The Cull #2 // Review
They are all congratulating her. Because she stepped into a puddle. Actually, it's more of a pool. She's perfectly fine. And there's nothing wrong. The pool is pink. It's in an alien world. "I didn't burn up or melt or anything." So the world they're in might be dangerous, but it's not like...actively hostile or anything. They learn a bit more about the world in The Cull #2. Writer Kelly Thompson continues her slow, stunning excavation of an adventure story with artist Mattia De Iulis. Thompson is careful to make sure that there's just enough time for a deep exploration of everything without it being so slow that it feels dull. It's a clever balance.
Cleo walked into the strange world beyond the cave first. Her four friends were very reluctant to go in all together. There is a long conversation about whether it was a good idea. After carefully considering the situation, they all decided to go in anyway. It may not have been a good idea. But at least they would be together, regardless of what happened. And whatever was going to happen to them was going to happen to all of them. End it might not have been a good idea, but it was a mistake that they were all going to be prepared to make together.
It's worth noting that a good portion of the issue was just good for young people standing around in a pink pool discussing exactly where they are in exactly what's going on. This could easily have been incredibly and appallingly boring. But Thompson does a really good job of illustrating the thoughts and feelings of a group of people who are just trying to figure things out. It actually feels really well fused with the art as well. Thompson knows the talent of the artist she's working with, and I was that she can rely on the visual to remain fascinating, even if it's just a bunch of kids standing around talking about the alien world they're in.
Part of the do you know of the art lies in the horrifying image that still lingers from the first issue. The world is there and doesn't seem to be overly hostile immediately. But knows that there's something very sinister going on. The drama written into the faces of everyone feels very multi, layered, and cleverly nuanced throughout. The drama wouldn't be nearly as intense as it is was enough for the fact that De Iulis does SUCH a good job of delivering a delicate range of emotions for the entire ensemble.
Having firmly established the overall premise of an intrepid investigation into an alien world, Thompson is moving ahead, very clearly, in a very cool way, into a fascinating new direction or an adventure series. The reader learns a little bit more about the characters as they interact with another world that doesn't appear to be dangerous on the surface but is clearly going to be apocalyptically awful. It's a very delicate kind of brilliance that Thompson's working with.
