When a Boeing 777 lands at JFK International Airport and goes dark on the runway, the Center for Disease Control, fearing a terrorist attack, calls in Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his team of expert biological-threat first responders. Only an elderly pawnbroker from Spanish Harlem suspects a darker purpose behind the event-an ancient threat intent on covering mankind in darkness.
This first of the adaptation of The Strain trilogy of books is a great comic, deftly written with some nice art. It goes on sale on December 14th and in so doing begins a two year trek which will have me along to the end. Read Full Review
Mike Huddleston turns in some gritty and detailed artwork. The opening pages of the child's tale have a morose quality that embraces dark shadows to highlight the eerie aspects of the story, namely the tall man and the vile wolf-head of his cane. In the modern day scenes, he has a wonderful cinematic quality to how he plans his reveals to earn the maximum amount of surprise. The devil is in the details, and his intricate work causes the pages reek of something sinister, making an incredible start to this dark new series. Read Full Review
The Strain is the kind of book that horror fans love, heavily relying on legend and mythology, all while playing with the differing perceptions of the readers and the characters. Though first issues that dont have much in the way of action are typically hard pressed to keep readership, it somehow works for Lapham. The slow pace and character depth will ultimately make the rest of the series stronger and all the more gratifying when heads start to roll. Read Full Review
However, theres very likely better value to be had elsewhere for this series – the collected editions are out there both in print and digital, as are the individual issues, and whilst its certainly a series thats worth getting in to, whether or not this particular edition should be your entry point is something of a dubious question. Still, as far as horror comics go, you can do infinitely worse than the strain, and it genuinely heads somewhere interesting come crunch time, so this is as good a moment to start on it as any. Read Full Review
If youre a fan of the novel wondering if the comic is worth reading, Im saying yet. If youve never read the novel but you want to see vampires made scary again, draining the romantic notions that have become so painfully prevalent in the last 20 years or so, this book is the cure youre been searching for. And if you like your horror with just a dash of scientific reality here Im thinking of fans of Images Witch Doctor, this is the book for you, too. Read Full Review
The opening issue of Strain has a lot to offer with it and is definitely the kind of material that can easily transcend the medium into something else, which is part of what it feels like it's all about. But as a work it stands on its own and the pages here make for an engaging story that leaves you wanting to know more of the mystery, to see how the plane ended up like it did and what it's connection to the past may be all about. Lapham handles the script well with only a couple of small slightly jarring moments when it comes to scene transitions while Huddleston's art is well laid out with some solidly creepy scenes but still very much within the realm of believability. Add in the fable segment which read very well and looked graet and there's a lot to like here if it can climb to the next level. Read Full Review
Mike Huddleston’s works well for The Strain. It’s a combination of fine art and a classic children’s storybook look. What raises it above the standard Dark Horse title is how Huddleston changes the look slightly from the historical tale to the modern story. The changes are tiny but the devil is always in the details and those details help The Strain be visually compelling. If you don’t like vampires or you’re easily annoyed at the similarities between vampire stories, then The Strain isn’t for you. If you dig vampires or you can just relax and dig a cool gothic-tinged story about the undead, then The Strain will be a nice addition to your pull list. Read Full Review
I urge most people to leap onto $1 issues because that's value not to be ignored. With "The Strain," you should buy in because it will make you happy to invest more next month to see where this tale is heading. This horror story smartly lays out the characters first. It soaks you in that moment where you want to know more about these people, while also being afraid to get involved because the loss that might strike anyone will hurt all the more for your connection. If you want to pigeon hole this book into a genre, don't choose 'vampire.' That current cultural cache doesn't represent this book at all. This is cerebral horror with a dark, beastly side just waiting to pounce. Read Full Review
The Strain offers an end-of-days sci-fi twist to a classic horror story. The next arc is sure to contain more action and suspense, and with that, more bloodshed. The first four issues of The Strain are out now, and the next issue will be available from Dark Horse Comics on June 13th. Read Full Review
Overall this isn't a bad first issue to The Strain mach 2 or whatever you want to call this rerelease in fact I dare say it's pretty decent. Solid pace and some interesting mysteries make it a decent enough read even if the main character is a little empty and the dialogue often too wordy, there's a lot of exposition dump conversations here that probably would work better if we were seeing them acted out rather than reading them. The artwork is however is a big negative: over stylization breeding laziness with a lot of block color backgrounds and some really poor foreshortening on the plane but there are at least a few very cinematic shots. On the whole The Strain #1 isn't a terrible comic or a great comic it's simply serviceable, it's middle of the road as far as these things go, if you've liked what I've described and really can't wait I'd recommend it but otherwise wait for the TV show. Read Full Review
Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogans novel, the first in a trilogy, comes to life in this new series from Dark Horse Comics. Having never read the novel, I was unsure as to pick this up, but with David Lapham (Stray Bullets, Crossed : Family Values) adapting the story and one hell of a cover by Mike Huddleston (The Coffin), how could I resist? The back up story for this first issue has an intriguing and very Hellboy-ish feeling to it with Its European mythology and folklore. Im anticipating the second issue. Suggested for mature readers. Read Full Review
For only a dollar how can you not pick this book up thisweek? Sure if you buy it digitally you'll have to pay full price, but still it'sworth it (although if you buy it digitally you could win the entire series). This book has a very strange team working on it; on paper it seemslike they shouldn't mesh, but they in fact work very well together. I'm lookingforward to seeing the second issues progression and even checking out the novelas well. That's been one thing about Dark Horse's latest novel adaptations;they make you want to read the book and the comic and its usually one or the other. Read Full Review
Be the first to rate this issue!
Click the 'Rate/Write A Review' link above to get started.
© 2024
Prev
