Comics Review: "The Strain" Vol. 1

- by Ninja Ross, 21 November 2012

David Lapham is one of those “hit or miss” writers. He’s capable of writing incredible masterpieces with dark twists and fantastic characters ("Silverfish", "Batman: City of Crime") but sometimes he just writes total crap ("Crossed: Family Values", "Deadpool MAX"). Because of that, I approached "The Strain" with caution.

The Strain is actually based on the first book of a vampire trilogy written by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. I actually have no idea if it’s close to the book but since Del Toro had a lot of input in this adaptation, I’m guessing it’s pretty accurate. Besides, this is about the comic book, not the novel.

The story follows Dr. Ephraim Goodweather; part of a CDC emergency response team. Along with his partner Nora Martinez, Goodweather is called into investigate a plane that went completely silent after landing on the runway. The curtains are closed, there’s no radio response and nobody has left the plane.

Upon entering the plane, our hero finds all the passengers dead. Working through the plane, they see corpses of all shapes and sizes, giving us an early look into Goodweather’s mind and his views on the job. After investigating the scene, they find three survivors and a coffin full of dirt. You don’t have to be a genius to see where this is going, am I right? Of course I’m right.

But this sounds more like a zombie story! I said vampires, right? VAMPIRES! Grrrrrr! Arrrrrr!

The truth is, it’s a cross between the two monsters. There are the master vampires and the European origins with the need to feed on humans but with the infected, monstrous, zombie-like appearances.

So the monster isn’t unique and neither is the plot but there’s more to it than that. The human characters are fleshed out and interesting, especially the protagonist, Goodweather.

Goodweather is in the middle of a custody battle with his ex-wife and her new boyfriend (who’s a dick) for his son. He very recently quit drink, which probably doesn’t help at all.

He shares page space with several other characters, all of whom come with their own set of personality traits and problems. While they’re a bit less interesting, they still manage to hold attention and have you rooting for them to survive.

So David Lapham has a hit here, even if it’s based on someone else’s work. I would like to read the novel to find out how much of this comic is Lapham’s but for now it’s just a great story with fantastic characters.

Not Goodweather. A supporting (and supportive) cast member, Ninja Ross tells us.

But what about the art, you ask? Well, the art is the best thing about it and, considering how much I’ve praised the writing, that’s saying something! Mike Huddleston gives us a fantastic horror atmosphere with dark, moody art. It’s sort of a mix of Simon Bisley and Sean Murphy, meaning it’s all sorts of awesome.

Look at this cover and tell me I’m wrong:

Yeah! Take that!

The first volume is available RIGHT NOW and I think you should go get it.

I said GO GET IT!!!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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