The first issue of Kelly Thompon and Mattia De Iulis’ The Cull was an impressive debut. There were a lot of vibes of classic weird movies we got during the 1980s like The Goonies in the debut issue. Each member of the core cast we will be following through this journey were all given time to get to know them individually. Now that they are on this mysterious adventure together the investment in the payoff is there. We got a chance to check out an early copy of The Cull #2. Find out how The Cull #2 turned out with our advance review.
CREATIVE TEAM
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Artist: Mattia De Iulis
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
SOLICITATION
“Cleo’s confession elicits more fear than anger from the group, and everyone sticks together into the great unknown. Sentient mushrooms for everyone!” – Image Comics
REVIEW
The Cull #2 continues the momentum created by the first issue to tell a story that continue the mystery and wonder. Whereas the first issue focused on establishing the individuals in the cast The Cull #2 places an emphasis on the chemistry of this friend group. Their grounded chemistry makes the fantastical world that they step into pop even more.
The strengths of Kelly Thompson’s writing style truly shine in The Cull #2. Taking everything established with who these characters are we get a better vibe of the chemistry they share together. We see how each person balances out the friend group as their individual motivations for the decisions they each make. Whether its Cleo being the leader by taking the initiative or Wade as the one most perceptive about in the world they are in. This leads to the interactions we see giving greater insight into their history and possible motivation for their adventure.
This helps with how while they enter this mysterious fantasy world together they are each experiencing it differently. The decisions they make with how they go about exploring the world does create questions for what is going on. While the interactions do seem natural but given the way the world reacts to the groups presence they may be affected in ways they aren’t aware of. That is something brought up with how The Cull #2 ends in a way that creates even more questions for future issues to address.
Mattia De Iulis artwork was once again a standout with how much depth he draws the characters and world to have. The depth in the artwork helps with showing what should be at the forefront of the readers attention as well as having things happen in the background that also draw your eye. This compliments the great creature and setting design of what we see in this new world. It all creates greater investment into wanting to learn what is going on with the world that’s being explored.
All that said, there is one important interaction in The Cull #2 that doesn’t hit as well because the panel that invokes a strong emotion lacks a key visual detail. It’s only when spoken about that your reminded that we saw this important detail in the previous issue. Its not all a deal breaker as otherwise Iulis artwork is excellent throughout The Cull #2.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Cull #2 does an excellent job carrying the momentum created by the first issue forward. The dynamic between the cast shines as much as the mysterious world they are exploring together. It all works to create greater investment in finding out how everything will turn out in this story.
Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10