Never By Night: Disturbing Passages Into The Unknown #2 - SnowyWorks [Part Three]

NEVER BY NIGHT: DISTURBING PASSAGES INTO THE UNKNOWN No. 2, October 2025

It’s probably a safe bet that few, if any readers of “Now All Is Silver Blue” expected Jonathan Chance to pen so heart wrenching a story as he has, with desperate Eddie so tragically torn between the survival of his family and his sense of responsibility for the rest of a frost-bitten bunker’s inhabitants. True, much of this fourteen-page tale’s horror comes from the cold-hearted cannibalistic nature of the bandits who snatch the man’s adolescent son, rather than any supernatural ghoul or grisly walking cadaver. But that doesn’t detract from the sheer horror most bibliophiles will probably feel when they realise the child’s chances of enduring being eaten alive are increasingly slim.

Similarly as likely to make an emotional impact upon the audience though, has to be the treacherous nature of the other people who this plot’s central protagonist appears sworn to protect. Ultimately, the seemingly stubborn, almost forlorn sentry is proved right in his concerns that his party could still be attacked by the sharp-toothed killers who scour the frozen tundra looking for human meat. And so when the rest of the shelter’s inhabitants cowardly depart behind his back with all the remaining supplies, it really does appear that fate has tragically truly deserted one of the few virtuous people left alive on the desolate planet.

Perhaps this narrative’s most haunting moment however comes at its conclusion, when the father is forced to lie to his potentially dying offspring that everything will be okay once the boy wakes up. This scene is incredibly well-written, and packed with a tremendous amount of emotion. Indeed, it is possibly even more impactive because it leaves so many questions unanswered as to the supply-strapped couple’s ultimate fate, and resultantly relies upon the onlooker’s imagination to fill in the gaps – something which is almost naturally going to lean towards a disconcertingly dark and undoubtedly grim demise for the pair; “Okay Daddy. Love you.”

Undeniably adding plenty of pathos to Chance’s harsh world of biting winds and knee-deep snow are Emilio Utrera’s pencils. The illustrator is super successful in establishing just how violent Eddie’s life has become, and just how ‘hands-on’ the man is willing to be so as to save his loved ones from the cruelty surrounding them. Yet, it is also the artist’s ability to depict the character’s touching tenderness for little Louie which makes this agonizing adventure so genuinely enthralling.

Written by: Jonathan Chance, and Illustrated/Lettered by Emilio Utrera