Advance Review: Welcoming Serial Killers By The Dozens In ‘Kill More’ #1
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
Some strong – if pretty gory – visuals bring this first issue to life. Then again, the artwork is one of the only things still alive in this city that is a haven to serial killers. It’s an interesting premise with a lot of legs.
Overall
8/10Welcome to Colonia! It was nice knowing you.
People keep dying in Colonia at an alarming rate. In fact, the first page of the first issue shows a grisly “accident” in which a little old lady mows down a pedestrian with her car. There’s plenty of blood, intestines and grey matter splattered on the street, but the woman, Ethel, doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she drives away from the scene with a smile plastered on her face.
Such is life – or death – in Colonia.
The town is a haven for serial killers. So many, in fact, that the cops can’t keep track of the all the dead bodies. And the local killers figure the best way to keep the police off balance to it keep killing – hence the title.
It’s an interesting idea, borne from the minds of writer Scott Bryan Wilson and artist Max Alan Fuchs. Fuchs in particular has a lot to work with. At one point he’s literally stacking the bodies outside, where apparently the overworked cops haven’t had time to look.
Like the town it’s set in, Kill More is not for the faint of heart. From the first page, Fuchs doesn’t shy away from the gore – in fact, he largely embraces it. We need another killer as she is crushing a victim’s head on a discarded toilet.
Colorist Valentina Briski gives each panel its own cool feel. Instead of painstakingly coloring each character and object, she chooses a tone for nearly every section and then uses variations on that theme. It’s an effective way of telling this chilling story.
While much of this premiere issue focuses on one particular killer and the cops interrogating him, there’s much more to Wilson’s script. There’s an overall feeling of dread, particularly since the police don’t seem to understand how dire the situation truly is.
It will be interesting to see where the creative team takes the concept from here. Will it be a killer-of-the-month format or will the story lead to something bigger – and potentially even more deadly?
Kill More #1 will be available for purchase on September 13, 2023.
