IDW Publishing 2015
Written by Brandon Seifert
Illustrated by Menton3
Years ago, scientist Seth Brundle had a horrific accident when he tried to use his newly invented teleportation device and became a human/fly hybrid. His almost-human son, Martin, has continued the search for a cure, but those efforts may have led to something much, much worse than the original tragedy with several dozen people exposed to the diseased blood of a hybrid. After weeks of quarantine in an abandoned hospital, everyone except Martin has transformed into hybrids and begun to escape…
This is such a creepy and wonderful story not only because Brandon’s writing it that way but with Menton3’s interiors this really does push the boundaries of the imagination and take the old visual effects to a whole new level. Just as Martin looks like the tortured handsome scientist the infected at the quarantine site look as alien and menacing to create that polar opposite feel that well is so appealing.
Martin’s wife has come to the island compound to free her husband. She means business too she’s strong, beautiful, determined and loves her husband it’s really quite nice to see that even through all this she is standing by him. Beth is someone I wished we would’ve seen more of now since she’s been shown in such a fantastic light. While she’s accusing him of leaving again without her and you see their dialogue you also see the work by Menton3 and I can’t get over just how good they look, page seven that look on his face and his eyes it really is such stunning work.
When Noelani shows up looking like a soldier and is able to walk, talk and act like a regular person could this be the end result the military would love to have. Not the mindless killing machine but an advanced human/fly hybrid with the speed and agility associated with flies and the brain of a human. She’s really extremely creepy and more so than just the old way seeing them because while that overly fly ickiness but a more terrifying as a more advance creature.
The actions taken this issue escalates to a point that Martin feared above all else and how this ends next issue is anyones guess but with Beth and Neolani now having to face him at his fiercest without any antipsychotics it’s sure to be one heck of a ending.
That this remains so true to the Fly movie franchise is something that makes this so darn good. Brandon’s writing and characterization is so well done here it just goes to show that you can do horror with more ambiguity than through showing gore and cliche but by using the reader’s mind to really get them into this and using the imagination to creep you out. It doesn’t hurt either that Menton3’s work here just is the perfect compliment to that writing in creating this world.
This is old school horror and ya know what it’s more powerful than much of what we get today.