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Sheltered #1 Review

Sheltered #1

Published by Image Comics

Co-Created, Written and Lettered by Ed Brisson

Co-Created and illustrated by Johnnie Christmas

Colored by Shari Chankhamma

Reviewed by Steve Seigh

What would you do if you had prior knowledge of an impending apocalypse? You’d probably gather your loved ones and start work on acquiring everything you could possibly imagine that might help you weather the storm that is to come. You would find a safe haven, then begin making trips into town to ransack the local department stores -stocking that fallback shelter of yours with anything that might help to keep you alive for as long as it takes to rebuild society. That’s all probably a very good idea. Only, what happens when the individuals you choose to include in your plan don’t have everyone’s best interests at heart? What if an entire group of them got the idea inside of their heads that they’d be better off without you? Welcome to Sheltered #1.

Ed Brisson’s Sheltered #1 is a fine start to what is being called a pre-apocalyptic tale of death and deception. While reading the first several pages I think you’ll find yourself well at ease as you’re introduced to this busy makeshift town and its populous. Everyone has got a job to do in preparing for an oncoming series of earthquakes that have been ravaging the neighboring areas and it’s time to put up or shut up. I really enjoyed the progression of this first issue of Sheltered. While I’d found that I was still a bit foggy on much of the details as to why these events are taking place I’m sure that they will be explored as the series continues, so I’m not too worried about that. What I really dug about it was its surprise shift of circumstances toward the end of the issue. We might have another homage to Lord of the Flies coming our way very soon, folks, and that’s a great thing in my book.

Perhaps it’s just because I’m really enjoying the series, but this first issue of Sheltered I think carries with it the same “John Carpenter inspired” tone of Scott Snyder’s The Wake. You know what I mean? It’s got that late-eighties, early-nineties polish to it, and a mood very reminiscent of Children of the Corn (or this weird little indie flick I once saw called Dear Wendy). The art is rather beautiful in its gritty simplicity and even reminds me a bit of Mike Norton’s art in Revival. Some people don’t always appreciate their art being compared to other works, but in the case of all the things I mention here – I assure you that i hold all these references in the highest esteem.

VERDICT:

Buy it! Sheltered #1 is off to an intriguing start to say the least. I don’t want to spoil the big twist for you, but it’s something that turns the circumstances of this book on it’s head and may very well give us a great, new story. I love me a good apocalypse tale and can’t wait to dig into another issue of Sheltered come August. Pick it up if you’ve got the extra scratch, and if you don’t, figure it out.

– Review Soundtrack –

This review was written while totally thinking about the song “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” by the band R.E.M.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY[/youtube]

This review was written by Steve Seigh – Executive Editor of Talking Comics. You can hear Steve on the Talking Comics podcast, as well as find him on Joblo.com where he writes a featured column called Ink & Pixel. His Twitter handle is @dead_anchoress.

 

 

 

Executive Editor of Talking Comics, Co-Host of the Talking Comics podcast, Host of the Talking Games podcast, Writer of Ink & Pixel featured on Joblo.com, Candadian by proxy, and Pancake King.

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