Hero Cave

by Syd Madia

When the hero continues on their quest, the vanquished dust themselves off and get ready for work the next day. Hero Cave is a dungeon fantasy comic book for the rats, skeletons, and low-level monsters of the underworld.

Skeleton has a pretty easy gig: scare the adventurers that visit Hero Cave, get killed, get back up to do it all again. But there's only so many times you can be slain and revived before it gets old. They're losing passion for the job and yearning to finally rest in peace. After a poor performance review with the dungeon's sinister wizard, Skeleton spirals further into an existential crisis and wild frenzy. Is this all there is for them? Can they really be alive in an undead body? And how can they get out of here?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

48 pages

Published July 30, 2025

Reviews

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

even in death, you can't escape the grind. my favorite part of this book is when our skeleton friend, dejected and burnt out from their soul-crushing job, longingly dreams of being a skeleton buried six feet under. suicidal ideation persists, even post-demise.

this book contains snakes eating soup, mice smoking cigs, and beautiful freaky goblin creatures. i had so much fun with the inventive illustrations. cheeky humor and existential dread pair together so nicely.

[Méli]

bon(e)ker

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

…maybe I WOULD rather be part of a skeletonmobile than go to work tomorrow.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the art, the spirit behind this dungeon tale. Reinvigorated this real life first level skeleton.

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I do wish the art and message were a bit more clear. But from what I got from it it’s a nice look into middling corporate drone despair and the joy of breaking free from it. This is dripping with vibes and mood but lighter on story making it a bit hard to parse.
But from what I understood and interpreted it’s a great look into a type of experience. It perfectly captures that vibe of looking for something when you’ve hit a rut of just going through the motions not caring of how you've settled into sub-mediocrity. The character itself finally reaches a point of existential awakening and uses that to escape from the system that entrapped him fittingly with the remnants / vestiges of those who've similarly been in his situation but resigned themselves to it (at least that's how I read the skeleton car thing). Of course it's still got a bit of a downer ending in that sort of thing seemingly leading to his death or a somber new stage in his life.

[Maya Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anything about it appeals to you even slightly on an aesthetic level, buy Hero Cave. It is not a "comics experience", and it is only sort of story-telling. It is art. It is vibey. It is like a music video. It isn't overworked, not the kind of digitally-overdone thing that fossilizes somehow between inking and printing. It has funny moments but isn't comedy.

It's sketchy but exactly polished enough. I am frustrated by so many comics and graphic novels getting their illustrative-effort : raison-d'etre : physical-production-value ratios so wrong. Hero Cave has exactly the balance it should have.

Humble suggestion for extension of this cinematic universe, if it doesn't already exist: No one's around to help (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD2FS... few-frame animation of our skeleton over some dungeon synth-adjacent track.

[Clint · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
I really love this silly reimagining of a dungeon as a dreary job site and Skeleton’s existential melancholy about kinda being both bad at and stuck in his literal entry-level position. The art is a delightfully chaotic comix style with a lot of personality and deceptively nice line work; the panel of Skeleton getting wasted off wine at an after work party where the wine is running straight out of his empty jawbone and splashing into his bare ribs is especially great.

“Sometimes I catch my reflection in a pool of blood, in knight’s armor. It’s uncommon and devastating.”

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Low-level skeleton is sick of getting their ass kicked over and over, but also can't really quit? Maybe? Let's have an existential crisis about it, who hasn't been ass at their job but not know how to quit because they're stuck in their routine? Why not go out in a blaze of glory as some undead freak thing.

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick, inventive minicomic about a skeleton ready for the next thing. The author is clearly a good artist if not the best writer. If I bought this at a comics show, I'd probably like it more. It's cool to see a laminated risograph comic available for checkout at my library but somehow that raises my expectations that it will be more substantial.

[Niche · Rating 1 out of 5]

A low level skeleton in a evil lair has ennui. I thought this would be more of a funny gag comic, but felt more like a burnt out midlife crisis. I can also add "full page illustration of a skeleton masturbating with a candle" to the list of things I didn't need to see.

[Jose · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** y 1/2

[Seb · Rating 5 out of 5]

My friend made this and I loved it :)

[Brenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hero for our era (become unemployable!!)

[emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

we need more comics where a skeleton and a rat are besties