A pleasant surprise...
(No Spoilers)
When I first saw the cover art for this a few months back, I had the same reaction a lot of people online had. Spawn crossed with Spiderman? Are McFarlane & Kirkman joking? And as more cover art emerged it wasn’t getting any better. Don’t get me wrong, it was awesome art (this is McFarlane we’re talking about after all), but I still didn’t get what they were doing. Then I read an online preview for it and actually liked what I read. First off, the main character, Daniel Kilgore, is only briefly seen in the preview and he’s not even in the Haunt costume by the end of the preview. This told me that Kirkman was taking his time with the story-telling. But at the same time, he introduced (as I found later), not only the main character, but the main TWO characters (can’t clarify without spoiling) in this preview. Seeing Daniel’s brother Kurt in action was really cool. And another thing that worked for me instantly was the art. You have Greg Capullo (Spawn) doing the layouts, Ryan Ottley (Invincible) doing the finishes, and Todd McFarlane inking. The trio delivers some awesome visuals and McFarlane’s inks give it just enough grittiness which seems appropriate for the story. Mind you, I’m still describing the preview here.
Now, picking up #1, I was still hesitant and flipped through it. I saw more great art and finally we get to the character of Haunt. Ok, so maybe to an extent he is just Spawn with Spiderman mixed in, but there’s something about the design that still stands on its own. Although it’s hard not to think about the way McFarlane drew Spidey’s webs that’s echoed when we see the ectoplasm shoot out from Haunt.
All in all, a great first issue that I feel is a nice balance of character moments and great action. If you’re a Kirkman fan, you’ll enjoy it. If you’ve been on the fence about trying this book like I was, I say give it a try.
