Comic Review: Evolution #1 (Image)

Picture the idea of humans spontaneously evolving. Image Evolution #1 shows you the effects.

Image’s new title, Evolution is a strange animal itself. The comic book’s first issue is written by four writers, and drawn by one artist. The writers include James Asmus, Joseph Keatinge, Christopher Sebela, and Joshua Williamson. Art is by Joe Infurnari (Canadian, living in Brooklyn, artist on The Bunker).

How these writers decide who will write what is a bit of a mystery, but they attempt to explain their love of horror, and their take on evolution in a couple of pages of bio at the back of the book.

The story is told in a style that will remind you of ‘mass infection’ disaster movies: examples are shown of a phenomenon occurring at various places throughout the world. Then, we realize that they have something on common, and then, it slowly dawns on the characters: something very very bad is going on, and it appears unstoppable!

If you are a fan of horror and have the thick hide necessary to enjoy viewing human bodies turning to ooze, this is the book for you. Well illustrated by Infurnari, the mood of this title seeps through his sombre, scratchy drawings. His figures show emotion and range from quite realistic to a cartoony shorthand reminiscent of editorial cartoons. If editorial cartoons were published in a horror newspaper, that is.

I enjoyed the pace of the unfolding of the central ‘horror’ of the concept, but found one segment a bit irritating; one long scene takes place between a nun and a church visitor. The visitor, in dire discomfort, speaks only in German. Page after page of German, which the nun does not understand, and neither do I. It’s the type of thing that in a movie would be subtitled, and I was disappointed at being left out of the dialogue.

Otherwise, a fun (if you like medical horror) read and a great start to a fascinating concept: sudden evolution.

Image Comics Evolution #1, $3.99 for 36 pages of content Not rated, but probably Teen or Mature.