The Beauty
Writer: Jeremy Haun & Jason A. Hurley
Art: Jeremy Haun
Image Comics
I can simplify this review to simply saying ‘buy this comic’.
But I suppose review readers will want a bit more than that, so I’ll start with Jeremy Haun’s art. There is a sort of pulp detective look to his work, which is ideal for the story. The Beauty, at least through issue one follows a pair of police detectives as they investigate incidents attributed to ‘The Beauty’.
The Beauty is a sexually transmitted disease which leaves those with the disease becoming beautiful. Fat melts away, balding hair returns etc. The only downside is an annoying fever, or is it?
In terms of a plot thread this is pretty unique, and certainly intriguing.
A woman with The Beauty appears to have burned to death from the inside out on a subway.
The detectives show up and are soon trumped out of their investigation by the CDC.
There is obviously more to The Beauty than getting good looks by having sex with the infected.
But what exactly is going on?
That is the question Jeremy Haun & Jason A. Hurley will be answering as the series continues I hope, and I am so up for finding out where they take this story.
Count me hooked.
Cognetic #1
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Eryk Donovan
BOOM! Studios
Cognetic is planned to only be a three issue mini-series, so the story has to have a decent pace. Without that pace the story would quickly fail, since you have to make the story good in a short story arc.
With Issue #1 writer James Tynion IV does a pretty good job.
That said the story is not exactly new. We have a bad guy with the ability to basically take over humans turning them into a version of a zombie-esque automation, but rather than them running around doing random damage, these are part of sort of hive-mind. They are almost Star Trek Borg without the cool techy attachments.
Of course not all the ones with the power to do the control are bent on taking over the world. They never are it seems. There are always a few good ones in every hive mind I suppose.
The first issue sets up the two sides, and readies the series for the ensuing battle tale with the fate of common humanity hanging in the balance.
So there is nothing exactly new here, but Tynion IV keeps us interested.
The art of Eryk Donovan is solid, again not outstanding, but part of a package which makes this little mini-series worth latching on to.
