Welcome back to world of “Spread”. Things aren’t, how you might say, going well for No. With a baby to take care of and a mass of flesh and teeth hunting him, you might begin to wonder how he’s meant to survive a whole series of this.
Written by Justin Jordan
Illustrated by Kyle StrahmRaiders. Slavers. A gigantic Spreadworm. A hungry baby. No has problems.
I think there are very few genres in fiction more unifying than a good dystopia. From Orwell to Bradbury to Dick and beyond, the idea of using fiction to create a world gone to shit as a reflection and commentary on the problems of the current world became increasingly relevant as our world began to look more and more like a dystopia. It’s a genre that comics are no stranger to either from the likes of “The Walking Dead” and “Y: The Last Man” to even something like “Marvel Zombies” getting in on the action. It’s a fascinating look into a world not unlike our own and often allows the creator to wear their heart on their sleeve in saying “This is what I think is wrong with the world; here’s how I hope we can fix it.”
“Spread” is Justin Jordan and Kyle Strahm’s dystopia. It’s a world ravaged and left discarded for the survivors to pick at its bones and try to make a living from it — or, at least, to survive long enough to see something better come along. That leaves the series in an interesting place as, immediately, a sense of destination is lost to the reader; this isn’t the story of a journey, it’s a story of survival. This allows Justin Jordan to play with the readers’ expectations as soon everything becomes a threat. This is the genius of Justin Jordan as a storyteller in full effect here.
By using Hope, the baby, as the narrator, Jordan flirted with removing the tension from the book – if she’s narrating this, likely she survives long enough to pass on her tale – but by creating a world where around every corner lies another threat, the tension in the story builds not from whether No and Hope survive, but in how. That’s a tricky way to work a story as the issue then travels at breakneck speed from danger to danger, leaving the characters and the reader without a space to catch a breath. However, this issue works as Jordan seems to be writing so far as a number of interconnected one-and-done stories. While the characters and setting carry over into this issue from the first, the story of this issue is set-up and resolved in the space of the single issue. This allows Jordan and Strahm to throw everything from slavers to a spreadworm to breast milk at No to create a challenge, yet by the end of the issue there is a breathing space, eschewing a cliffhanger for a moment of peace for the characters.
“Spread” is not a comic book too proud to wear it’s influences on it’s sleeve. The comparisons of the series to a cross between The Thing and “Lone Wolf & Cub” are not without merit, but thanks to Kyle Strahm this comic is an entirely unique beast. Strahm’s artwork seems built entirely on the atmosphere created by the setting. The snow-covered wilderness of what used to be North America allows Strahm to take something familiar and turn it into something horrifying. There’s a tranquil feeling of unease to the setting of “Spread” that permeates the book with the feeling that there is no safe place to hide for these characters. This allows what few moments of peace the characters have to never really feel peaceful and allows Strahm to punctuate that feeling with moments of violence which are shocking and brutal, but also somewhat natural in this ruined landscape.
If “Luther Strode” is the story of how violence can corrupt men, “Spread” might just be the story of how violence can corrupt the land. And corrupt it it does as even the ground beneath the characters’ feet becomes an enemy. This is the main attraction of Strahm’s art: his design and use of the Spread itself. The heaving, effluvial mass of flesh and teeth is a sight to behold and genuinely terrifying. Thanks to Felipe Sobreiro’s colour work, which is across the board more subtle and muted than anything in “Luther Strode”, the Spread leaps off the page with blood red hues that bring a wholly unnatural feeling to the beast. Even from the cover, the sight of whatever the hell that is sticks in the mind and adds to the feeling of unease throughout as you spend the issue waiting with baited breath for the thing to show up.
Continued belowThis is not exactly a fun comic to read. It’s not a bad comic, by any stretch, but the feeling that comes from reading “Spread” is akin to the moment of anticipation before the needle pricks your skin to draw blood. Comparisons between the comic and films like The Thing float around a lot, but the closest point of reference I have when reading “Spread” is the feeling I had when reading Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”. This is a dystopia where the world itself turns on its characters, creating a certain sense of doom that, even though we might know at least one character survives, we don’t know in what shape or form they manage to survive in.
Justin Jordan, Kyle Strahm and Felipe Sobreiro have managed to bottle that sense of uneasy, sleep-with-one-eye-open anticipation of horror in “Spread”. While it is still very early days and momentum will surely be built as the story goes along, Jordan’s use of larger self-contained issues has allowed a sense of narrative to form in only two issues. There’s really no telling where this story will go, but one thing’s for sure: it’s going to be a hell of a ride getting there.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – If you’ve ever wanted heart in your throat tension from a comic book, look no further.
