New A Quiet Place Comic Set in Iowa Highlights Small Town Survival

A hit Hollywood franchise is turning its attention to Iowa. The new comic book miniseries A Quiet Place: Storm Warning takes place in a fictional Mississippi River town that will feel familiar to many Iowans, and it puts local values of self-reliance and community protection front and center.

The Story Hits Close to Home

Written by Phil Hester with art by Ryan Kelly, the five-part series from IDW Publishing is set in Pearl, Iowa. It is a tiny island community of 600 people sitting in the middle of the Mississippi River. The story follows the town as the sound-sensitive creatures from the A Quiet Place films make their way westward from the east coast.

While most townsfolk underestimate the danger, Fire Chief Lonnie Fry takes the threat seriously. His solution is straightforward and decisive: blow up the bridges connecting Pearl to the mainland before the non-swimming creatures can reach them. For Iowans who value quick action and common sense over bureaucratic hand-wringing, Fry's approach is a refreshing change of pace.

Rooted in Real Iowa

The fictional town of Pearl is based on a very real place. Hester, who lives in a small Iowa town near the Mississippi River, modeled it after Sabula, an actual island community in the middle of river.

It's very small, Hester said. I live in a town of 1,000 and Sabula is even smaller than that. But I'm familiar with what it's like to live in a little town like this and how it can be both supportive and claustrophobic at the same time.

That firsthand knowledge of small town Iowa life gave his pitch authenticity. Paramount and IDW responded to it immediately.

Dealing with that sort of town, because I know it so well, that pitch rang more true with Paramount and IDW.

A Jaws-Like Approach to the Creatures

Hester admitted that the story draws unintentional inspiration from Jaws. Fire Chief Fry mirrors Chief Brody, and the town's skeptical mayor, who happens to be Fry's estranged sister, plays the role of the reluctant politician. It is a dynamic that resonates: a public safety official trying to protect his community while facing pushback from local leadership.

My editor on this series, Heather Antos, pointed it out to me, Hester said. Then I was like, 'Oh yeah, this guy's Chief Brody.' Then there's the mayor, who happens to be his estranged sister. It's such a great story and it was the perfect thing to lean into with this.

Sound Effects as Storytelling Tools

Translating a franchise built on sound and silence into a comic book presented a unique challenge. Hester's solution was inventive. Rather than treating comic book sound effects as simple accents to the action, he made them essential storytelling tools that drive the narrative forward. In this world, even the slightest noise can mean death.

Hester proved the concept could work by adapting a scene from the original film's screenplay, where the mother steps on a nail in the basement and must stay silent while the creatures roam outside.

I told them, 'I can show you guys how sound does work in a comic book, how sound effects themselves can become almost like characters on the page.' And with that four-page sequence, we proved that it could be done.

What We Still Don't Know About the Creatures

Even after three films, the creatures remain largely mysterious. Hester said working on the comic did not give him any extra insight into their origins. He compared them to the shark in Jaws.

When it comes to their intelligence, Hester sees them more like attack dogs than calculating predators. They cannot resist bait, and they go straight for any noise without discerning whether it might be a trap. That observation led Hester to ask bigger questions that remain unanswered.

Like, who do these attack dogs belong to? Also, they're not eating people, so what do they eat? We saw a little bit of that in A Quiet Place: Day One, where there's these energy pods that they're eating. I'm like, 'Where are those coming from? Who's putting those there?'

Where to Find It

A Quiet Place: Storm Warning is already three issues into its five-issue run. Issue #4 goes on sale June 24. The series is available at local comic book shops and through digital retailers.

Meanwhile, the film franchise continues. A Quiet Place Part III has begun filming, with a release date scheduled for July 30, 2027. Alex Wolff is confirmed to return as Reuben from the spinoff film A Quiet Place: Day One.

For Iowans looking for a survival story that understands small town life, Storm Warning offers a familiar setting with a lot on the line. As Hester put it, if you set a story on day one of the invasion, you can tell nine billion stories because everybody has a different experience. This one belongs to Iowa.