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A review by bookishrealm
The Strain, Volume 1 by Sierra Hahn, Mike Huddleston, David Lapham
4.0
I used to work with a patron at the library who loved the TV show The Strain. I never understood her obsession with it; however, when I saw that this was available on Hoopla I thought I would give it a try considering it's the spooky season.
WTF....
This was not what I was expecting. I mean I've read vampire stories, but not like this. I think that it's hard to continue to re-create a well known paranormal entity; however, The Strain does an excellent job recreating "our traditional" vampire lore. Its begins with a missing airplane returns to JFK airport and every single person on the plain appears to be dead, but there's no sign of struggle, toxicity in the blood, wounds, bruises...absolutely nothing. What starts off as a supposed terrorist attack spirals into something much darker and grittier.
One of my absolute favorite aspects of this comic book was the creativity and the "realness" of the characters. While I don't think that anyone would willing accept the reality of the situation as quickly as a our main character Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, I do like that we see him struggle to balance between his professional career, remaining sober, and being a good father. It made his character feel more three dimensional. While I don't want to delve too much into what this comic explores, it is told from two varying perspectives. It is gruesome and does not shy away from gore, blood, and violence. It sets up the world and plot for future volumes and ended in a cliff hanger that had me instantly checking out the second volume.
In terms of artwork, I thought that the penciling was interesting. The panels that were done to illustrate the past of one of the characters were a little bit more on the grittier side which I had to adjust too (I also think that this could have been related to the content of this particular storyline). It definitely was enjoyable and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it in the second volume.
If you want a different take on vampires I would definitely recommend checking this out. I also plan on checking out the TV show.
WTF....
This was not what I was expecting. I mean I've read vampire stories, but not like this. I think that it's hard to continue to re-create a well known paranormal entity; however, The Strain does an excellent job recreating "our traditional" vampire lore. Its begins with a missing airplane returns to JFK airport and every single person on the plain appears to be dead, but there's no sign of struggle, toxicity in the blood, wounds, bruises...absolutely nothing. What starts off as a supposed terrorist attack spirals into something much darker and grittier.
One of my absolute favorite aspects of this comic book was the creativity and the "realness" of the characters. While I don't think that anyone would willing accept the reality of the situation as quickly as a our main character Dr. Ephraim Goodweather, I do like that we see him struggle to balance between his professional career, remaining sober, and being a good father. It made his character feel more three dimensional. While I don't want to delve too much into what this comic explores, it is told from two varying perspectives. It is gruesome and does not shy away from gore, blood, and violence. It sets up the world and plot for future volumes and ended in a cliff hanger that had me instantly checking out the second volume.
In terms of artwork, I thought that the penciling was interesting. The panels that were done to illustrate the past of one of the characters were a little bit more on the grittier side which I had to adjust too (I also think that this could have been related to the content of this particular storyline). It definitely was enjoyable and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it in the second volume.
If you want a different take on vampires I would definitely recommend checking this out. I also plan on checking out the TV show.