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Eisner-winning writer Kelly Thompson re-teams with superstar artist Mattia De Iulis for their first creator-owned work together! The Cull is a dark tale about five friends setting off in the middle of the night to shoot a short film on a forbidden rock near their small coastal town the summer before they all go their separate ways. But they're not really there to shoot a film. One of them has lied. And that lie will change EVERYTHING. Collects THE CULL #1-#5
Wow, just read the blurb for this book and it says that one character has lied to get everyone to the forbidden rock... that was not my impression at all when I was reading! It felt more like the characters stumble across what they find there, not that there'd been pre-meditation... did I miss something?
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I read this very fast before my comic club meeting, and even though I think I could have enjoyed it more with more time to read, I felt that it was trying to do too much in this one volume, and others agreed. While this was ultimately good setup for future issues and volumes, set the stage for an ongoing story, the pacing was odd and there was not enough time to have any of the characters shine or really have time to sit and absorb any of the plot. I just overall felt like the Breakneck speed gave no breathing room to allow any emotional beats to land and we moved on in the story without any time to really care about any of our characters or what they were going through. The sex scene came out of nowhere, felt weird, felt plopped in, never was brought up again so what was the point?? The creature that they meet was interesting but it's learning took seconds? And somehow the kids get total control over their powers instantly too? The kids teaming up like the Power Rangers at the end was both dope and completely cheesy. The art style didn't quite land for me and felt odd, certain panels looked like they had a filter or had weird shadows or something, almost AI, or the level of photorealism was honestly taking me out of the story. I really was interested in the premise, this seems like it has potential, but the execution was not it for me. Other reviewers use phrases such as "carelessly constructed", "nothing is truly explained", and the following: ""I don't really know what story I want to tell, so I will just put all the things I like inside and it will probably work with above average art"... it almost does."