Review – Stranger Things: Tomb of Ybwen #1

Review – Stranger Things: Tomb of Ybwen #1

Writer: Greg Pak

Artist: Diego Galindo

Colourist: Francesco Segala

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Release Date: September 29, 2021

Variant Artists: Marc Aspinall, Kyle Lambert

Tomb of Ybwen #1

It’s January 1985 the Hawkins crew survived their battle with the mind flayer, but Will and Joyce are still reeling from the recent death of Bob Newby. Will’s friends have been too busy with their girlfriends to notice how much he is struggling. After he and Mr Clarke discover a mysterious map Bob left in a box of old nerdy memorabilia, Will rallies the crew to investigate.

Is there a secret hidden in the hills of Hawkins?

Script: Greg Pak

The first issue starts with a two-page flashback with Will and Bob talking about how confronting you monsters makes them go away before jumping to Will trying to confront the Mind Flayer. We then jump after the end of the last series and Will is on the Fringe of the group, with girlfriends impacting his loneliness further. He and his mom keep flashing back to Bob’s valiant death and how you can’t shout at monsters to make them go away.

At school, Mr Clarke shares memories of Bob with him and gives him a box of memories from when they were kids (I see a prequel coming..?) In the box, a D&D style map has been slit up and when placed together seems to show where an ancient Viking treasure may be hidden in Hawkins.

It’s great to have a series focus on Will, he’s been through the most, even more than Eleven, and to see how his friends have moved on while he is trapped in his own nightmares and memories is an interesting change of pace.

Artist: Diego Galindo

Galindo’s artwork is perfect, showing the recognisable characters and actors from the Netflix show jumping from the page. The colouring and change as we move from the past to present, as well as the flashbacks to Bob’s death help to add more to Bob’s underused character and links to Sean Patrick Astin’s pedigree in the movie Goonies.

Overall Thoughts

I think without watching the seasons on Netflix this could be a hard issue to pick up for a casual reader but for fans of the show, it’s a perfect filling between the seasons, helping grow the excitement without complicating the story or adding confusing new characters or locations. For an added touch get a hold of the Goonies homage cover which I think will go up in price/demand over the years.

[yasr_multiset setid=1]

[yasr_visitor_multiset setid=1]

If you enjoyed our review, look out for Stranger Things: Tomb of Ybwen #1 at your Local Comic Shop

Buy tickets for BGCP Comic-Cons in and around Glasgow Scotland – BUY TICKETS

Check out all of our Comic, Movie, Television and Videogame Reviews HERE and our Podcasts/Interviews HERE

If you want to be part of the BGCP community, Join us on Discord, Twitter, Instagram etc then click HERE