In this review of Terrorbytes #2, we find out what happens when a phone AI app pays for secret information.
Terrorbytes #2
Writer: Mark London
Artist: Emanuele Ercolani
Main Cover: Sebastián Píriz
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: November 19, 2025
This review contains spoilers
The team of android explorers introduced in Terrorbytes #1 continue their exploration of a devastated planet Earth, this time finding evidence of a phone AI app that pays users for their secrets. The story opens with Eric telling his friend, Tyler, about this phone app that gives you money for information. Eric’s used it to make a quick $30 and Tyler decides to give it a try, as he’s fed up with delivering food to people for little money.
Things start out easy, with the app asking things like, “Who was your first love?” and “Who do you live with?” Tyler makes a few dollars for each answer and the app gives him the option to skip questions he doesn’t want to answer. It seems innocent enough, but soon, the app starts asking Tyler for more secret information, things that he has never told anyone else, and it can detect lies through voice analysis. It stresses that privacy and secrets are important and that his information is not shared with anyone else.
Soon, Eric recognizes that Tyler’s interactions with the app are becoming more questionable, but Tyler disregards his friend’s advice to stop. The app begins to question Tyler about Eric, slowly turning him against his friend. It encourages Tyler to stand up for himself, emboldening him to do things like urinate in his customer’s delivery sodas, as well as buy a gun. The payment amounts increase as Tyler carries out more radical actions. It’s not just Tyler, though, as everyone in the city who is using the app exhibits these same signs of escalating violence.
Tyler is eventually led into a part of town where people are openly fighting, shooting at each other, and setting buildings on fire. He makes his way to Eric’s house and is invited in for shelter from the riots taking place, but Tyler pulls his gun out, looking for a large payout from the app for shooting his friend. The story ends with the reader staring down the barrel of Tyler’s gun as he tells Eric that they don’t live in a time and place where thirty bucks is nothing.
The issue closes out with the lights in the city coming back on and the androids wondering who restored power to the destroyed city.
Analysis
In this second story of an anthology series, writer Mark London brings us a tale that likely hits close to home for many readers. In a world where a majority of people have a cell phone within arm’s reach throughout the day, this story does a good job of blending fiction with reality. While we don’t have an app that pays us for secrets (that I know of) in this manner, we do have AI apps like ChatGPT and Gemini that we rely on at an increasing rate. There are many people who feed these AI programs information at all hours of the day and night, for educational, commercial, and personal reasons. Some people want to make work easier, so they let AI come up with answers. Some people want someone to talk to, so they carry on conversations with AI.
We’ve probably all heard stories of people becoming addicted to AI conversations, thinking that these programs are their friends, in much the same way that Tyler comes to think of his AI app. London shows us how quickly things can go sideways in this type of situation and this issue is a great cautionary tale. This is not to say that AI is going to take over the world, but we may want to take a closer look at how the lines between what’s real and what’s AI are blurring.
The artwork in Terrorbytes #2 by artist Emanuele Ercolani and colorist Jao Canola is excellent. The characters are drawn in a style with bold linework. The panels range from mostly empty backgrounds with a focus on just the character to fully detailed backgrounds of rooms and buildings. The color palette is more on the dull side with occasional pops of more vibrant colors, primarily yellow, which is used as the color of the app screen on Tyler’s phone. The artwork matches the tone of the story.
There’s even a little easter egg that’s fitting for this title. When Tyler goes to meet up with Eric at a diner, we see a road sign in the corner of the page. The diner is on Elm Street, which is surely a nod to Wes Craven’s films about nightmares. The world that’s being crafted in this anthology is certainly a nightmare.
Final Thoughts
Terrorbytes #2 delivers a story that’s even more relevant to our everyday lives than the first issue did. It’s dark and will stick with you well after you put the comic down. Grab this title for a good, thought-provoking read. Have fun, comic lovers!
