From Image Comics and the creative team featuring writer Justin Jordan and artists John Bivens, Kyle Strahm and Felipe Sobreiro comes the post-apocalyptic horror series Spread. Check out my review of issue 17!
Ten years ago, we dug too deep and unleashed something we couldn’t control. Something that twisted and warped every living thing in its path. Something that remade the world in its own image. The Spread. One man has found a child who could save the world, but he has to fight monsters, raiders, cannibals, religious fanatics, and one cranky baby to do it.
The fourth and final chapter in Justin Jordan’s ‘Sanctuary’ story arc is here and it is chaos front to back. Any time you kick off your issue with someone getting thumbs jammed into their eye sockets, you know you’re in for a fun ride. This is by no means a ‘fun’ ride, but it is fun to look at. Aaaaaand If by fun you mean grotesque and chalk full of mayhem… After it was revealed that the Sanctuary was indeed a false safe-haven (obviously), the Spread tries to devour No and Jack is led into a trap that he must savagely battle his way out of beyond the walls.
There’s a ton of action in issue 17 and artist John Bivens does such a damn fine job capturing the mayhem on the page. So many tentacles, so many bloody monsters savaging people to smithereens… Spread is a violent book to be sure but there’s a lot of heart between the chunks of gore and I don’t just mean that figuratively. What I really enjoyed the most from this Sanctuary story arc is how we get to see a different aspect of the Spread virus itself and how it’s evolving… Thinking? Maybe. There are definitely forces at work here which we’ve yet to see. Well – aside from that cover…
I’m not a fan of covers that kind of give away twists and this one gets right to the point. It’s a damn good cover – I just don’t like how it gives away who is baaaaaaaack. I’d have went for a surprise myself, but having the covers all combine to show our characters tangled up in Spread goo is pretty cool. Ravello has returned and he’s a tad different than we remember him…. I’m pretty damn excited for the next arc and seeing more of this villain utilising his newfound powers and what kind of motivations he has. Is the Spread in control? Is he on his own? There is much to learn as Jordan steers us towards the eventual end of his epic post-apocalyptic tale which returns with issue 18 in January 2017. I don’t want The Spread to end. I quite enjoy it but I also want to see No and Ravello square off. Hell – I’d like Molly to actually be the one to get that son of a bitch in the end. She’s my fav. More Molly all the time please.
Rating: [star rating=”4″]