Wild's End #1

While not totally "wild", this book is fun.
 

Writer: Dan Abnett
Artist: INJ Culbard
Publisher: BOOM!
 

Dan Abnett and INJ Culbard who are currently working on Dark Ages over at Dark Horse turn their attention and creative efforts towards this new british-tinged, animal focused, alien tale: Wild's End. Issue one is pretty satisfying but it doesn't really step outside the bounds of anything that's been done before either. 

We're quickly introduced to a multitude of heavy accented, well dressed, anthropormorphic animals who call their humble little town of Lower Crow Church "Home". It's all delightfully welcoming, colorful and a stark difference from this duo's other book: Dark Ages, which is terrifying and dark alien/knight thriller of sorts. Then, terror from beyond for our wonderfully quirky animal cast: An alien ship crash lands just north of Crow Church and soon after, it seems that the citizens of this wonderful little world may be under attack.

Abnett's writing is indulgent and colorful as the animals speak in heavy accents and their conversations dip into overwhelming dialectic territories. Still, something about it being dressed animals keeps it all quaint. Similar in effect, one could say, to Fantastic Mr. Fox for readers that are familiar with that. It's hard to tell if Abnett is setting us up to be surprised or if he's intentionally telling a story that seems a little overdone with the talking animals, small village and other mainstays of this type of fantasy. I won't pretend to know as this is just an issue 1 and things could change very much over the next few installments. 

Culbard's art, like it does in Dark Ages, compliments Abnett very well. The world feels small, welcoming and natural. The character's are reconizable and they tread the fine line between too animal and too human. Culbard's monster design is one of my more favorites in recent times and I'm excited to see what he does with these alien invaders even if in this first issue it seems a little too close to War of the Worlds type machinations. 

This is a book that deserves reading if you want a decent, contained story in a world that seems a little too familiar. It's not a bad first issue, but it isn't a splendid one either. Fans of animals, british humor and aliens ala 80's scifi should check it out.