I am and always will be a devotee to the Slasher genre. There is an art to crafting a slasher story that is often very easy to replicate in film. But I do think creating a sharp slasher in comics isn’t as easy to replicate. While you get the strength of having an artist to depict the ultra-violence that comes with the territory, my focus on whether one works or not hones in on the writing itself. The beauty in a low-budget slasher is the victims and their ability to sell their fear, horniness, and all of those other tropes you come to find as your tentpoles of the slasher genre on the surface. With comics, the writing is what needs to carry the story over the threshold that the art alone cannot do. You’ll Do Bad Things writer Tyler Boss delivers something I was not expecting from the covers: a slasher about writing.
While this intro is superfluous with my allusions to slashers, I need to make this very clear to you from the jump before we slice deeper into the meat of my thoughts: You’ll Do Bad Things is a must-read comic for anyone who loves slashers, color, or has faced a blank Word document with a blinking cursor, as I have so many times before, including this review. The creative team of Tyler Boss, Adriano Turtulici, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou delivers one of the best looking and best written slasher comics that has ever hit shelves. The masterful craftmanship of each page turn brings you deeper and deeper into a neon pastel, horrific tale.
I was lucky enough to read the first two issues without ever reading a synopsis or summary of the book. All I knew was that Tyler Boss was writing what I was told was a slasher, and I was in. With that being said, I removed the synopsis I was planning on putting in this piece. If I can get you to read this, too, without spoilers or an overview, you will get to have the same experience of excitement and an unknowing fear of what comes next. I will try to limit myself on giving things away so you can walk away from this without bloodstained hands for when you pick up issue 1.
Tyler Boss and Adriano Turtulici created their own artistic vision of what a slasher can be in comics. This isn’t a group of teenagers being picked off one by one by a behemoth killer who cannot seem to die, but rather something more sinister. The first two issues focus on “true crime” stories and what weight comes with them that often is dismissed. When you are telling stories of actual murders, the victims can often become tools for storytelling rather than humans who suffered. It’s an observation you can lift from Tyler Boss’s plot of a writer struggling with creating new art after their biggest hit was one revolving around a series of grisly murders. I have always struggled with true crime content because of all of the points the comic makes. There is almost a Hollywood-ification when it comes to true crime that makes people embellish to draw readers/viewers/listeners in. It isn’t so much an act of creation but a parasitic act of repackaging real-life tragedy as your own story to tell. The story captures that turmoil through its lead in a way that makes it a perfect setting for a slasher.
What if the thing you create can hurt others?
This is the question I came away from the first two issues with, which led me to have such a strong feeling about this book. Even with the heaviness of the themes and genre, Boss still brings moments of humorous levity, which all good slashers have. There is macabre humor in most of the major slasher franchises because horror and comedy are strange bedfellows. One particular line about a horse still makes me smile when I think of it as I write this. It is a nice reminder that even in stories like this, there is always a reprieve.
Adriano Turtulici’s art and color in You’ll Do Bad Things is unmatched. I have reread the first issue at least five times since being given a copy because I just needed more time to drink and understand the level of art in this book. Turtulici’s color palette choices alone for this book are so true to the Giallo palettes that so inspired the book narratively and artistically. There are panels where characters are colored with one solid color that sets them apart from the entire world around them. There are scenes where blues and purples bleed together in only ways that a master could put on a page.
But we haven’t even gotten to the most important element of a good slasher. The most important part of a slasher is the slasher. Now, that may seem obvious, but so many good stories are ruined by a bad slasher, while the opposite can be true in that a good slasher can save a terrifer of a weak story. You’ll Do Bad Things does not have any of those problems because the design work and kills of the slasher are so strong that it only elevates an incredible story. As you can see from the covers, the killer has a zipper over his mouth, which is used brilliantly in the second issue. There is an innate fear when it comes to face coverings, but more so when there is a zipper. The metallic clicking of two metal pieces together always makes me think of morgue scenes when unzipping a body bag, so it clicked well with me. Now… the true origin of the what seems to be a leather gimp mask may become a bit more clear after issue 2 but it is a costume designed for fear and fear it does bring.
You’ll Do Bad Things succeeds in so many ways that many slasher-centric comics do not. The art from Adriano Turtulici is unforgettable in ways that I have not yet even begun to dig into because of my desire to keep you in the dark as much as I want to enlighten you. Tyler Boss’s story will only expand as we get further into the series, and I am waiting on the razor’s edge to see how the themes develop as we reach the later issues. Pre-order this book from your local shop because I believe it will be one of 2025’s must reads.