Comics
Review: Ferals #3
The classic monster werewolf has taken a beating in recent years. Hollywood has removed any sense of fear associated with werewolves by making them comical (Teen Wolf), teen heartthrobs (Twilight), or just plain lame (2010’s The Wolfman), which typically makes them the subject much of critical scorn. Thankfully Avatar Press has stepped up to the plate to give readers a story where the werewolves haven’t been castrated in their new series Ferals.
Writer David Lapham has been on a roll with his twisted tales at Avatar Press. His 6-issue run on Crossed: Family Values and Crossed: Psychopath pushed boundaries to the point where they should have been sold with a bottle of holy water to help cleanse readers sins after reading. Writer David Lapham (Stray Bullets, DeadpoolMAX) has taken a back to basics approach to Ferals and given readers a reason to fear werewolves.
The story revolves around Officer Dale Chesnutt, a small town lawman stuck investigating the brutal slaughter of his best friend. During his investigation everyone around Chesnutt begins to turn up dead, including the woman he had a sweaty sexual encounter with the night before. Pulled in for questioning, Chesnutt is attacked in jail by a werewolf who proceeds to brutally slaughter the entire police force. Escaping by the skin of his teeth, Dale’s body begins a transformation after the attack as his hands begin to morph into werewolf like claws.
Newcomer Gabriel Andrade (Lady Death, Die Hard: Year One) handles the art and turns out some of the best pages to come out of an Avatar book since Jacen Burrows became the company’s star player. His style is simplistic with emphases on great storytelling and compelling layouts that pull readers in. Any horror junkies that are hungry for gore will love Andrade’s breathtaking panels of disemboweled bodies as the man definitely doesn’t spare any of bloodshed in his action sequences.
Ferals is a dark and twisted werewolf story that has quickly risen to the cream of the horror crop month in and month out. Lapham and Andrade deserve a real standing ovation for taking a classic horror movie monster and making him scary once again.
-Big J
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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