coldspots1-feature Reviews 

“Cold Spots” #1

By | August 23rd, 2018
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Cullen Bunn, renowned for his Dark Horse horror series “Harrow County”, brings his signature style of frights over to Image with “Cold Spots” #1. With Mark Torres on board, will the team grip readers as much as Bunn’s prior series?

Cover by Mark Torres

Written by Cullen Bunn
Illustrated and colored by Mark Torres
Lettered by Simon Bowland

MINISERIES PREMIERE Psychological terror, the undead, and a supernaturally bitter cold come together in this spine-tingling new series from CULLEN BUNN (REGRESSION, Harrow County) and MARK TORRES (Zombies vs. Robots: Undercity). 10 years ago, Dan Kerr turned his back on his wife and unborn daughter. Now, both mother and child have gone missing, and Dan must face cosmic terrors to find them again. He soon finds that ghosts stir when his estranged daughter is near. And as the dead grow restless, the cold deepens…

As far as pacing and creating tension, Cullen Bunn has this book pretty well nailed. The little prologue that establishes the ‘cosmic terrors’ of this story is perfectly sized to gauge readers expectation. We’re shown what the story is allowing in terms of realism, that the tone of horror is more disturbing rather than shocking, and the terrors themselves and how different people in this universe react differently to them. From there, we get a slow unfolding of the main plot through our protagonist, the ‘very best’ investigator as told by his reluctant employer. Bunn gives us a sense of security at this point, mainly table setting the rules and backstory of this tale. However, he cleverly slips in a supernatural element through the missing daughter’s drawings, to keep readers aware that something not quite right is happening. From then on, it’s a steady crescendo of tension right until the final page, with Dan interacting with a random store owner who has his own connection to the ‘cosmic terrors’ and ends up victim to their machinations. It’s a great way to thrill audiences and also keep them grasping at straws enough to come back next issue.

I think the characters here and how they’re presented in this debut issue is a bit more of a mixed bag. I love the husband from the prologue first up. He’s a smart and concerned man living in an old, rickety plot of land that would usually imply simplicity and ignorance in a character, bucking expectations and delivering a unique and interesting throwaway character. I feel like Dan Kerr, at least at this stage, is something of a letdown, however. His seems to be the type that plays the hardass, no-rules private investigator, spouting lines like “…YOUR BOSS TOLD ME HE NEVER WANTED TO SEE ME AGAIN. BY MY WATCH, THAT MAKES ME EARLY” and walking around with his hand permanently glued to his pockets and a scowl emblazoned on his visage. He even actively plays into story tropes in the Ferry Landing scene, in which he predicts having to stay at the motel out loud before the motel owner saucily dangles room keys in front of his face. Mr. Warren is a little better as a character, playing the hard gentleman who hides a soft spot for his missing family, but it still feels familiar within the context and setting “Cold Spots” plays up.

“Cold Spots” #1 has a really clean and simple art style that is completely handled by Mark Torres. The line work feels like it was composed under the same tension and pressure that Bunn wants to convey in his writing, coming off as a really compelling shaky and inconsistent line style. It’s then contrasted excellently by significantly heavier shadows, often dominating up to half of a subject and lending an appropriate noir tone to the artwork. This works well in portraying characters specifically in the scene of Dan meeting with Mr. Warren. Torres renders Warren with his face almost always cast in shadow, dehumanizing him somewhat and matching his appearance up with his sinister tone of voice. However, when we start to hear more vulnerability in Warren’s dialogue, Torres starts to let up on the shading too, showing us a little more of his eyes to play up the human element a little more. It’s subtle but clever character work within a scene, giving us more about a character than we’re told in his or her dialogue. I do have a small problem with some of Torres’ aesthetic in some scenes however, as it can lend some awkwardness to a character. This occurs heavily in the scene where Dan is driving to find Alyssa, and a panel is shown from the side with him driving the car. The composition is great except that Dan’s right arm is completely stiff and unnatural, looking more like a plastic doll than a concerned father/detective.

Continued below

Torres renders some really simple and powerful environments in this issue, creating multiple settings that feel Gothic, 1940’s noir and Modernist inspired. The opening scene is never cluttered with objects or environmental setting, yet Torres gives us just enough to convey a scene and idea. We get the creeping dead trees around the house, the dirty and crack walls revealed close up, the greasy windows and messy, low hanging lamp to tell us that these people aren’t truly well off yet still endure to live a good life. There’s also a great scene in the following sequence that uses stereotypes really well to set readers expectations. It’s the immediate first page of the Mr. Warren scene, where the first panel of a wide city skyline is contrasted by a typical, far off Gothic castle protected by high metal barred gates. It’s a great way to show time and context, while also using stereotypes like the Gothic castle to convey the tone of the story and setting to the reader. Torres really excels in rendering intimate interior space too, like with Dan exploring Alyssa’s room, we get a sense of longing for her in how neat the room is, and still a sense of childlike wonder with drawings sticky-taped to the wall.

The coloring here has an ethereal dreamscape feel to it thanks to a textured approach that feels a lot like watercolor. The initial opening scene very much embodies the idea of a prologue, with a soft, beige palette that screams nostalgia and flashback. To then contrast that in the very next scene with a skyline highlighted with vibrant purples is a step even further, showing the bold modernity of the text but also conveying a sense of otherworldly nature due to how contrasted these purple hues are. The coloring works at its best, however, when working in tandem with the ‘cosmic terror’ appearance towards the end of the issue. As the beings start to creep into the panels, the very texture of the coloring starts to feel colder in saturation and Torres inflects the palette with specks of white to give it a more icy feel. The end result on the final page is a gripping yet muted scene that feels like an appropriate finale to the creeping cold in the color palette pages before it.

“Cold Spots” #1 is a very solid debut from a writer who has clearly dipped his feet in this genre more than once. The composition is fantastic and the mood is constantly unnerving. There’s a problem with some characters feeling a little more cookie-cutter than others, but then we get to the art, which tonally feel fantastic. It’s plagued by awkwardness at times, but overall creates a tension and emotion that will leave readers rushing back for the next issue.

Final Score: 7.0 – A solid horror debut, “Cold Spots” #1 impresses with great composition and stylistic art, but feels hampered by stereotypical protagonists.


Rowan Grover

Rowan is from Sydney, Australia! Rowan writes about comics and reads the heck out of them, too. Talk to them on Twitter at @rowan_grover. You might just spur an insightful rant on what they're currently reading, but most likely, you'll just be interrupting a heated and intimate eating session.

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