| Title: | Ferals |
| Contributors: | David Lapham Gabriel Andrade |
| Publisher: | Avatar Press |
| Issue #: | Vol 1 |
| Year: | 2012 |
| Pages: | 160 Pages |
| Age Rating: | 18 (Language, Violence, Gore, Nudity, Sex, Adult Themes) |
| Story Grade: | B |
| Art Grade: | B |
Regardless of whether you were naughty or nice, I come bearing a gift as well this Christmas morning. This isn't a gift of a classic tale of holiday spirits and doesn't provide a warm fire to cozy up to. As a matter of fact, this isn't even family friendly (read the Age Rating above). No instead, I bring to you this Christmas morn, a horror-ride from a couple of the creative minds from the Crossed series.
But first a little back story...
This all started with my local comic shop (LCS for you lay-persons out there). My LCS shows me love all the time. And after one his other customers custom orders almost an entire run of this series, Feral, the customer changed his mind and baled on the purchase. Well my LCS thought of me. And of course I bought the series and ordered Vol 1 through my LCS to fill the holes in the series cause that is how I am.
Now you might be asking, "What the hell does a Werewolf have to do with Christmas?" That is a perfectly sane question to ask. I answer with this, "This series has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas, but there is an protagonist named Chestnutt (like what you would roast over an open fire) and there is snow on the ground, so, in theory, the story could be happening during Christmas-time; in theory." Well, that's my answer and I'm sticking to it.
Okay, let's get down to business. Let's review Feral Volume 1.
While the story is broken in parts, causing some rereading and confusion, and the fact that the story can come across as a rehash of previous werewolf stories or themes, think 'The Howling' or 'Skinwalkers' for instance. This story does ultimately take things down a unique path that I found it very entertaining, like the involvement of the M.I.B, for instance.
The artwork of Andrade is really good for the most part. Although some facial expression could have been a little more refined, for the most part I enjoyed all of the art. Let me explain what I mean by "facial expressions being more refined". If you look at the last panel in the image just above and to the left of this paragraph. The woman running away from the Werewolf. While you can tell the intent was to express terror on her face, the expression isn't quite nailed. She looks more like a stoner running towards a stranger in the grocery store who happens to be taking the last bag of Doritos. What the woman in the image above doesn't look like is someone who has been attacked by the werewolf and is fleeing for her life as another attack by the werewolf is eminent. Wider eyes, more tension in face; terror, not fear and disappointment.
But again, it is just little things that didn't work and the collection of little things doesn't ruin the book. All in all, this is a fun story and worth the price of admission for any fan of Lapham and/or Andrade's previous works. All in all I grade this book a solid B.
Until next time... Remember, like you can't un-see what has been seen, you can't un-hear what has been heard. Now see and hear this...
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