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The Info BitSpread_01-1

Title: Spread

Genre/s: Sci-Fi/Horror

Writer: Justin Jordan (Strange Talent of Luther Strode, Green Lantern New Guardians)

Art: Kyle Strahm

Colorist: Filipe Sobreiro

Letters: CRANK!

Publisher: Image Comics

Number of Issues: #1 (ongoing)

Page Count: 32

Price: 3.50

Let me just start by saying that I am a huge fan of Justin Jordan. I think that his Luther Strode series is some of the best stuff to come out of Image in recent years, it is up there with Walking Dead, Saga, and Chew for me.

0a32e350f1ec680198a5bc9fa2c1df69_mSpread opens with a 3rd person narrative telling us about “the Spread” and the world this story takes place in. The Narrator also introduces us to the books main character, No, a seemingly stoic loner type who just so happens to be immune to the Spread. All this narrative is set upon a backdrop of extreme violence as No comes upon a quarantine zone that has now become infested with the parasitic Spread. While surveying the destruction No is attacked by an infected scientist, and survives with brutal success. The Narrator then turns the attention onto itself as we are now introduced to our storyteller. The identity I will not spoil for you here because once The Narrator is revealed, the true core of the story begins to take shape.

Jumping into the already over populated Post-Apocalyptic genre Justin Jordan is Spread-1-Page-2carefully weaving a very interesting story, trying to set his story apart from the rest of the “infection” stories that are out there. Jordan tells us just enough to develop the world the reader finds themselves in, while leaving us wanting to know more, and waiting eagerly for the next issue. Pairing Jordan’s storytelling prowess with the art of Kyle Strahm is a definite selling point. The gruesomeness of Strahm’s depiction of the Spread is what you would expect from a Justin Jordan story, brutal and intense. The parasitic monsters Strahm created seem like something out of a Japanese child’s nightmares, or maybe just his and Jordan’s. Jordan’s concept of the Spread remind me very much of John Carpenter’s “The Thing”, able to take any shape it sees fit, and infects all it comes into contact with. Filipe Sobreiro’s colors bring Strahm’s illustrated world to life. It’s not much of a surprise that the color red is the dominant color in this book, and this red is very vivid. This whole creative team works well together to paint a world that is in chaos, and very dangerous to all who inhabit it.

Spread01_Page5I really enjoyed this book, I enjoyed how Jordan utilized a narrator to tell his story, and without the narration the book would have fallen flat. I think narration is a technique that is sometimes overused, or just used improperly, and needs a skilled writer to really pull you in and keep you there, much like Brian K. Vaughn does in Saga, and this is definitely the case with Jordan’s Spread. I give this book a solid 8 out of 10. The only issue I have with this book is one that I can’t go into great detail with unfortunately as it will spoil far too much, but will say that the cover and what turns out to be the main story are way to reminiscent of a certain Marvel storyline from about 4 years ago. With that being said, I still highly recommend this to any fan of post apocalypse stories, as well as fans of Justin Jordan.