In the second issue of ‘Spread’ we saw the main characters, No and Hope, introduced to Molly. Molly is a bit of a loony that is being setup to end up being Hope’s mother, and in this issue she shows a bit more of how unstable she actually is. Another concept we come across is that the ‘Spread’ isn’t all just a set of animal level intelligence for mindless creatures, and more of that was hinted at in this issue. Also, we see a bit of cannibalsm here – some of it as a surprise and some of it well known at Jack’s Cafe! That shouldn’t be a spoiler by the way if you at all check out the cover for this book.
So once again Justin Jordan is doing an amazing job in his writing by hitting all of the high notes in humor, horror, a quick paced plot, and giving us just enough to yearn for more. This is clearly a go to for post-apocalyptic fans who love watching a new society being built up after it has fallen. Of course, we’ve been given hints that an actual society still exists but in the wastelands of this comic it is a live or die by the gun mentality.
Artist Kyle Strahm hits it on the head by once again delivering a world that really fits a post apocalyptic setting with just the right kind of look and violence that is fitting for the setting. While his wilderness scenes have been great, his artistic abilities fully get a chance to shine when giving us the border town that we find out heroes in. It’s messy, it’s a fringe society that wants to keep in contact with one another that also doesn’t trust each other, it’s a community. It’s just not a community I believe that most of us would choose to voluntarily live in.
We’re given a fun take on what is left of humanity and a bit more about the Spread (though it is mostly glossed over which I think will be a bigger problem next issue) as well as a continuation of one of the ongoing story lines. It is all tied together with one mess turning into another and problems just growing at every corner. I think we’ll see our trio escape in the confusion of the major points on this issue but it is hard to say where we’ll be going from here. I just know that I want to be along for the ride!
I’m loving ‘Spread’ and really want to know where the series is going. While we know that someone out there knows about Hope and they were in an area still advanced enough to have a plane, a pilot, and access to fuel you have to wonder who else knows about the girl. I think that is going to be a tale for much later down the road though as I suspect that Hope, Molly, and No will all be in the fringes of civilization for quite some time to come.
SPREAD #3
Writer: Justin Jordan
Artist: Kyle Strahm
