Exquisite Corpses #3

Exquisite Corpses #3

by James Tynion IV, Pornsak Pichetshote, Valentine De Landro (Artist)

The blood gets pumping when death is administered to the hospital, and two of the game’s deadliest killers meet-cute at the concert hall. The horror event of the year continues as series creators JAMES TYNION IV (THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH) and MICHAEL WALSH (UNIVERSAL FRANKENSTEIN) are joined by Eisner Award-winning writer PORNSAK PICHETSHOTE (THE GOOD ASIAN) and acclaimed artist VALENTINE DE LANDRO (BITCH PLANET)!

Genres: Comics, Horror

Kindle Edition

Published July 23, 2025

About the author

Prior to his first professional work, Tynion was a student of Scott Snyder's at Sarah Lawrence College. A few years later, he worked as for Vertigo as Fables editor Shelly Bond's intern. In late 2011, with DC deciding to give Batman (written by Snyder) a back up feature, Tynion was brought in by request of Snyder to script the back ups he had plotted. Tynion would later do the same with the Batman Annual #1, which was also co-plotted by Snyder. Beginning in September 2012, with DC's 0 issue month for the New 52, Tynion will be writing Talon, with art by Guillem March. In early 2013 it was announced that he'd take over writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws in April.

Tynion is also currently one of the writers in a rotating team in the weekly Batman Eternal series.

Reviews

[Machiavelli]

Exquisite Corpses #3 leans hard into its gritty, punk-rock horror roots. The artwork is raw and jagged in the best way, matching a narrative that’s chaotic, bleak, and strangely hypnotic. Characters spiral through underground violence, hallucinatory visions, and existential unraveling — but it all feels intentional, like a collage of nightmares stitched together with style.

This series won’t be for everyone, but if you’re into anarchic energy and stories that feel like a scream into the void with continuously building tension, it’s absolutely worth checking out.

[Megan]

Gross!

[Edward Covington]

4.5💉’s
Let’s hear it for ol’ Virginia

[Jannes]

Finally Nurse Pete is dead, hated that guy xD so creepy
I really hope new york loses, he is such a douchebag. Im excited for what will happen next especially with rascal and the fire girl.
And of course RIP Ian you were the GOAT and a real hero🙏🙏🙏

[Cybernex007]

This is why I keep following this series, the personal grudges, the life and death stakes at the hands of the filthy rich, the over the top violence, and the real humanity just trying to survive it all. Coming off the last issue it really feels like we are picking up steam again and things are getting messy! We immediately start this issue with New York trashing on South Carolina. Seems that she is feeling the pressure for sending her own sister into the killing floor. As it turns out the fox masked killer New York got not only turned down SC on a previous game, but her sister decided to spend every waking moment systematically destroying that assassins life. So now that assassin has a front row shot at killing the person who ruined their life…SC doesn’t stand a chance. All the while other families, like Virginia, aren’t interesting in the power play aspect of the game, instead opting for betting on collateral damage. Looking at the scoreboard I love the subtle foreshadowing for what we find later, seeing that the gamer kid Craig picked up already racked up 9 kills and apparently New Hampshire’s knife skin wielding guy was able to kill 8 before Georgia’s axe wielding pretty boy took him out. But Virginia has the nurse, and they can see their player almost ready to make his move.

Small talk is hard with a sociopathic nurse who gets off on poisoning people. As our ambulance drivers Ian and Laura arrive at the hospital they are not enthused to find out the phones are slightly confused when Pete all but disappears inside the hospital immediately as they arrive. But this quiet moment gives the two a chance to talk, and for Lara to really look over the note her uncle left her pleading her to leave. Ian poses the great question, could that have anything to do with the cops disappearing and the wi-fi going away? YES, OBVIOUSLY! But I also agree, this is a great opportunity to listen to Ian’s therapist and take a moment for a bit of self retrospective. Who really are we deep inside? Are we defined by the cliques we grew up with. Look at these two now, Lara was always associated with the over achievers but finds her life too busy to really find what else she wants to do with it, and Ian stayed around with the screw ups. But he still poses an interesting question, who are you deep down. Only then can you start discovering who you are and why you do the things you do and why you don’t do what you should. It’s not a lot, but it’s a great place to start to move forward.

What a sweet heartfelt moment, anyway pretty boy is leading our gas station attendant on big time. What is his game here? He is totally feeding into the guy’s government conspiracies as if he isn’t actively representing a government conspiracy. So why is he trying to lead the attendant to the out skirts of town to see if there are “men in black,” stationed there keeping them in. Also was that a creepy guy in a rabbit costume in the road just now?! He quickly disappeared but pretty boy seemed interested in introducing them to his axe. I wonder if pretty boy is using the attendant (I’m sorry I forgot his name) to lure out the other states.

Elsewhere, Xavi finally makes it to Craig’s place…only to find the place deserted. He went to check around back, only to find a slew of shot up bodies! That would be the gamer kid’s work. The last messages Xavi had from Craig was bad news about the parry. Xavi speculates that Craig may have gone to the show to find him. So all he has to do is go there!

Speaking of shows, at the towns residence dance club two of our killers, the arsonist and the bomb, are meeting and it’s love at first lighter. As they lock eyes the bomb leads the arsonist outside so they can actually hear each other talk. Both of their pagers begin to go off, and as they lock eyes they realize just how much fun they are about to have. Do the pagers signify the location of their drop boxes are nearby? This signifying that they are both there for the same reasons and can work together? Not sure, and not super excited to find out.

Especially after what happened at the hospital. As Ian and Lara went back inside they heard a heart monitor alarm going off. Correction…they heard every heart monitor alarm going off! Almost every patient is bleeding from all their holes and some of them have syringes sticking out. Lara immediately wants to know where nurse Pete went, and as we can see he has unfortunately made his way to the part of the hospital with the new norms. By the time Lara and Ian catch up with him, they found Pete on the ground begging for help and covered in blood. The usually skeptical Lara immediately took pity and realized he wasn’t behind this, but Ian took a second look and realized the nurse dumped packs of blood on himself! Ian pushed Lara out of the way, incidentally bashing her head into the way, before Pete could stab her with one of his poison syringes. As Ian and Pete fight against each other, Pete is able to get Ian on the ground and is able to spray the poison directly into his eye! With Ian reeling on the ground, Pete gets up and goes for Lara. As she tries to push back, suddenly Pete starts bleeding from his mouth…just like all the patients he killed. Ian was able to get the strength to grab one of the syringes and stab Pete with it. With his dying words Ian told Lara her uncle was right, and she needs to get out.

As the issue comes to an end no one is smiling more than Virginia. Her agent may have died, but none of their killers took them out and he racked up double digits, all while their killers are still crawling around for their weapon caches. No way could she believe anyone else will catch-up to her. Gotta be honest, with the bomb and fire working together and seeing all those people in the club…there is a high chance someone else can catch-up. But as the issue comes to a close, SC looks at the monitor and sees Pete bleeding out…and can’t help but rush to the bathroom about to throw up. New York can only laugh as he imagines her sister being next.

[Eliud]

Exquisite Corpses #3 is a masterful continuation of the violent, stylish, and deeply unsettling competition at the heart of this horror miniseries. Writers Pornsak Pichetshote and James Tynion IV, with artists Valentine De Landro and Michael Walsh, draw the reader deeper into the nightmarish spectacle, where killers compete under the watchful gaze of the ultrarich, betting on carnage and suffering.

[Colin Post]

I was a bit underwhelmed by issue 2, but I’m back in the groove with this one. I think my expectations are calibrated now for a fun, over the top horror book with a bunch of top-tier creators collaborating. Speaking of, Pichetshote and De Landro make a solid pair! I especially loved the panels of stuff reflecting in car windshields, colored to perfection by Bellaire.

[alejandro galvez]

It had promise but...

It just got boring now. I also noticed the male characters are portrayed like total cartoon-teeth-chattering wimps. And only the male characters get the gruesome deaths. God forbid you show a woman getting an acid bath. Not a big deal. Just shows me what kind of show this is. First 2 issues were great. Now I just have apathy towards this series.

[RSC_Collecting]

Another great issue! This series is getting wild! So much action! So much death! And I just want more! We're still barely getting started with the game. But it's intense! I can't wait for the next issue!

[A Fan of Comics]

Short but sweet.

This issue rushes by but not without some serious thrills. We get to see what nurse Pete is all about. Meanwhile, the rest of the town is just finding out that the cops arnt around.

[Alex Fyffe]

3.5

[Marisol Puga]

Nurse Pete is the worst. I love the telenovela speech made by the EMT right before he vindicates his whole life. Are those babies ok 😬

[Ex Libris Animus]

Jolly good fun

[faith]

3.5 stars