this was pretty solid. It's about a trucker family whose sister has went missing. Now her brothers are trying to find her as they come across a group of serial killers called the Nine who are all truck drivers. It's the kind of thing where people can easily disappear and never be seen again so it's a perfect setting. My only complaint really is that it wasn't longer. I would have loved to see more detail put into this and could have easily seen it expanded out to at least 12 issues f not 20 or so. Even Andrea Mutti's art is better than it has been the last few years. I think because he didn't try and do it all himself, having an inker and color artist added to the artwork immensely.

[Chris]

An ok story about two brothers trying to rescue their sister. This wanted very much to be a hard R Tarantino action flick with lots of weird violence. I liked the concept of a bunch of truckers psychos join up to be a serial killer convoy gang. But it reads as a gutted PG-13 version that is about 30 pages to short to have a satisfying conclusion.

[Kris Shaw]

If you like truckers and revenge stories, then you'll like this. Wasn't crazy about the art, and the word balloons got swallowed up in the gutters here and there. Not a bad read, but not up to the usual high standards I've come to know from Storm King.

[Theediscerning]

A weak horror comic, with one bunch of murderous hillbillies against a larger bunch of murderous hillbillies. There's a missing woman, a load of trucks, some really awful artwork when it matters, and just interchangeable stereotypes for character.