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Cry Havoc (Comic Review)

Cry Havoc has arrived, written by Simon Spurrier (Six Gun Gorilla, Marvel Zombies), and illustrated by Ryan Kelly (Local, Star Wars), this much anticipated issue one does not disappoint. Image comics has a reputation for putting out fantastic creator owned titles. If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have series like the Walking Dead or Saga, among many others, so it stands to reason that when they strongly advertise a new series, it behooves a comic junkie to expect great things. Such was the case with Cry Havoc, which puts a literal twist on Shakespeare’s quote “Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.”. Image knew they had promising material, and have been wisely hyping comic readers for some time. Now it’s here, and hot damn, did they hit the mark yet again.

The tag line in the ads was “It’s not about a lesbian werewolves going to war- Except it kind of is.” I don’t know about you, but I was certainly intrigued. Now, after voraciously diving into the first issue, I’m inclined to rave about how amazing this book will turn out to be, however Si Spurrier does a much better job of it than I could, so I encourage you to check out this video. I’d say it’s a safe bet you’ll be running to your nearest comic retailer by the end of it.

See? Now that you’ve had the breakdown on the plethora of ways this book should shine, let me tell you that it does, in fact, do exactly that. The art is just plain fantastic. The pace is driven. The content seems like it maybe shouldn’t work, but doesn’t for a second stop to care, and carries on working brilliantly. Vampires, Werewolves, and their ilk have been a bit played out in recent years, and many of their representations don’t do them justice. Further, considering a lot of this lore has been around for over a millennium, it can be difficult to put an original twist on a new monster story. Cry Havoc took the challenge and succeeded with flying colors.

Cry Havoc focuses on an urban lesbian musician, Lou, who has her life suddenly and drastically altered when she encounters something which seems a whole lot like a werewolf, but we’re told, is in fact not. This event eventually leads her to an over seas military operation in which her new found, and paranormal abilities are of great value. While this isn’t the kind of thing Lou would normally participate in, the pay off is too good to pass up. The deal is that if she helps these soldiers carry out their plans, they’ll help her rid herself of this new, and terrible affliction. This is pure speculation, but I’m guessing things won’t go exactly according to plan.

This book grabs the reader right from the first page. The modern, realistic, characters make the book instantly relatable, so much so that I didn’t bat a lash when one of them suddenly became a mythological monster. It portrays something incredibly far fetched in a way that one can believe.

Considering the strength of the writing, the quality of the art, and the impressive delivery on what would seem like a very ambitious undertaking, I give this book five out of five silver bullets. I hope it maintains this level of excellence throughout the entire run, I’ll certainly be along for the ride.