In Secret Ancient Spaces, No One Can Hear You Scream — Reviewing ‘Dark Pyramid’ #1

Welcome to the table,

One of my favorite flavors of fiction is the exploration of strange and ancient spaces from an unknown era of history. The idea of hidden civilizations, lost temples, and secret ancient spaces is fascinating. Mad Cave Studios has me hooked with a new title they are putting out called Dark Pyramid.

This horror adventure series is written by Paul Tobin, illustrated by PJ Holden, colored by Sara Colella, and lettered by Taylor Esposito. The first issue of this strange and haunting story takes us to Alaska’s Mt. Denali, where Hooky, a streaming explorer, like the ones I find myself watching on YouTube for hours on end, stumbles upon a lost structure. Then, after some strange sounds, his feed cuts.

The cover alone of this book hooked me. I’m always going to gravitate to these kinds of stories, though, as one of my favorite pieces of background sound is the ambient sound of a boat trapped in ice up in the Arctic circle during a evening snow storm. The wind, the cold, the sound of the ice cracking… I find it so peaceful and the images it conjures of strange unseen entities on the prowl brings me joy.

Hooky’s significant other Becca heads out to Alaska to find him. When she arrives, she finds a bunch of his fans have already arrived, booking out all lodging in the small Alaskan town in some very “main character energy” kind of “we have to find the influencer guy and rescue him while streaming it” sort of way.

That is where this first issue of Dark Pyramid really shines for me. It’s this brilliant mix of looming horror balanced with the very honest reflection of what social media does to the people who consume it. The story feels like its timely and honest rather than using the day to day trappings of our modern life as tools to move the plot along.

The horror is there, and the mystery is there, but where Dark Pyramid really shines is the grounding authenticity of human behavior that is captured so perfectly that it makes the whole story feel even more lived in and real. That, as far as storytelling goes, counts for a lot for me.

I’m uncertain where the story is going, but what Dark Pyramid has managed to do in the first issue is hook a long time horror fan with a gripping tale of a lost civilization. It feels very honest and lived in, and for that, they have me coming back to check out the next issue.

Until next time, there is a monster… It looks really rad, but I have zero idea what is going on with it so I will talk about that a bit more in the next review because I’m invested now.