Twisted Dark is a Horror Thriller Anthology Comic Book by Neil Gibson.
The series is made up of a large number of stories focusing on a number of dark elements. Paranoia, greed, neglect, fraud, etc., and a number of twists at the end of many of them. The stories are also interconnected in different ways.
The stories are illustrated by different artists, each one lending their own flavour to the story, all of them adding something new to each one.
The series began in 2011.
Twisted Dark contains examples of:
- Deliberately Monochrome: The stories are illustrated in black and white, possibly to help emphasize the dark mood of the series.
- Guns Akimbo: In "Paranoia", Keith Conatser grabs two guns at the end when people break into his house and start robbing it.
- Hot for Teacher: In "Smile..." Helen had a crush on her history teacher, Derrek O'Malley, and did whatever she could to make him notice her. He eventually started reciprocating and they had a secret affair that lead to Helen becoming pregnant.
- Jerk Jock: "The Experiment" has a trio of jocks, one of whom pushes Mark and makes him spill his juice box on his pants so he looks like he peed himself, causing everyone in the hall to laugh at him.
- Lighter and Softer: Volume 2 certainly feels this way compared to volume 1. The dark mood feels somewhat lightened up for the most part, with a couple of twists being more humorous than horrifying. Neil himself even stated this at the start of the book.
- No Ending: "Paranoia" ends with the robbers who broke into Keith's house coming toward his location, unaware he's waiting for them with two guns.
- Offing the Offspring: In the story "Smile...", Helen drowns the son she had with Derrek after he gives her a Smug Grin that destroys her love for him.
- Off with His Head!: At the end of "Flamboyant", Chris Ingledow's original manager, Tom, decides to perform a final stunt to utterly ruin Chris' career to get back at him for never paying him, and dropping him as a manager later in his career. He gathers a large crowd of people, has a talk with Chris, and then unfurls a large banner on the side of a building that reads "Chris Ingledow is worth $150 Million. I was his manager for 15 years and am penniless. All I wanted was a fare wage. Is he a role model?" and then sticking his head in a guillotine and chopping his own head off.
- Patricide: In "Peace And Quiet", Amy stabs her father to death because the sound of his snoring was bothering her.
- Slasher Smile: Expect to see plenty of these.
- Translator Buddy: One story is about a cartel mob boss suspecting that his accountant is laundering money from him. The accountant doesn't speak the boss' language, though, so he has someone speak to him in the boss' language. He then tricks the mob boss into killing the accountant so he can steal the accountant's stolen money.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Amy from "Peace And Quiet" is a little girl who never smiles, whos default expression is a blank stare, and who freaks out when she hears sound. Also, she kills her father because his snoring was bothering her, and only finally smiles when she sees her mom being arrested for his murder.
- Twist Ending: The series is touted as having these. For example, "If Only" ends on the reveal that the narrator lusting after Rebecca's boyfriend, Tristan is a gay man, and "Evolution" ends with the twist that Frank is dating his friend's daughter.
- You See, I'm Dying: In "Flamboyant", Tom reveals to Chris that he discovered he has an inoperable brain tumour in its advanced stages. He tried to inform Chris in the past, but Chris never wanted to speak to him.
