Discover what happened to the original crew of the Event Horizon in this all-new cosmic horror graphic novel set in the universe of the terrifying cult-classic film!
This original comic series serves as an official prequel to the film! The Event Horizon was a revolutionary spaceship designed for one mission: faster-than-light travel with a top-secret, 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 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 with multiple Eisner Award winner Christian Ward (writer of Batman: City of Madness, Two-Face) and powerhouse sci-fi artist Tristan Jones (Aliens: Defiance, Tales of the TMNT) in this unbelievable story of the true and final fate of the original Event Horizon crew.
I read the individual issues. I love the movie and this series was good, but it was missing something. The first three issues were nearly flawless. Worth a read if you like horror.
There’s a suffocating quality to Event Horizon: Dark Descent that lingers long after you close it. This isn’t just a sci-fi horror comic—it’s a slow psychological implosion set against cold steel corridors and the vast indifference of space. From the opening pages, you feel that something is fundamentally wrong, not in a loud or jump-scare way, but in a creeping, invasive way. The ship feels less like a vessel and more like a sealed coffin drifting through the void, and that oppressive atmosphere never lets up.
What makes the series especially unsettling is how intimate the horror becomes. The dread isn’t only external—it’s internal, corrosive, personal. You watch the crew unravel not through spectacle, but through mounting tension, paranoia, and subtle fractures in trust. The artwork amplifies that descent beautifully: shadows swallow panels whole, faces distort under stress, and the color palette feels almost hostile. It’s the kind of visual storytelling that makes you lean closer to the page while simultaneously wanting to pull away.
As a horror experience, this comic doesn’t just aim to shock—it aims to unsettle your sense of reality. It feels cosmic in scope but claustrophobic in execution, a rare balance that makes the terror feel both infinite and inescapable. If you enjoy horror that simmers before it burns, that crawls under your skin rather than simply splattering it, this graphic novel delivers a chilling, slow-motion fall into something unknowable and deeply wrong.
There have been attempts to franchise Paul W. S. Anderson’s underrated gem, 1997's Event Horizon, and with IDW publishing comic series based on other horror franchises like 30 Days of Night and A Quiet Place, we finally got the official prequel with Dark Descent. Touching upon a major plot thread from the film, this five-issue miniseries explores what really happened to the original crew of the Event Horizon spaceship.
The film Event Horizon was a genuinely disturbing horror story, and it deserved a whole hell of a lot better than the treatment it got here. The "plot" shows what happened to the original crew, and gives some ridiculous backstories to them, before reducing the sinister evil of the film to a - quite literal - pitchfork-waving cartoon devil. The artwork is amateurish, consisting mostly of a tin of red paint splashed across the page. I don’t like to trash things that people have put effort into, but this is just awful on all counts. Avoid like the plague.
Woof. This was not good. File under “stories that don’t need to be told.” This prequel reveals too much, to the extent that it kind of diminishes the story told in the movie. I thought I wanted more Event Horizon, but it turns out I didn’t want that at all.
Many thanks to IDW Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced copy of Event Horizon: Dark Descent by Christian Ward with artwork by Tristan Jones. This comic is based on the original film Event Horizon and serves as a prequel to understand how the abandoned ship The Event Horizon was initially left floating in space sending out distress signals. While I’ve heard of the film, I’ve never seen it. It’s not necessary to see the film to understand the basic storyline of this comic, but it might be more interesting if you are familiar with the events of the film. You’ll be able to pick up on a few key details (that I ended up googling while reading this). Nevertheless, as someone who was not really familiar with the film, I absolutely loved this comic. The story and artwork are dark and dread-inducing. It’s bloody, gory, and gross, and the pages are filled with the kind of cosmic horror that can truly tout the term Lovecraftian. I loved how the story combines elements of sci-fi, quantum physics and space travel with occult and demonology, and doing so in a creative and unique manner that synthesizes these two genres. The story begins with Dr. Will Weir, who is in the original film. Dr. Weir is the designer of the ship, but he is grieving over the loss of his wife. His grief seems to induce strange dreams about his wife who is calling for him to find her. In some of the dreams, he envisions her bloody and eyeless, among other graphic scenes in the Event Horizon. We then learn about the crew of the ship who are preparing to fulfill the main objective of their mission: an interdimensional jump facilitated by a gravity drive, allowing the ship to fold space time and move between vast distances in a matter of minutes as opposed to millions of years. The ship has staffed a crew of expert scientists, physicians, engineers, and navigators to facilitate this monumental experiment. However, as we learn in the first act, all of the crew members are escaping their own personal traumas and pain they experienced on earth, whether it was recent or from their pasts. In a way, they all seemed to see the journey in space as a means of escaping their past pain; however, as we will soon find out, hell is inside of them, and their pain and trauma will reemerge as their worst nightmares. As the crew gets ready to engage the gravity drive, the communications officer receives a notice from Earth about one the crew members’ whose escape involves a death he tried to cover up. When Nia Atwell, the coms officer, attempts to inform the captain about their navigator Devlin Conners’s warrant, Conners ends up killing Atwell. It was a little unclear if this prevented these two crew members from being at their posts and prepping for the jump, but in any event, when the gravity drive is engaged, something strange happens, and it seems to have opened a portal to hell, bringing in Paimon, the sightless king of hell. Paimon recognizes the desperation and violence in Conners and uses him as a kind of soldier to inflict his torments and violence on the crew, killing them in gruesome and gory ways. I won’t get into the details here, but the story takes on a kind of occult slasher feel, as the crew, unaware that a portal to hell has been opened, try to make sense of the uncertainty and dread that seem to be plaguing all of the crew. Furthermore, each of the crew members begin to hallucinate about their traumas, re-living them and experiencing the pain and tumult of these traumatic experiences that they sought to escape. I couldn’t put this edition down, reading through the story in nearly one sitting. The story really picks up once Conners kills Atwell and the portal to hell is breached, allowing Paimon to enter the Event Horizon. Furthermore, Jones’s dark, gory artwork contributes to the feeling of dread and cosmic horror that permeates this book, like a lurking fear or creeping death. His artwork emphasizes not only the uncertainty of unexplored dimensions but also features examples of gruesome body horror and a gory ghoul that seemed to be constructed from the bodies of the dead crew members. It’s totally gross, and I loved it. This was a fun and wild comic, although it’s definitely a downer. Nevertheless, I recommend this for fans of dark sci-fi, and the kind of Lovecraftian cosmic and body horror that Stuart Gordon would be proud of. Highly recommended!
Nearly 30 years after the cult classic Event Horizon hit theaters, Eisner-winning writer Christian Ward and artist Tristan Jones return to its haunted universe. Event Horizon: Dark Descent explores what happened to the original crew, prior to the events of the feature film. This new chapter in Event Horizon is a must-read for those fans of the 1997 sci-fi horror.
The Event Horizon was a revolutionary spaceship designed for one mission: faster-than-light travel with a top-secret, 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 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.
Event Horizon: Dark Descent echoes the tone of the original film while also bringing a fresh perspective to the story of the ship and its doomed crew. Unlike the film, which kept us guessing for much of its runtime, Christian Ward wastes no time as he plunges us straight into the madness. Since we all know what premise, there is no need for the mystery. Instead, the story leans into the chaos early and expands the backstory in new ways. It's a faster, more direct descent compared to the film's slow-burn approach.
What I loved about the original film was its crew, a group of misfit scientists, soldiers, and technicians. Dark Descent captures that same feeling with a new and unique cast. Ward introduces each character with their own roles and personal flaws, perfect for the demonic entity Paimon's influence. The character development is on point and sets up the crew in an interesting way, all while we wait for their eventual demise.
Tristan Jones' artwork is graphic and deeply unsettling in such an amazing way. Jones mixes visceral horror, nudity, and violence which brings in facets of the original film, all while adding a touch of new perspective. The visuals are enhanced by the colors of Pip Martin and fantastic lettering by Alex Ray, pushing the intensity of every page even further.
While familiarity with the 1997 feature will add to your overall experience, this series stands on its own as a dark, mature, and stunningly crafted cosmic horror tale, well worth the nearly 30-year wait.
Event Horizon: Dark Descent is a great return to the universe, nailing the disturbing feeling and psychological horror that made the original film become a cult classic. Writer Christian Ward and artist Tristan Jones craft a brutal, unsettling and character-driven story that not only expands on the mythology of the original film, but also carves its own path. Event Horizon: Dark Descent is a wonderful return to cosmic horror that honors the film's legacy while being a nightmare all its own. Plus, all the more reason to rewatch the classic film over again.
The collected edition of Event Horizon: Dark Descent hits local comic shops and bookstores everywhere on July 28, 2026 (FOC: June 22) from IDW Publishing.
My thanks to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for an advance copy of this graphic novel that tells of a spaceship, a way of travelling through the stars, the burden that humans bring with them everywhere, and how this burden can manifest itself, when the rules of science, moraliity, and mortality are changed by human hubris.
I am a fan of pineapple on pizza. My body shape proves that I am a fan of peanut butter in chocolate, and chocolate in my peanut butter, as the old ad for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups went. Mixing things has never been a problem, especially when it comes to book genres. Especially science fiction and horror. Something about this works quite well, the sterility of science, meeting that evil that men can do, exploring the depths of space, and the depths of the human soul. I saw the movie Event Horizon in theaters, an experience I can still remember, and numerous watchings on DVD has only deepened in me. The movie is both good and flawed, beautiful to look at, lost in its storytelling. And darker than a black hole. One of the problems has always been what happened on the maiden voyage of this ship that could travel so far, and what is it that came back. And why. Now we know a little more, and what we can imagine is far worse. Event Horizon: Dark Descent is written by Christian Ward and illustrated by Tristan Jones, a story about space exploration ,and what is waiting for us in the places where light has never penetrated, infested with creatures of malice and destruction.
The time is the near future. The biggest technological marvel ever attempted by humans, the spaceship known as the Event Horizon, is prepared to take its maiden voyage to the stars. The creators on the project are having bad dreams. The crew are hiding things from each other, and mainly from themselves. The experimental gravity drive is also a mystery, how does it work, where will it take the Event Horizon, and what awaits the crew there. From the get go things go wrong. The drive activates and the ship finds itself somewhere else. Secrets lead to violence, violence to mutilation. The ship is fighting them as hard as the creatures who have invaded the ship are. And what one sees can't be trusted. Even when it is too late.
Writing a prequel is hard, as one kind of knows where the story is going. Ward does a good job, setting up the ideas of what is going to happen, giving the crews a backstory, and having their inner lives soon be fodder for the creatures they soon appear. The first three issues are really good, tense and scarry, with a lot of violence, rendered well. The last two issues are stuck in prequel territory, one knows what is going to happen, so nothing can be real or permanent. Ward doesn't retro-conn things, but lets the story go where it is going. The art is really quite good, scarry as I said, but with both a horrific feel, and a scientific feel. Things look like workable tech. The crew are all rendered different and even covered in blood recognizable. And the gross is really gross.
I can see more being told about this universe, what happens next, what came well in the past, and where things are going. Intellectual property is a trap in a way, but with stories branching off the main one, there is a lot to explore. I look forward to more in this series, and even more by the creators.
I received an ARC of Event Horizon: Dark Descent from NetGalley and IDW Publishing in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Event Horizon: Dark Horizon expands the premise of the cult horror film and succeeds most when it embraces the pure cosmic dread of the film. The comic deals with the fate of the original crew and the hopeless, claustrophobic terror that made Event Horizon memorable in the first place. The movie’s haunted-spaceship atmosphere can be found in this comic and I appreciate how bleak and disturbing the story becomes.
The artwork is one of the comic’s strongest elements. The visuals are gruesome, chaotic, and often genuinely unsettling, capturing the feeling that reality itself is unraveling aboard the ship. The violence and psychological horror rarely feel restrained, which gives the comic the same cruel edge that helped the film earn its reputation over the years.
Having said that Dark Descent in my opinion falls down on one key issue, it explains too much. What made Event Horizon terrifying for me was the unknowable nature of the evil behind the ship. It allowed the viewer to relate to what the original crew themselves must of felt. By giving clearer answers and attaching more defined mythology to the horror, the comic loses some of the mystery that allowed the original film to linger in the imagination.
The characters in the comic are not especially memorable compared to the film’s cast. While the comic delivers atmosphere and brutality in abundance, it sometimes lacks the emotional depth needed to make every death or revelation hit as hard as it should.
Even with those flaws, Event Horizon: Dark Descent works well as a grim companion piece to the movie. It understands what worked for the movie: despair, isolation, and the terrifying idea that something far worse than death waits beyond human understanding. Anyone looking for disturbing sci-fi horror will likely find plenty to enjoy in this comic, even if the comic sacrifices some of the original story’s mystery along the way.
Thank you to IDW Dark and the author for making it possible to enjoy this story in advance of its release date for an unbiased review.
And especially thank you to IDW Dark for greenlighting the other limited series derived from horror IP, giving lovers of the original films that extra worldbuilding and storytelling to sate us between sequels and reboots. I am looking forward to the inquels and interquels in the Smile and A Quiet Place universes
In the original cult 1997 movie, the military receives a distress signal and sends off the Lewis and Clark to track down and determine the fate of the Event Horizon, whcih was meant to land in Proxima Centauri, but ends up reapperaring appearing around Neptune after disappearing for 7 years.
Dark Descent is the story of the original crew's fate, told as gritty and grisly by the pairing of Ward and Jones. Normally, I would provide some visual excerpts of the artwork, but I think it is a think best unprepared for (and I am sure I would get complaints).
1997's Event Horizon is hands down one of the greatest sci-fi horror films Hollywood has ever made. Not particularly successful at the time, the film has gone on to achieve cult status, and is one of my personal favourites. I also quite like the fan theory that links the film to the Warp space of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, but that's a different story.
Event Horizon: Dark Descent tells the story of what happened to the first crew, events which are only hinted at in the original film. The book follows this new crew, and deftly gives you snippets of their background which works well in the succinct way it sets them all up. On the ships maiden voyage, it encounters the chaos space established in the first film, and we proceed to witness the horrifying events that befell the crew.
Dark Descent is a nice extra for fans of the film, the art work is fine, however some of the normal human action seems a little unclear. Where the artwork really shines is the gruesome and truly horrific horror elements.
I think what Dark Descent does not do too well is develop the mythology behind Event Horizon. In the film, the ship is corrupted and assaulted by an unknowable and devastating entity, and in this book they try to give the horror a face. The image they create is excellent, and genuinely looks like it could have been a lost horror icon, but in personifying the evil, it takes away from the cosmic, Lovecraftian elements of the original film.
Overall, it's a solid slice of sci-fi horror in comic book form, whilst not a stone cold classic like it's cinematic forefather, it holds appeal for fans of the film.
Knowing we'll never get the director's cut of Event Horizon naturally leaves the fan with a certain void, but if the film should have taught us one thing, it was surely that some calls should not be heeded. Which is to say, I was excited when I heard we were getting this prequel comic, but having read it, I now see that it wasn't necessarily any better an idea than 2 Magnificent 2 Ambersons would be. Yes, some of the Hell stuff is suitably impressive; the usual urge when reading a comic written by Christian Ward is to wish he'd drawn it too, but I genuinely think Tristan Jones might have been a better match for the look of the film, or at least, a look that conveys how the film feels. But the story... even beyond the standard prequel issue that we go in already knowing exactly what happened to the original crew of the ship in as much detail as we really need, they turn out to be a one-dimensional bunch, mostly running away from something (and many of those somethings the sort which would surely be picked up by the screening for a major space mission and render you ineligible to be there in the first place). But, OK, sometimes the cannon fodder in horror are types, so that can maybe be forgiven...except that the lord of the abyss is barely more compelling than clichés such as the irresponsible Australian and the autistic engineer. There are some flashes of the film's power here, but mostly it feels like a dilution.
I am a huge fan of the Event Horizon movie (I’m talking huge) and I have been chasing the high of that movie since it came out. It was a visceral look at humanity and the evil that men do to each other. Needless to say, I was so excited to see a graphic novel prequel in the Event Horizon universe. I genuinely liked the majority of the art and I really dug the storyline. Having said that, I was left wanting more. I felt like the issues were too short and there could have been so much more done with it, especially with the character backstories. I wanted to see more of their descent into madness instead of just a quick couple of panels compared to the backstories. Also, while I liked the artwork, I agree with some of the other reviewers. There was sooooo much more that could have been done with Paimon than making him look like an altered stereotype of a cartoon devil. I have such a vivid picture of him in my head based on THAT SCENE of Doctor Weir (fans know the one I’m talking about), and the artwork in Dark Descent didn’t come close to that picture. It’s mildly disappointing because I think this could have been so killer. Again, it wasn’t bad at all. It just didn’t meet my expectations.
3.5 stars rounded up.
Huge thanks to IDW Publishing | IDW Dark and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!
The story of what happened to the crew of the Event Horizon.
The movie Event Horizon is, despite a few rough patches, a very effective cosmic horror story. Its universe is inimical to humans and the gory scenes are shown in a way that makes viewers both believe they saw more than they did and question what they are seeing. It's still disturbing people three decades after its release.
Sadly, this prequel comic does not live up to its source material's legacy.
Dark Descent does start out well, with hints of things being not quite right before the inaugural mission of the ship, but it rushes into full-blown gore before we've even gotten a chance to figure out which character is which. There's just page after page of characters wallowing around in blood and little story involved.
The book's worst misstep is replacing the unknowable malevolent force of the movie with a garden-variety demon. A giant red monster is nowhere near as scary as an entire universe that is out to get you!
Despite my criticisms, I don't think this is a bad book; the art is good and it does answer the question of what happened to the crew. I just wish it had shown a little less gore and a little more creativity.
Thanks to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the advanced copy.
A comic that expands on the backstory to one of my favorite sci-fi horror films: Event Horizon. I know there's meant to have been a novelization and "lost footage" but I don't think there was enough to keep Ward from putting his own twist on this the story, which... was just ok.
I don't like that the "evil" of the ship is given a form. The insanity aspect of the original, the eldritch nature of what happened to the crew, the mystery of it, is what I really want. I also had some issues with how all the numerous characters are treated. Multiple times it felt like it was a "here's X-Name Specialist, here's their backstory, now they're dead" and it's like a page or two for each and it just felt very much like a conveyor belt of telling not showing, though it was technically showing because it's a graphic novel... it just felt very inorganic.
I didn't feel much for any of the characters, barely remember them aside from the captain, whom I really mostly know and am familiar with from the film.
But then, at the end of the day I love this world and its mythology and so I didn't hate it. The art was perfectly fine but didn't stand out. Coloring was nice.
Thank you to NetGalley & IDW Publishing for the free, pre-publication copy (ARC or Digital Review Copy) of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Being a big fan of the film Event Horizon, I was excited to be able to dive into this ARC of the prequel events of that horrific story. I have to say, the artwork alone is worth checking out this comic, it was SO detailed that I believe I was even more disgusted and unsettled reading this than I was watching the film, WELL DONE! The film was one of the most gruesome (I mean this in a good way) that I can remember in terms of shock factor and the violence that was shown! This will definitely appeal to anyone wanting to expand on the lore of the film, as well as any Sci-Fi Horror fans ready to discover this story! I do wish the characters were a bit more developed, I didn’t quite get an attachment to any of them to care enough what happened to them other than the overall outcome. This is often difficult to achieve in a short comic story, I am very aware, so it isn’t a ding on the overall enjoyment. The feeling and atmosphere throughout the comic was so well done that I will forgive that small little gripe, because I was here for the gore, the bloody mess of a story, and it delivered!
Event Horizon has long been one of my favorite horror movies. It's one that I revisit frequently and I feel like it really holds up for a movie that was made in the 90s. To date it remains one of the few movies that actually scared me as a kid and it's something I continue to be creeped out by still when I watch it. That said, I was really excited to read Event Horizon: Dark Descent and the comic even got off to a really good start. It set the scene to tell the story of the original crew of the Event Horizon and what happened to them when they first activated the gravity drive. I had high hopes sailing into the middle of this comic but it felt like a slow let down to an ending that I already knew because, of course, I've seen the movie.
If you're a big horror fan and a big Event Horizon fan this book might still be worth a read for you. The artwork was great and creepy, but I felt like the story just fell a little flat. There were too many characters and backstories to explore with too little time to actually get into the stories in a meaningful way and the pacing dwindled and fell off in the end.
Still, three stars. I'll always have a special place for anything related to Event Horizon.
Thanks to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for sharing this with me.
If you've ever wanted to know what happened with the original crew of the Event Horizon, then you're going to want to grab this comic and bear witness for yourself. I enjoyed the movie, so when I saw this comic, my curiosity was piqued. So, of course, I took the opportunity to dive in. This story introduces us to each character who will play a part in the crew. 10 months before the jump, the captain buries his wife. But it's the dreams that haunt him...something is calling to him and using his wife's face to do it. Then the story fast-forwards to the ship minutes before the jump and already chaos is creeping in. The art style is unique and truly adds to the horror element of the overall storyline. The art conveys the creepy, the twisted, and the dark elements that you'd be looking for in this situation the crew finds themselves in. It amplifies the torment and terror. The storyline itself was "meh". For me, I wanted more depth and detail. The story feels surface-level. I wanted more. More story and definitely more horror. I will say I appreciate how this prequel mimics the movie in it's overall flow and movement pattern. I just wish it went more in-depth.
I am a fan of Event Horizon - it captured me on first watch, and I tend to watch it yearly. If not more!
That being said, I enjoyed this. It was short, the characters and story quite condensed.. which both works and doesn't work. The artwork is great - the gore and 'hell' is vivid. While Event Horizon hinted at demons, the prequel brings a specific one to the forefront. Putting a physical form to the entity is risky, and many fans might not like that.
I do wish we had more time to understand the characters, their motivations. All of them get a quick flashback to their pasts, with the captain's being the most fleshed out. The backstories felt like more reasons that the character should be in hell, versus a vehicle for why they accepted the call to join Event Horizon's maiden journey.
Overall, it was decent read. While it was fun to imagine the hell that the original crew went through, having an official prequel is neat. It will be polarizing, but I highly recommend giving it a chance.
Review of Event Horizon: Dark Descent Note: Review based on an advanced reader copy.
The artwork is extremely murky. While that may be an intentional stylistic choice to complement the horror atmosphere, I often struggled to tell what I was looking at or even distinguish one character's face from another.
The pacing also works against the story. The action begins before the cast has been given enough background or personality for the reader to become invested in them. Several characters come across as unpleasant or outright awful, so when terrible things happen to them, it feels more like they're getting their just desserts than suffering a tragedy that evokes sympathy.
Finally, the central antagonist never develops beyond being a generic "big bad." It exists to menace the protagonists, but without any clear motivation or depth, it lacks the cosmic dread and mystery that made the original Event Horizon so compelling. Instead of feeling unsettling, it comes across as a standard horror villain dropped into a familiar setting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Event Horizon: Dark Descent absolutely nails the atmosphere of the film and gives the horror a vivid, visceral visual life. The art is the standout here for me — unsettling, detailed, and perfectly suited to the nightmare fuel this universe is known for. I loved how much the comic leaned into the dread and the cosmic-horror vibe that made Event Horizon so memorable in the first place. The series is also an official prequel to the film, so it feels like a meaningful expansion of that world rather than just a cash-in.
My only real wish is that it had gone deeper into the lore around “hell”. It hints at some fascinating ideas, but I wanted more of that strange, unknowable mythology instead of having things feel a bit more straightforward than the movie’s ambiguity. Still, for fans of Event Horizon, this is a strong, creepy, beautifully drawn read that captures a lot of what makes the property so compelling.
Okay, I had to request this on Netgalley and I got it!
The movie, it's crazy how much I like the movie. Tasteful CG, great atmosphere, space Hellraiser. It's a comfort movie for my house.
Comic! This is the story of what happened to the crew of the original Event Horizon, the crew we don't get to see in the movie. Well, we see a small clip of them and some audio.
I would recommend buying the physical book if you can. The ebook is great to read on like a tablet instead of an ereader. There are a few AMAZING double page spreads I didn't have the option to see as they are intended with the eARC. The style is great and gritty with intense colors. The extra art between chapters has a range of styles and artists and I think it's really cool to see.
Story.... we know how it ends. So.... yeah. It's fun to do a rewatch of the movie and then reading the comic to have a linked experience.
There's two reasons why I requested this book: (1) I wanted to try more Christian Ward as a writer, since I mostly know him as an artist and love his art, (2) it's a prequel to the movie, I thought, I watched - but I'm thinking of the movie Sunshine.
This review is going to be a little bit all over the place. Honestly, I'm not fully a fan of prequels since it's could ruin the mystery of the original. Just searching for the "villain" of the Event Horizon, seeing "true" Paimon that much in the comics compared to the original film is a bit surprising.
Also the issues after issue 1 just focusing on at least one character in their own personal hell/trial, doesn't really interest me that much. The pacing seems super uneven for me.
I honestly love the ART by Tristan Jones, the blood, the flesh, the gore, the redness. BUT reading it on the NETGALLEY MOBILE APP, sucks. Somehow it was super blurry compared to the text and the online previews.
I'm a huge fan of sci-fi horror so I jumped at the chance to read this graphic novel, Event Horizon: Dark Descent. I also in the last couple of years watched the Event Horizon movie and found it's story really intriguing.
Dark Descent follows the original crew of the Event Horizon and takes place before the events of the film. After completing a jump in space using their ship's top secret, experimental gravity drive, the crew of the Event Horizon find themselves, not at their planned destination but in a hellish realm of monsters, blood and torment.
The art in Dark Descent is so terrifying, I couldn't stop turning to the pages to see what would happen next. Not only that, but you get to learn more about who the crew were before they joined the team. This is a great addition to the series, giving fans of the film, or otherwise, a glimpse into what happened to the original crew.
Event Horizon is one of my favorite sci-fi/horror films, so I’m always hungry for more within that universe. This prequel, penned by Christian Ward with art by Tristan Jones, scratches that itch with more gory hellish goodness.
This series details the pasts of the original fated crew members, as well as what befell them before the crew from the movie stepped aboard. Though this story was interesting, I was hoping for a little more (which was the difference between four and five stars for me). The art by Tristan Jones was wild, really pulling the chaos and gore to the forefront.
Overall, I enjoyed this quite a bit, and I’d be interested to see if there will be any other stories set in this universe.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and IDW Dark for the opportunity to review this in advance. All opinions here are my own.
This is exactly what it needed to be, a gore infused graphic novel where lots of people die in horrible ways. Each character is given a backstory -- laid out in text as the graphic novel is too brief to fully develop so many characters in the room given. However, there's not much to this story. It's just how the previous crew met its end with a very obvious and blatant demon.
There's no subtlety, and the monsters all look the same. It's just a graphic novel about the Event Horizon, and if that's what you're looking for you should have fun with this. But if you're looking for something more, something scary or horrifying ... you might need to look elsewhere.
Thank you so much to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.
Event Horizon: Dark Descent is a 5 issue comic series acting as a prequel to the movie.
It follows the original crew, captained by John Kilpack, and their descent into a hellish nightmare. Each crew member has their own secrets and reasons for joining the, unfortunately, damned crew. The comic is packed with gore and a heavy encompassing sense of inescapable doom. Everything a horror/sci-fi fan could want. It broadens on the knowledge we already have and ties in with the lore for the original movie.
I found the artwork to be perfect for the setting and really lends itself to the emotion and sense of despair. The concept that we would find an ancient pure evil in space instead of funky aliens is terrifying!
I'm not allowed to rate this because it hasn't been published yet, but it HAS, just in issues, not in the collection. So will it let me review it!?
Unfortunately, you don't get to experience the tension with me. If you're reading this, obviously it was successful.
Listen, this is just the ultimate "What's HIS story?" prequel situation that I just can't be fucked to care about.
I could totally see something set in the EventHorizonVerse, but, I mean, we know how this ends, right? Meaning this review has more tension, for me at least? Not a good sign for a horror book.
Thanks to IDW Publishing and Netgalley for a copy of this arc
Look i have yo level with you i have never seen event horizon so I didn’t know what to expect and story wise I was a little lost beyond the whole they are in space hell thing. I don’t love the way Tristan Jones draws people but the way he drew you know the not people ? The gore ?
Idk man that transcends understanding and it was sick as hell.
I would buy the trade for sure
Gory great visuals and a line in there every once in a while that will linger.