Comic Review: Zyklon B #1
The first thing that struck me when I opened Zyklon B #1 was how great it looks.
analogue feel. Theres an unmistakable depth to the artwork, which tells you right off the bat that although this is the first release from a new comic creator, its a serious piece of work. Lets get the title out of the way. Its called Zyklon B, a gas synonymous with the most notorious and evil act of the 20th century, perhaps ever. This name has raised more than a few eyebrows, but anyone taking the trouble to read the comic will see that its use is not exploitative. Its challenging, yes, but its absolutely relevant to the story. We can move on now. Good. The story opens with Dr. Susan Parsons arriving at work. This would be pretty humdrum were it not for the fact that Dr. Parsons works at Raining Hills Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Its made clear from the opening frames that the inmates of Raining Hills arent from the milder end of the Criminally Insane spectrum theyre proper off-the-scale, danger-to-society nutjobs. This is where we meet Patient X, otherwise known as Visher, the poisonous gas reincarnation of Simon Fisher, a man with a history of very bad luck in the area of criminal justice. 
From this point on, the story goes into flashback and we get to see how Visher ended up in the form of a deadly gas imprisoned in solitary confinement and the subject of countless scientific studies. I dont want to spoil it for you so I wont go into detail but as Visher tells his story we get to meet Caleb, a Magus/Shaman who as well as being a master of the esoteric dark arts is also really good at fighting. Then theres Judge Hoover, a Nazi war criminal taken in by the US who really enjoys sentencing people to death, and Mary Jones who had a big hand in Simon Fishers demise. The theme of issue 1 is revenge and the content and language goes to eleven. It's a real treat for horror fans, especially lovers of the infamous eighties video nasties. This first issue tees up the series perfectly. We find out what drives Visher, what hes capable of and who his friends are. Well, we find out who his friend is - Vishers not a guy who has to wade through a lot of facebook updates but we do find out a possible candidate for a future unholy alliance. And the rest is yet to be told, anything can happen in issue two, and probably will. Personally Im hoping for more eyeball action. I thoroughly enjoyed Zyklon B and I cant wait for the next issue and other work by the writer, Adam Cheal. If I were to find a criticism it would be a small one; that a couple of times the text repeats what the picture is already telling us, but thats probably due to this being a properly international production so the writer didnt have the luxury of an easy back and forth with the illustration team. And it doesnt detract from anything anyway - I don't know why I even said it. At the moment it's only available from the Zyklon B website. Go on, get in on the ground floor, this fella's going places.