Colder : The Bad Seed #1

The Team

Written by Paul Tobin (Colder), illustrated by Juan Ferreyra (Colder) and coloured by Eduardo Ferreyra.
 

The Story:

After the defeat of the voraciously hungry Nimble Jack, Declan, with the help of his girlfriend Reece, randomly cures people with his strange gifts from their own insanity. Their romantically domesticated and comfortable life is about to be shaken by a mysterious and dangerous individual who likes to cut people’s fingers off. 
 

Pros & Cons:

Now here’s a pleasant surprise, I really had no idea a sequel to Colder was in the works. It makes sense when you think about it; the first Colder series introduced the reader to an awesome protagonist who could make victims of insanity better again. It also had a crazy terrific villain and the characters travelled into people’s dementia as another dimension. It was one the best horror comics I’ve ever read.
 
Now with Colder : The Bad Seed, creators Paul Tobin and Juan Ferreyra are taking the characters the new heights. Declan seems to have better grip on his powers, but still has to watch his temperature. His relationship with Reece has developed nicely and in the sack he gives a new meaning to ice cold feet. It might be a little early to say, but I think that Swivel makes a very terrifying villain, anytime you put that type of hat on a bad guy, it just looks deliciously evil. This freak makes Nimble Jack look like a boy scout.  Looking forward to this harvesting finger butcher and what his plans are for Declan.
 
The dialogue between Declan and Reece is cute and whimsical to say the least; it really felt like this couple were completely smitten with each other. The horror elements are right on the money, illustrator Juan Ferreyra’s horrifying art will make you squeamish. Panels of the villain Swivel cutting his unsuspecting victim’s fingers off, reanimating a dead bird and then eating it. But the best was when he was twisting people’s limbs and bodies to “milk” them into a flower pot, it reminded of the twisted and mutilated bodies from John Carpenter’s The Thing.
 
Like the 2 page building spread from the first Colder series, Ferreyra gives us another amazing drawing. It’s a 5 panel spread of Declan entering a patient’s room with a nurse passing by. It’s terrific in its simplicity. With the help of his colorist sibling Eduardo, the pastel colours give this whole world a dreamlike appearance and with people’s insanity portrayed as monsters, it also gives it a nightmarish look and feel.
 
 

 

Final Verdict:

I read an interview with Paul Tobin and Juan Ferreyra on how they want to extend the series into a few more limited short comics to really flesh out the story of Declan and his world of insanity. This news made my little horror heart swell up with joy and with Colder : The Bad Seed, it’s off to a great start.