Comics
Review: ‘Colder’ #2
With tons of good scares and well-developed characterizations, Colder #2 has the right ingredients to make for an entertaining supernatural thriller. With all the exposition out of the way, the second issue kicks up the story another notch. Just the frightening visual imagery alone in this issue will have readers talking.
WRITTEN BY: Paul Tobin
ART BY: Juan Ferreyra
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: December 5th, 2012
Years ago, a mental patient, Declan Thomas, became the sole survivor of a deadly inferno. Since that horrible night of blazing fire, Declan’s body has been mysteriously changing. Though he never gets sick or feels pain, Declan’s body temperature is slowly dropping. He remembers someone coming out of a hole in the wall and invading his mind. While Declan has been comatose, an evil entity has been walking around freely, stealing innocent people’s souls. After waking up suddenly, Declan must find a way to stop this sadistic killer.
After establishing the premise in the previous issue, Paul Tobin has more freedom to let his characters interact, and explore the bizarre aspects of the narrative. The antagonist, Nimble Jack, was a major focus before, and stole the show. Now, Tobin concentrates his attention on his protagonist, Declan, who had no dialogue in the first issue. This time around, Declan has a lot more to say and do, making him interesting and relatable to readers. Declan’s nurse, Reece, is also more involved in the action.
In a pivotal scene, Tobin establishes the relationship between Reece and Declan. Because he his mind has already snapped, Declan can actually see what drives people into madness. Reece is the outsider looking in, witnessing what really transpires inside the mind of those who have gone off the deep end. Tobin brings in a wicked sense of black humor as Reece reacts hysterically to the craziness around her.
Juan Ferreyra’s art offers memorable and eye-popping surrealist images. To depict the insanity and loss of control, Ferreyra visualizes several rundown Gothic buildings floating in the air, with sewer tunnels spewing out blood. To keep up the dream-like scenarios, Reece encounters a parade of freaks with many eyes and noses on their faces. To distinguish their emotions, Ferreyra has Reece look frightened out of her mind, while Declan acts like he has visited this hellish world before.
Ferreyra does a great job illustrating Jack’s nightmarish powers. When Jack enters the mind of his victim, he tortures them with their internal fears. With immense glee, Jack conjures up monsters with elongated fingers and half a mouth. These are eerie images that will definitely stick in your mind after you have finished reading. To distinguish reality from unreality, Ferreyra depicts the real world with vibrant and blossoming colors. The surreal world is drained of color, with a major focus on the grey tones.
4.5/5 skulls
Reviewed by Jorge Solis
IDW Dark and Paramount recently joined forces to launch limited comic book tales set in the worlds of Smile and A Quiet Place, and we’ve learned today that they’ll continue hanging around in those franchise universes with two brand new limited series tales.
Entertainment Weekly has exclusively revealed this afternoon that IDW Dark’s Any Given Smile debuts in September, while A Quiet Place: Rising Tides arrives in November.
First up, from writer Stephanie Williams and artist Pablo Collar, Any Given Smile puts a football-themed twist on Parker Finn’s successful Smile movie franchise.
The five-part limited series is “set in January 1995, during the American Arena League football championship game in St. Augustine, Florida. The rising superstar of the Sharks, backup quarterback Dupree, is feeling the pressure from his teammates, the fans, and also the city’s gambling underworld, to whom he owes a considerable debt. Meanwhile, a sports journalist investigates a string of suicides that may be connected to the big game. At the very least, they are connected to a sinister entity that preys on the minds of its victims.”
From writer Declan Shalvey and artist Luke Sparrow, A Quiet Place: Rising Tides will also be a five-issue limited story. The comic book tale “brings the creatures to the Florida Keys, where a father-daughter duo attempt to survive on water in a houseboat.”
EW further details, “This tense family reunion coincides with the arrival of the vicious creatures that hunt through sound. Grace and her dad find safety on the open ocean, but she’ll have to make landfall sooner or later; the father’s oxygen tank and their supplies are running low, while a hurricane swiftly approaches.”
Learn more about both comic books over on Entertainment Weekly.
You must be logged in to post a comment.