Skip to Content

‘Spread’ #2 – Unrelenting Weirdness

‘Spread’ #2 – Unrelenting Weirdness

Spread-02-1-47e4c

Spread #2
Story by Justin Jordan
Art by Kyle Strahm and Felipe Sobreiro
Published by Image Comics

Man, people in this comic really went apeshit when everything went to hell. I get that living outside of a quarantine zone would be awful, but all of these raiders decided that they might as well stick pins in their faces and embrace how ugly the world is. This is an ugly issue, showcasing how ugly the world is, and it doesn’t pull any punches in its “Good God, what am I reading?” moments.

One of the raiders that No attacked last time made it back to base. His boss, who’s doing sort of a Glam Rock end of the worldSpread02_Page1 thing, stylishly berates him in front of the assembled raiders and breaks his arm before telling the others to find No. No is having problems keeping Hope quiet when he stumbles on a group of slavers. They mean him no harm (though he doesn’t care for them), but he sees in the back a deranged woman who just so happens to be lactating. He comes back to take the woman later, but the sick man from before has unleashed a Spreadworm on the slavers as well. No narrowly rescues the woman, named Crazy Molly, and using Hope, he manages to kill the Spreadworm.

The lactation scene with Molly, No, and Hope is honestly one of the weirder moments I’ve ever seen in a comic book. I sort of admire Justin Jordan for not being even slightly squeamish about breast milk, but damn, this comic just goes there.

Spread02_Page3That moment aside, this issue shows just how ugly and screwed up this world has become. It’s inevitable in a world that dysfunctional that slavers would exist, so that wasn’t a shock. The glam rock gang leader is also pretty disturbing, and it’s obvious that he’s going to be an ongoing problem. Personally, I’m waiting to see what exactly the quarantine zones look like, partly so I can start making comparisons to this comic and The Last of Us.

I still can’t get past No’s Wolverine look-alike appearance, but I assume I’ll eventually stop caring so much about it. I know readers might disagree with me, but in the next couple of issues we need to have a little less action and a little more exposition to let all of us in on the secrets of this god-awful reality. In any apocalyptic story, you want to know exactly what happened, and this is no different. I’m waiting, and I hope the team delivers.

Spread02_Page2

[wpchatai]