The Strain #3
Publisher: Dark Horse
Writer: David Lapham (story by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan)
Artist: Mike Huddleston
As if things weren’t moving at a fast enough pace, Lapham really amped things up in this issue. Until now, we’ve seen only glimpses of what might be in store for the city, but now it’s very evident that if things aren’t reigned in, the city will be overrun with the undead. The old man pleads with the doctor to be ready to fight against some abomination that is lurking about this night. The doctor seems scared, but initially doesn’t do anything. Meanwhile, at the coroner’s office, an autopsy is being performed on the deceased from the flight. The man drops his sample of the “blood” from the victims, so he must then retrieve some more from one of the bodies. When he opens the door, he gets a surprise that he’ll never forget…or survive.
All in all, I’m loving this series so far. I enjoyed the first issue because of the back story, then in the second issue we saw more of the relevance of what’s currently going on. Now in this issue, we get to see how it ties together. Not only that, but we also see some vampires running loose in the streets. One of them, a big fat dude, who also happens to be buck naked, goes berserk in a nightclub and bites a couple of people! Things are progressing very nicely, and I love the pace at which Lapham is moving things along. I can’t even imagine how it could be written any better.
The artwork is awesome too, and Huddleston continues to impress me. His work on this book is very scary and creepy. His depiction of these creatures is definitely one of a kind. The story certainly is great, but I think Huddleston’s artwork cranks up the creepiness to 10 on the horror dial! I love his covers as well, and this one especially. It leaves very little to the imagination, but I think that’s the point. I’m just going to assume that he’ll be on artwork for the entire series, and I honestly hope so. Some books have a habit of changing artists halfway through a run, and that usually annoys the crap out of me. Hopefully that won’t be the case here. I’m honestly pumped up for the next issue, and you should be, too! Rating 4/5
Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net
