As an eclipse covers New York City in midday darkness, Dr. Ephraim Goodweather and his team from the Centers for Disease Control struggle to find an explanation for what happened to Flight 753. But when the symptoms don't add up to chemical warfare, and bizarre circumstances unexplained by modern medicine arise, Ephraim begins to entertain the ramblings of a Holocaust survivor who knows too much about this unknown threat.
The book is the epitome of entertainment. Even if you dont count yourself a horror fan usually, I would imagine that you would appreciate great comic story telling as much as the next person and you would do yourself an injustice by passing this little gem by. Read Full Review
Reading this, I recalled the dissection scene from Blade 2. There is a similar scene here where a dead body is cut into and white milk-like liquid spills out. Gross. Del Toro enjoys the science of the monsters that go bump in the night and this issue is full of medical analysis that ultimately shows the reader that no one knows what killed a plane full of people, but something is still going on inside the corpses. David Lapham adapts the work with a detailed sense of urgency, but his effort is weakened by the numerous quick cuts to different characters and locations. It builds fear, yes, but the reader might be unsure why they are so scared. Read Full Review
The Strain is that kind of slow boil series that takes some time to really reveal itself, but similar to the first issue it's doing so at a good pace and bringing in new and diverse elements here that work well. The lead is still Eph at this point as they try to figure out what's going on, but we get to see other events unfolding as well which will likely tie back to the core as well. The writing continues to be good with smooth dialogue and generally good pacing without problematic jumps about while the artwork hits all the right notes, easily viewable as storyboards for a movie but with plenty of style and good colors to be all its own work. There's a lot to like here but it's hard not to view it in a theatrical sense. That's not really a bad thing though as it flows well and makes for a very good read, leaving you wanting more and to see just where it is that it wants to go. Read Full Review
Story 4/5 - I am a real fan of this series and I hope that now the first two releases have been to build the story, we start to see the bigger dangers ahead. There has been a good combination of character building and story development and a comic that I look forward to receiving each month. Read Full Review
Zack Davisson is a freelance writer and life-long comics fan. He owned a comic shop in Seattle during the '90s, during which time he had the glorious (and unpaid) gig as pop-culture expert for NPR. He has lived in three countries, has degrees in Fine Art and Japanese Studies, and has been a contributing writer to magazines like Japanzine and Kansai Time-Out. He currently lives in Seattle, WA with his wife Miyuki. You can catch more of Zacks reviews on his blog Japan Reviewed or read his translations of Japanese ghost stories on Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai. Read Full Review
"The Strain" is going to be a large mini series so you can forgive it taking two issues to set up. You also won't mind because both of these issues have been great. This one works a little more on structurally moving everyone into their place in preparation for the next act. The information dropped here is enough to lead us all forward into the meat of the middle of this tale. Also, the little moments -- like Zack at the ball game or anything Ansel says -- are more than entertaining enough to hold this together. Pick up "The Strain;" it's a gory mess that's going to work very hard to keep you up at night. Read Full Review
Things are moving fast as the vampire infection starts to spread. If horror, vampire themes & movies like Outbreak are your bag, then this series is for you. Taken from the novel of the same name by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan. Scripted by David Lapham (Silverfish) & illustrated by Mike Huddleston (The Coffin). Suggested for mature readers. From Dark Horse Comics. Read Full Review
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