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• Price: $3.99
• Rated: M / MATURE
• Pages: 36 (#1) and 32 (#2)
• On Sale: March 28, 2018 (#1) and May 2, 2018 (#2)
• Writer: Pat Shand
• Artist: Renzo Rodriguez
• Colorist: Mara Jayne Carpenter
• Letterer: Jim Campbell
• Publisher: Black Mask Studios

From the Publisher – It’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer if the villains were big pharma. Scout Turner works as a cryptozoologist, examining and cataloguing supernatural creatures for scientific purposes. When she discovers the cure for asthma in the venom of a new breed of monster, she quickly finds herself on the run from Kenilworth Pharmaceuticals and the monsters that they’ve hired to kill her. With no one by her side but her clueless assistant, a morally ambiguous succubus, and her geriatric dog, Scout goes on the run… but in a world controlled by money and drugs, can she escape the reaching claws of a medical monopoly? From Pat Shand (Destiny NY, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Renzo Rodriguez (Hellchild) comes this healthcare horror story about the monsters creeping in the dark… human or otherwise.

Our We Talk Comics WeView – The great thing about doing some of these WeView Reviews is picking out a book cold, and by that I mean knowing absolutely nothing about what you are going to read except the title and the cover art (I actually look up what the publisher says after I read the book to keep from being influenced). You can get a real dog or a real winner. It’s random chance when you do the blind pick. It’s rare you find a book that lives up to the publisher hype. Today, I got a solid one-two punch for a winner.

Pat Shand absolutely nails his first two scripts. Exposition and world building is parceled out neatly and efficiently in issue one. Characters are not only rich and diverse but interesting and well defined with each having their own clear and distinct voices. Even the most talky scenes have a good pace and, once the narrative gets rolling, the action beats are relentless, particularly in issue two which moves like a freight train on a roller coaster. He packs it all in there, humor, heart, action, conflict, and some social commentary.

Renzo Rodigues matches Shand’s written excellence with equally amazing art. His work is clean and vibrant. He nails the emotions and expressions for the characters in the quiet moments and with equal ease shines when illustrating an action sequence. My only complaint would be that his “drinker” monster looks a little too much like a Xenomorph from the Alien franchise. I’ll give him a pass because it works great with the narrative and because some of the other characters look suspiciously familiar (the lead character, Scout, bears more than a passing resemblance to The Expanse star Dominique Tipper and one of the other characters is a dead ringer for Tony Sirico of The Sopranos).  Complimenting Renzo’s art perfectly is Mara Jayne Carpenter’s colors which are varied and vivid. She should get a lot of credit for helping with the tone of the story by using cool colors for the sterile medical facility, bright colors that are vaguely unnatural for the monsters and warm colors for the conflict and chase sequences that literally turn up the heat. A great combo.

I hope the rest of the series plays out as well as the first two issues. If so, then this will be a book people should recommend not just to fans of old fashioned monster movie horror, but any fans of character driven action tales. Issue #3 was released June 27 and Issue #4 is scheduled for release August 22nd to be followed by the trade paperback on September 26th.

Rating – Near Mint (NM) or 9.5/10

Review by Brett Harris

Love the review? Hate the review? Disagree with me? I’m happy to talk comics on twitter @BrettTHarris

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