Tales of the Unnamed: The Blizzard

Michael Verardi shot and murdered the serial killer responsible for the death of his on the footsteps of the courthouse where the trial was supposed to begin.  Now he’s in jail for murder and currently part of a prisoner transport to another facility in the Colorado mountains in the middle of a blizzard.  When their van breaks down, prisoner and guard alike are going to have to hoof it through the wild in some weather that they’ll be lucky to survive.  That is, assuming the monster who can make the victims of the guilty appear before their eyes again doesn’t get to them first.

Geoff Johns is currently expanding his “Unnamed” universe through titles like “Geiger,” “Junkyard Joe,” “Redcoat,” and now this.  Originally serialized as part of Image’s twelve-issue anniversary series “IMAGE!” I don’t think it qualifies as required reading for anyone interested in this new fictional universe.  Mainly because its connection to it is rather tenuous and you could’ve removed it without any loss to the story as a whole.

Which is basically a standard-issue monster movie whose main source of novelty is that it was originally told over twelve parts in eight-issue pieces.  Maybe Johns and artist Andrea Mutti were able to generate more suspense by stretching it out like that; however, reading it all in one go here only serves to underline how run-of-the-mill everything is here.  There’s a  monster.  There are men confronting their past sins.  Some of whom will die badly and maybe at least one will die well.  It’s not a terrible read, but “The Blizzard” is definitely lacking in the kind of flash and unique hooks that have characterized Johns’ vision of “The Unnamed” so far.