You’ll Do Bad Things

Review of by Tyler Boss and Adriano Turtulici

with lettering by Hassan Ostmane-Elhaou, edited by Courtney Menard, designed by Dylan Todd

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Publisher’s Summary:

It’s been ten years since the release of “He Came in With a Smile,” the true crime smash hit that chronicled the brutal murders committed by the Nursery Rhyme Killer. But in the decade since its release, its author Seth Holms hasn’t produced another title. He wants to write a story with a happy ending, but every time his fingers clack across the keyboard, it always ends in his character’s death. Worse yet? These tales of blood and barbarity that flow so freely from Seth’s mind are starting to happen in real life.

Covers:

Review:

There’s nothing timid about the six-issue miniseries, You’ll Do Bad Things by the dynamic creative partners, Tyler Boss and Adriano Turtulici, except maybe their protagonist. Seth Holms is constantly terrified, living in fear of his own writing. He has enormous baggage of once being a bestselling true crime writer who tracked down the serial killer when the NYPD couldn’t. Thirteen children had already died by the time the Nursery Rhyme Killer was stopped.

Unfortunately, not everyone believes the right person was convicted. One victim’s mother calls Seth a fraud at an anniversary event of his true crime book organized by his publisher, Charon. Meanwhile, she has distastefully established her dead daughter as a marketing brand so she can profit by selling dead Katie mugs, shirts, stickers, and hats. Seth’s dated New York City world has plenty of vile people in it. Which deadly sin is the worst? Some would say Pride.

The limited color palette keeps this New York City alive with pulsating violence ready to spring out at any moment, panel to panel, shadow to shadow. Italian artist, Adriano Turtulici, will easily cement his name in American minds and then chisel it into something voyeuristically intriguing. Readers will feel like their inside a notoriously seedy 1980’s NYC. Billy Idol could be right next to you if it weren’t for the expanse of inky shadows keeping Seth’s point of view distant from nearly everyone else. He makes an unlikely friend as he’s running for his life when he barges into the sex dungeon of Dominatrix Bella. For some reason, she takes a liking to Seth and makes the decision for both of them to help him out with this new problem: after he tries writing a new chapter for a novel (which he wants to be a “HEA” romance), his subconsciousness instead takes over and creates a serial killer in a gimp mask called The Doll who butchers his characters.

There are less violent creations (geared towards younger ages) about stories coming to life: Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, The Never-ending Story, Inkheart, The Chronicles of Narnia. It even happened in Supernatural.

What’s in a Name?

Getting back to the Easter egg of the publishing house named Charon. If that sounds familiar, it’s the name of the ferryman in Hades who shuttles souls across rivers of Hell. The name Seth means appointed, according to babynames.com. Seth’s editor is named Camille which means perfect1; however, it’s not far off from Carmilla, one of the first vampires (argue about whether Lilith is a vampire or not, but Carmilla was definitely before Dracula) and I wonder if that was intentional. Likewise, an alternative spelling to our protagonist’s name, Seth, and it could be Set, the Egyptian god. Set is considered a bit of a troublesome god who was known as a trickster and also happened to kill his brother Osiris. The woman who helps Seth is named Bella, meaning beautiful. Seth’s cat is Hermes, the messenger and one of Zeus’ many children. Hermes is the equivalent of the Roman god Mercury. According to The Fitzwilliam Museum, Hermes and Charon have something in common:

One of the youngest of the twelve chief deities of Olympus, Hermes was a cunning, eloquent character who became the messenger and herald of the gods and the guide of dead souls to Hades2.

At the time of this writing, there are still two issues to go. The wait is the same as having a streaming binge only to realize all the episodes haven’t been released!

You’ll Do Bad Things by Tyler Boss and Adriano Turtulici completely immerses readers into the seedy, shadow-filled corners of New York City during a serial killer spree.

Preview:

swirly decorative line

Tyler Boss and Adriano Turtulici

ABOUT TYLER BOSS

Tyler Boss is an Eisner-nominated, award winning cartoonist and designer. His titles included Dead Dog’s Bite, as well as 4 Kids Walk into a Bank, and What’s the Furthest Place from Here? with his frequent collaborator Matthew Rosenberg. He’s writing the highly praised Giallo-slasher miniseries You’ll Do Bad Things and contributing to the all-star horror series Exquisite Corpses, both produced by Tiny Onion. Go Bills.

ABOUT ADRIANO TURTULICI

Adriano Turtulici is an Italian cartoonist who is illustrating the hot new Image Comics miniseries You’ll Do Bad Things, which is produced by Tiny Onion. He graduated at the ”Scuola Romana dei Fumetti” and works between Rome and Frascati.

Notes:

1. Moss, J. (2025) Camille: Name meaning, popularity and info on Babynames.com, Camille: Name Meaning, Popularity and Info on. Available at: https://babynames.com/name/Camille (Accessed: 25 June 2025).

2. Mercury/Hermes (no date) The Fitzwilliam Museum. Available at: https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-our-collection/highlights/context/subjects/mercuryhermes (Accessed: 25 June 2025).

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