Without spoiling the story (actually...I think it's impossible to spoil this...and I'll get to that), I'll give you the basis. The comic opens beautifully with an elderly woman and child talking. To get the child, Abraham, to eat, his grandmother tells him about a down-to-Earth nobleman named Jusef Sardu. He is gigantic, but is well loved by the people (because he does not look down on them....I suppose he technically does...but...you get the idea). Because of his disability, he uses a cane to get around. This is a source of embarrassment to his father. Desperate for relief, his father organizes a hunting party to scour the forest for a wolf. It is believed that upon eating the meat of the wolf, Jusef will gain strength in his muscles and be a man that his father can take pride in. This, however, is not the case and the plan backfires in a horrible way. Every member of the party, including Jusef's father, is killed, one by one, by something. Jusef finds the bodies, takes them away, and returns to the mouth of the cave where he discovered them. He knows something is watching him...but he doesn't know what it is. Upon his return to society, Jusef holes up in the castle, and is never seen again. Many rumors swirl about the man, and, of course, parents use his strange story as a way to manipulate their children into doing what they want (in Abraham's case...eating!).
As the reader, you're filled in on the legend that dates back hundreds of years. THIS is the back-story that I'm talking about. At first I thought "What's this have to do with anything?", but it becomes very clear soon enough. The thing I love the most about this legend is that it follows it throughout time. You see all the aspects of the mystery of the story throughout periods of history. If you've read much of anything I've posted here or on my other blog, you'll know that I'm a HUGE Holocaust researcher. I absorb anything and everything I can on it, and this book gained auto-points with me when it tied in that time era.
Before I get too far gone, let me get my head in order.
Flash forward. Next, you see Dr. Ephraim Goodweather playing a video game of some sort with his son. Immediately, his phone rings, and an annoyed son asks if he's going to answer it. This scene says a lot for the father/son relationship and for Goodweather's seriousness about his job. He works for the Center of Disease Control and jokingly says that he's not going to answer it and that the world isn't ending. Little does he know...it is. Eventually, Goodweather takes the call, drops his son off (after promising to spend the whole weekend with him! This doesn't help his custody case! :c), and heads to JFK airport. A flight has landed, and there's no response from the inside. The plane is sealed shut, and there's not attempt at communication. Finally, the plane is breached, and inside is a terrible sight. What makes it so terrible is what you don't see. Nothing. No blood. No gore. No explanation. Everyone's dead all at once. Everyone appears to be sleeping. The rapid response team is at a loss until an elderly pawn shop owner tips them off to examine the scene with a blacklight. Splatters. Everywhere. But of what? Before long, the dead are reanimating, shoving their Venom-like tongues into everyone's necks, and running rabid around the city. In the meantime, Goodweather decides that, after proving himself correct with the blacklight information, the old man is worth talking to. What follows is a brief explanation of what's going on inside the bodies of the dead. I won't ruin what happens within the last couple of pages. With as much as I've written here, I feel like I haven't even told you the least of it. There's so much going on...so much to absorb...there's a shock on every page. I had planned on reading an issue or two at most...but I ended up reading the whole thing! It was a fast read...but VERY satisfying. I'm frustrated in that I want to read more and that I feel like the first volume isn't even the beginning. I feel like the first volume is just a set-up for much greater things to come.
Let's just say this isn't your typical vampire/zombie story. Technically, you can recognize aspects of both. But really...this infection...these monsters...are something that I've never seen in comics before. I'm impressed at Lapahm's ability to combine all of these classic monsters together into one without making it seem used, tired, generic, and boring. Lately we see so much in the media about zombies and vampires that it's easy to automatically write off something that includes these creatures. If this is your concern, don't worry. You won't be disappointed with all 152 pages of extreme adrenaline!
"The Strain Vol. 1" will be available on November 14th. You can pre-order from Things From Another World here . It's cheaper if you pre-order! Save $4 to buy a single issue of something else!
Until next time!
XOXO
Ashleigh
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