The Spread #1

By Justin Jordan, Kyle Strahm & Felipe Sobreiro

Lone Wolf and Cub meets John Carpenter with a touch of Children of Men sums up the premise of The Spread. A phenomena or entity known as the spread has taken hold of the Earth and people have become savage and primal, as most post-apocalyptic societies do. A solitary man, No, stumbles upon a plane crash and eventually a baby…

There are a lot of elements taken from different sources of pop culture, which is fine, as long as it doesn’t define the material. Case and point is the primary protagonist; Justin Jordan and Kyle Strahm model No after an archetypal character. He rarely speaks; is strong; appears stand-offish, but has a heart…sound familiar? Even the narrative structure takes a page of out of Saga’s book. Hopefully, this creative team will shake things up a bit. All criticisms aside, this was a fun comic to read, just don’t expect a lot of profundity.

The designs for the Spread are what pop out in this issue and they should! The entities are truly horrific and disgusting, but one can’t look away. Kyle Strahm has put a lot of detail into these monstrosities and merits close inspection. To further draw the audience’s eye to the spread is Felipe Sobreiro’s use of hot rod red to illuminate them against a snowy white background. The creative wants the reader to not look away from the horror, but to bask in it. I totally dig it!

There’s nothing really groundbreaking in The Spread, but it’s still an interesting, enjoyable read. If you too are a  fan of the influences on this comic, then it will be a real treat. A basic story with some potent imagery is not a bad start, so let’s see where it goes.