Comic: Fuck This Place (also published as I Hate This Place) Vol. 1
Creative Team: Kyle Starks, Artyom Topilin, Lee Loughridge
Publisher: Image Comics
Publication Date: Nov. 23, 2022
Capone’s Rating: 5 of 5 ⭐s
A few weeks ago, I treated myself to an afternoon in the two big comic book shops (that I know of) in Salt Lake City, Utah: Black Cat Comics in Sugarhouse and Dr. Volt’s Comic Connection at the Gateway. It’s tough for me to get into a new medium because I feel overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of material available, but I’ve been reading a volume of Epitaphs From the Abyss that’s due out later this year and wanted to sink my teeth into some other horror comics. Somehow, I got really lucky and found my way to Fuck This Place Vol. 1.
It’s gory. It’s funny. It’s touching. The characters are fiercely relatable as human beings, and they are facing the big bad world of things going bump (or much worse) in the night. And they’re doing it together. Gabby and Trudy have inherited a farm that turns out to be extremely haunted—and haunted in a fashion with which I’ve not bet before. They turn to the locals, and then to the so-called pros, for help. Turns out, this pair makes a solid team, and whether or not outsiders will [be able to] help is unknown. They’re used to fending for themselves, facing a world set on their destruction, and they’re not taking any shit from anyone. At the same time, both Trudy and Gabby are kind, loving, and supportive of one another. The balance in this story among characters we love, hilarious gore (is it funny, or am I just weird?), and well-timed vulgarities, is perfectly effected.
If this comic is representative in any way of the quality of horror comics out in the world today, I’m glad I arrived at the party, if a little late.
Five stars.
Whisper House Press 
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