The Cull bills itself as Something is Killing the Children meets “The Goonies,” which sounds right up my alley. Its summary reads like a Karen McManus young adult mystery-horror, which hooked me. Five teen friends leave their homes in the middle of the night to shoot a film at the beach, but one of them is lying to the others.

Goodreads / Amazon

Synopsis:

Eisner-winning writer Kelly Thompson re-teams with superstar artist Mattia De Iulis for their first creator-owned work together!

The Cull is a dark tale about five friends setting off in the middle of the night to shoot a short film on a forbidden rock near their small coastal town the summer before they all go their separate ways. But they’re not really there to shoot a film. One of them has lied. And that lie will change EVERYTHING.

Collects THE CULL #1-#5

Review:

The first two issues of The Cull were easily the best of this volume. Kelly Thompson had an incredible idea for this series, and the premise worked so well for me. Young adults in a beach town? Heck, yes. One of the teens has a hidden motive? That sounds fun. Multiverses and alternate worlds? I wasn’t expecting that, but I’m certainly not mad at it.

I’m a bit torn by The Cull. Mattia De Iulis’s art is incredible, and there’s a killer twist at the end of the volume, so The Cull had a lot going right. I also really loved most of the teen characters. While I enjoyed parts of this story, the main narrative wasn’t fleshed out enough. The third and fourth issues should have been expanded into one or two more issues, which would have added more depth to the story. The monsters and alternate worlds were interesting, but I wanted more of them both. If more issues are released in this series, I will 10000% continue with the story, though.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Thanks to Image Comics for providing me with an advanced review copy! All the above thoughts are my own.