A Voice in the Dark Cancelled

A Voice in the Dark cover

A Voice in the Dark was an intriguing series by Larime Taylor published by Image Comics. It was the story of a young woman going to college, where she was a night DJ. She was also a murderer. We’d see her thoughts as she pondered whether someone deserved to be killed or how she set up an alibi. It was a unique, disturbing portrait. Most amazingly, the artist created it all using his mouth, since Taylor is disabled.

The series began in late 2013 (after a couple of previous Kickstarters) and ran for seven issues. The first collection reprinted them all last summer, before a new miniseries, A Voice in the Dark: Get Your Gun relaunched in September. A second issue came out in January, but it appears that that will be all, since Diamond lists issues #3-5 as “cancelled by publisher”.

A Voice in the Dark cover

That’s not surprising. The book had a distinctive look, due to its digital creation, without the kind of detail or slickness some Image readers look for. It was a challenging read, since it was difficult to know how to feel about the lead character. It moved kind of slowly sometimes. And the creator published a plea for help in January 2014 and again in August.

If you’re curious to see what it looked like, there are several pages in this blog interview. I’m sorry to see it go, because it was different and unusual. I should have talked about it before now, but since my review would have been mixed, not glowing, once the news the book was in trouble came out, it would have felt like piling on.



13 comments

  • I wanted to like this series so much, but it just never connected for me. Part of it was the art-style (I’m not a fan of highly processed, digital work), and part was the pacing was just way, way too slow for me. I hope that the creator tries again with something else, though.

  • Larime

    Thanks for the kind words. I’m still putting out #3 and a bonus-sized #4 to conclude the recent arc, but it’ll be digital-only.

    Depending on interest after that, the second trade will be printed or digital-only.

  • Thanks very much for updating us on your plans.

  • Argo Plummer

    I loved this series. I bought extra copies of #1 to give to people to try and get them hooked. I’ve only done that twice before–Planetary #1 and Y the Last Man #1. Shame that it didn’t make it. I will look forward to the concluding chapters and hopefully a 2nd TPB in print.

  • Larime

    The series was cancelled by me, not entirely because of sales – it was still limping along – but because my wife got diagnosed with Stage 3a endometrial cancer days after #1 of the new arc went to press. My production ground to a halt. By the time I was able to get back to work, things were much worse sales-wise following the sudden delay.

  • Hi Larime. I’m sorry that happened to your wife!

    Please have her apply for social security disability as soon as possible. You can msg me if you’d like help doing that (CWR has my permission to share my email with you).

    http://www.disabilitysecrets.com/topics/disability-benefits-cancer

  • Larime

    She’s a Canadian citizen and doesn’t qualify for benefits – believe me, we tried. Thanks, though!

  • dee gee

    Larime…Sorry to hear about your wife & the comic. i hope things do turn around.

    A Voice in the Dark is actually one of the few comics I buy these days (I mainly buy non super hero
    graphic novels). It takes me a long time scouring the shelves to find something interesting.

    Also, like Argo (above), I bought extras of the first two to give to my 17 year old niece.

    Good luck with whatever you do…I’ll definitely keep an eye out.

  • Larime

    Thank you!

  • Talus

    I’m very sorry to hear about your wife. I was wondering what happened to Voice In the Dark. I loved it for what it was,.. different! I didn’t look at it like it was slow. I saw it more like Dexter, a type of human interest story thru the eyes of a cute serial killer.Like others I also bought extra copies to hand out. I would really like to see more Voice In the Dark if you ever get back to it.

  • Melissa

    It was one of my favorites. I’ve been eagerly waiting for the next book to come out. I’m sad to now realize that it won’t!!! It was different. It was intense. It drew me in. Please at least tell me who left her the note at the end of the first book!!!

  • Talus Night

    Ya, we all would like to know who left her the note,…
    Sadly we’ll probably never know

  • Cass

    Laramie,

    I am so so sorry to hear about your wife.

    I am a big fan of A Voice In the Dark since first reading it in 2015. It is one of favorites. I had been eagerly waiting for the continuation of the story for years and went online to follow up on it when I learned about your wife and reason for the long hiatus. If you ever decide to finish and publish the conclusion of AVID I will be first in line to buy many copies.

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