The Cull vol. 1

Cleo, Katie, Lux, Wade, and Will are living in the aftermath of a horrifying incident that happened on their local beach a year ago.  That was when some strange creatures emerged and abducted a lot of humans, including Cleo’s little brother Jakey.  She has yet to get over this, and all of her friends are aware of that when she asks them to gather in the present day at the beach before dawn to shoot a short movie.  This is supposed to be their last hurrah before they go their separate ways post-high school, but what winds up happening to them winds up changing their lives far more than they would’ve expected.

The back cover text makes a big deal about what happens without spoiling that, so I’ll respect writer Kelly Thompson and artist Mattia De Iulis desire to keep the reader in the dark.  What I can say is that what the cast finds there, and what happens afterward felt pretty familiar as far as I was concerned.  Maybe I’m just jaded, but it felt like I could set my watch by how every major surprise turned out, including the big twist which is meant to serve as the cliffhanger ending for this volume.

As is the case from the creative team, the execution is still solid.  De Iulis has a very appealing and detailed style which is great when depicting the mundanity of the cast’s regular life, and the fantastic circumstances the characters find themselves in.  Thompson is expectedly good in making the cast likeable, but unfortunately fails to invest the story with any real surprises.  It results in something that isn’t what I’d call bad, but not that memorable otherwise.