Quick Sips - The Dark #36

The Dark Magazine gets, well, really fucking dark for its May original releases. Examining death and horror as ideas, as characters, and as modes of telling stories, the pieces look at situations made possible because of cruelty and pain. In both, powerful characters play with their victims, trying to learn from them, to perhaps hone their craft through their victims. And yet there is a sense that what might be happening is just more of the same, different in setting and style but still, at its core, the same as ever. Still, sadly, very human. And it’s a fascinating and difficult issue that I’ll just get to reviewing!

Art by Abigail Larson

Quick Sips - The Dark #11

Well, as always, The Dark Magazine offers up just what it promises, four stories of inky darkness that frighten and delight. The issue has a nice mix of dark fantasy and outright horror to satisfy fans of all stripes, though things are kept strictly speculative. And, more than the darkness, the stories carry with them a sense of mystery, that idea that the dark here is concealing something too horrible or glorious to behold, something full of sublime that we can only glimpse the reflection of. From alien threats to mental illness, the stories build worlds where the dark is encroaching into the lives of the characters. So time for me to get to those reviews!

Art by Daniel Bérard

Quick Sips - The Dark #10

This latest issue of The Dark Magazine certainly doesn't shy away from tackling some very dark and disturbing themes. Trigger warnings include: sexual assault of a minor, incest, murder, rape culture, murder, cats, and murder. And while at times the extreme content of the issue can seem a bit much, I believe that most of the stories do a very good job of justifying the use of such heavy tools to do their work. The stories are shocking as well as moving, questioning the institutional ways in which women are targeted for violence. There's a lot to cringe at, yes, but also a lot to think about. So let's get to reviewing!

Art by NKMandic