In this review of Terrorbytes #9, when a reporter investigates digital inequalities, the story leads her to a new, unexpected reality.
Terrorbytes #9
Writer: Mark London
Artist: Raúl Fernández
Main Cover: Caitlin Yarsky
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: August 26, 2026
This review contains spoilers
Gill Priest is a newspaper reporter in search of her next story. When she wants to investigate how the ultra wealthy use the internet, her editor sends her to L.A. to meet with a contact who has information on something called the Carriage House. Apparently, it’s a place where internet content is curated for certain rich members of society and Gill wants to expose the digital inequality.
Upon arriving in L.A., Gill meets with the contact, Annie, and is told that someone called the Curator is already aware of her investigation. Annie comes across as paranoid, but gives Gill the information she needs to continue digging.
When Gill is on her way to meet with a second contact, she’s almost run over by a robotaxi, the first sign of trouble for her. Gill is able to make it safely to the meeting with the next contact, who gives more details about the Curator and the custom digital realities they design.
After the meeting, Gill is bombarded with notifications from social media about fake stories she’s done and this gets her fired almost immediately. This is the work of the Curator.
Gill is furious and heads to the address for the Carriage House that Annie gave earlier. Upon arrival, she confronts the Curator and discovers this woman doesn’t actually create custom realities. Instead, she gets paid to free the rich from the troubled digital realities she creates for everyone else.
When the Curator gets Gill to realize that nobody cares about the truth anymore, she convinces the reporter to join her in creating the stories, ending the main story of this issue.
Analysis
In the side story, Nate Culver is still on trial and defending himself, talking about how money can’t buy time before ending the issue by saying that idea is wrong. We’ll find out more about that next time. The Nate part of this issue is far less intriguing than the main story, though.
Writer Mark London throws out some ideas that I (and probably many of you) have never even really thought about. I’m not sure how many of you reading this are super-rich billionaire types (if you are, would you be interested in buying some comics for me?) who can chime in about your online habits, but I’ve never given much thought to whether or not those in the highest levels of wealth get their news and social media the same way we do.
I’m guessing folks like Elon Musk and Bill Gates aren’t sitting around scrolling on Tik Tok, Instagram, and Facebook, but do we really know that to be the case?
The idea London presents here with the Curator creating strained digital realities and then charging people tons of money to escape these less than ideal worlds is fascinating. We’ve probably all had fantasies of hitting the winning lottery numbers and saying goodbye to our current life. London’s story tells that same fantasy, but with a slightly different twist to it. His take on it is one I enjoyed because it made me look at the concept in a different way.
This issue features artwork from Raul Fernandez Fonts and colors by Rebecca Nalty. Both are first timers to this title and their work looks just as good as we’ve seen in previous issues for other creators. I enjoy the fact that we get a variety of artists working on these books, as it helps to showcase their great skills and exposes us to a wider range of talent. While the pages in this issue aren’t hyper-detailed, there’s plenty of visual appeal packed on them from beginning to end. The linework is solid, expressions and emotions come through clearly, and the color tones fit the mood of the story.
Final Thoughts
Terrorbytes #9 continues the trend of technology-relevant, entertaining stories that require you to think. As we go through everyday life immersed in tech, how much of our reality do we really control? This issue should have you thinking twice about that. Have fun, comic lovers!
