Wild’s End
Aliens vs animals
Release Date: OUT NOW!
Publisher: Boom! Studios Writer: Dan Abnett Artist: INJ Culbard
With Dark Ages publishing simultaneously over at Dark Horse, Dan Abnett and INJ Culbard are on a roll. And with an extraterrestrial menace crashing down upon an unsuspecting Earth in both series, thematic links can be drawn between the two.
Described as The War Of The Worlds meets The Wind In The Willows, Wild’s End is superior to Dark Ages’ more straightforward scenario of a band of medieval mercenaries battling invading aliens, and its quintessentially English village and various anthropomorphic animal residents fit Culbard’s deceptively simple artwork well. Featuring impressive attention to detail, it’s so affectionately drawn that it’s almost a shame when the idyllic peace is shattered by the arrival of a mysterious mechanical device…
Halfway through this six- parter, deadly robotic creatures are so far the most that we’ve seen of the otherworldly threat. Focusing on a rag- tag group of uneasy allies including brooding former seadog Clive, reclusive feline author Susan and wily rogue Fawkes ( a fox, of course), Abnett ramps up the tension and has no qualms about slaughtering your favourite character – no matter how cute they are. He also peppers the script with some deliciously sardonic one- liners ( the smell of one porcine victim burning in her home is described as “crackling ”). All in all, it makes for an amusing animal comic you will want to pork out on.
London- bred Culbard spent summers in Poland. As English practice, his mum had him copy from The Wind In The Willows.