Spread is what would happen if you mixed John Carpenter’s The Thing with Borderlands, and, boy, that is something I am totally down for in my comics.

To give a little background info on this gore-fest of a comic, readers are following the journey of No and Hope as they travel together in a frozen world that has become infected with a sentient plague called The Spread.  I can only equate The Spread with the Venom symbiote from Spider-Man . . . except, you know, more vicious and not entirely in need of a human host to muck up someone’s day. Our main man No is immune to The Spread, and he seems to be the only one so far. Everyone is out for themselves, but when a woman is shot down trying to take Hope, a seemingly normal human baby, away to somewhere unknown but safer, she tells No with her dying breath who has taken Hope and that this baby needs to be saved and kept safe. But, the big question is why is this baby so important? Why is No immune to The Spread? And, how can they save humanity?

I knew as soon as I heard that Justin Jordan (The Strange Case of Luther Strode/The Legend of Luther Strode) was writing Spread that this was going to be an action-packed gore-fest that just needed to be in my pull list. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed. Spread is fast paced, engaging, and constantly dynamic while giving readers all of the information they need to know, which is promising for a first issue. I’m excited to see where Jordan takes Spread.

Kyle Strahm, who I only know from his work on Hack/Slash, makes the world of Spread bloody disgusting. His character designs and violent action panels pair beautifully with Jordan’s writing style, and, thanks to Felipe Sobreiro’s coloring, each panel pops as the red of The Spread frames and leads the reader’s eye around each page. It almost feels as if the comic is being infected more and more as you read, which is something I’m hoping continues in later issues.

Spread is an action-packed gore-fest that is sure to please even the most hardcore of horror fans. While this is only the first issue, Spread has a strong start, and, like I said before, it’s got a very John Carpenter feel to it, which makes me wonder just how stomach-churning and creepy Jordan is going to take this Image comic.