In this review of Terrorbytes #3, we take a trip into an inescapable prison run by AI with a purpose and it’s not to rehabilitate its population.
Terrorbytes #3
Writer: Mark Russell
Artist: Alberto Ponticelli
Main Cover: Andy Clarke
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: November 19, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Terrorbytes #3 opens with N8, the leader of the robot explorers, searching for the signal that is calling its name. The group comes across a data port with the scales of justice symbol on it and N8 jacks in, finding a diary entry that begins the story of Ezra, who is convicted of a crime that he’s not aware of. Thanks to AI technology, he’s judged, given a sentence (10 years), and transported to a prison within a matter of seconds. This prison is different, though, in that it has no guards. It’s a six-floor building where those with the shortest sentences are trustees on the bottom level. Ezra is assigned to the fourth floor.
He soon meets his cell block mates and discovers that in order to get any information, view entertainment, or contact a lawyer, he needs credits. Without them, he has no way to connect with the outside world. He mops the floors for a week to earn enough to call a lawyer, but it turns out to be an AI lawyer run by the prison and it gets him nowhere. Ezra learns that nothing in the prison is free and if you don’t have money, you pay with added time to your sentence.
He devises an escape plan with the other prisoners in his cell block and makes it down to the bottom level, but the others betray him so that he’s caught by the trustees. Another 10 years is added to his sentence and he’s sent to the fifth floor, while the other prisoners get their sentences cut in half for not helping him. Ezra decides that he doesn’t want to get sent to the sixth floor and realizes that he will have to play by the rules of the prison in order to make it out alive.
The story returns to the robot explorers and a clue about the mystery signal. We discover that the data port is part of the prison and it was built by CulverTech, bringing Terrorbytes #3 to an end.
Analysis
After skipping the writing duties for Terrorbytes #2, Mark Russell returns to Terrorbytes #3 with a story about AI technology and how it can control us more and more as time goes by until we finally decide to give in and let it rule our lives. How far away from this type of situation are we in reality? Some would say that we’re closer to it than we realize, which is a frightening thought. It’s getting harder and harder to distinguish AI images and video from real ones, so how long until it starts to make decisions for us? Russell does a good job of getting you to think about these possibilities.
Russell never lets Ezra or the reader find out what the crime was because this nameless, faceless system prevents him from accessing any information. Through the course of discussion with one of his cell block mates, Pascal, Ezra finds out that there are factory and customer service jobs on lower floors, so the prison looks to be all about making money. In today’s society, especially in the United States, that’s all everything seems to be about. It will be interesting to find out more about this CulverTech that’s teased right at the end, as I figure there’s more to it than this brief glimpse at the end of the issue.
The art by Alberto Ponticelli is on the dark and gritty side with characters drawn in less detail, but with distinct features so you’re not trying to guess who is who. There’s a lot of shadow and not much background detail, but it works for the prison setting. This place is not meant to be welcoming and Ponticelli’s depiction of it captures that foreboding tone.
The colors from Ellie Wright are similarly muted. While there are warmer toned colors present with the robot explorer segments and the early part of Ezra’s story before he’s sent to prison, once there, it’s almost all darker, cooler shades. The only thing in the prison that Wright gives a warm glow is the prison system’s wall touch pad in Ezra’s cell. The glow acts like a beckon of hope until Ezra discovers he can’t access much without credits. While the artists have been different on each issue, they’ve all been good, which just increases the quality of this book.
Final Thoughts
Terrorbytes #3 is a tiny notch below the previous entry, but don’t let that fool you. Terrorbytes #3 still lives up to the Terrorbytes name. The title continues to give readers a terrifying look into a possible future where we’re controlled by technology. Have fun, comic lovers!
