Cutting Straight To The Core: Reviewing ‘The Cull’

Much like certain foods (hello chocolate and peanut butter!), there are combinations of genres that are oh so good together. A perfect example would be science fiction and horror, with a sprinkle of fantasy adventure.

All that other-worldly goodness wrapped up in a blanket of fear chock full of emotional character bits and pieces. That’s just what we get with the five-issue Image Comics’ series The Cull.

It’s a wild ride from the seriously talented hands and minds of Kelly Thompson, Mattia De Iulis, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou. If that trio of names doesn’t sell you on the concept instantly, you have some other books with their names to get to picking up.

Really that’s like a whole S’mores worth of creators. I won’t say which is which piece, but basically a bunch of great individuals coming together to be even sweeter than they were before. My food reference game is quite strong at this moment.

There are so few words that can accurately describe just how transcendently gorgeous de Iulis’ work can be. It’s not just that it captures the tone, emotion, atmosphere, etc. in perfect detail. Everything just has this realistic dynamic presence upon the page. I can look at one of these pages and know that it’s a comic book but swear that it’s actual footage.

On any given page the panels will shift focus so that we’re not seeing the same thing or even the actual sequence of events. Yet, no matter what, there is always a true sense of movement where you feel like you went from A to B to C directly.

Another benefit of this style is just that: we’re following along with the cast.

Not flies on the wall observing from far away, but right there in the spaces with them. Allowing readers to just ride along and feel everything these characters feel, even though we’re not in the space and haven’t actually gone through what they have. The color palette reflects this, as there is a natural, realistic, tone in place for many of the elements. Again, allowing the space to feel like something we would know from our own town or places we’ve been before.

All the horror or fantastical elements are where the big vibrant colors come into play, standing out from everything else, as they should. They are things from beyond our world. Therefore, all the pinks and greens and such are just so much bigger on the color scale accordingly. Pitted against them are also the heavy number of shadows and gloomy darkness. It feels so real and accurate to how a gloomy or dark area would be, which heightens everything.

Five issues feel like a short run, but hot damn did Thompson find the way to make five issues feel like ten. In the best way possible mind, you. Two series worth of things were creatively fit into five issues, with the character moments the big sci-fi/horror and the action stuff feeling perfectly balanced. Not a single bit of the story feels short-changed, with multiple characters having full arcs before this issue closes out.

Each issue is chock full of moments and beats that allow these characters to feel truly real to us, even in such a short span.

It would be easy to mistake most of them for horror character stereotypes or archetypes, but there is more. Just like real people, there are hints of personality types that are ‘common’ or ‘stereotypical,’ but there is far more under the surface. Thompson mines it all and centers the story on that so that all the world-building that happens around them is the chocolate syrup and cherry on top of an already stable, delicious sundae.

Setting the tone also falls to Otsmane-Elhaou, who is masterful with that sort of thing. Making sure that the words these characters share are packed with personality and emotive energy. Volume, tone, cadence, and everything else to do with speaking and how we interpret it is felt on the page. Reading all of the letters, be they dialogue or captions or SFX, should be an experience of its own alongside how it plays with the rest of the artwork.

All the moments of self-doubt, wonder, joy, lust, confusion, happiness, and concern are clear on the faces that De Iulis creates. With the words though we feel them wash over us at an even greater ferocity, doubling up on all of that energy.

It flows smoothly through the panels, dancing with the rest of the artwork. Never detracting or pulling away from a moment, only supporting or boosting. Distinct beats can be felt by each character, allowing us to hear these unique voices as if we’ve known the characters for years.

Here’s to the hope that not only is there more to this story (after the way it ends) but just more from these three as collaborators. There is a natural connection felt here. That powerful energy which sometimes really resonates with the right creative team.

The Cull is now available from Image Comics.