Thursday 2 August 2012

Review: The Harvest #1 - Getting to the heart of the matter

After much haggling with Shaun at my local comic book shop yesterday, I was convinced to pick up the first issue of A.J. Lieberman's new series the Harvest which, if the title amd front cover doesn't inform you, tells a story involving illegal organ trafficking.
After a quick opening that shows where he is now,the story quickly goes back to focus on Dr. Benjamin Dane, a self-destructive surgeon, who after being struck off for killing a patient finds himself getting involved in back-alley surgeries before being approached by a pair of shady characters who want to offer him a job stealing organs to sell on the black market.
When told about this book, I was initially hesitant. I was picking up Think Tank this week and really didn't want to pick up another series. However, the second I looked at the art I was hooked. The art in this book is fantastic, emitting this moody, gritty, very noirish feel. Colin Lorimer's stuff in here is a lot of pale colours and shadows which help imlpy the mood is anything but hopeful.
Of course, the art isn't the only thing this book has going for it. Lieberman's story here is extremely engrossing. The main protaganist, Dane is an arrogant bastard you can't help but hate, and yet Lieberman has written him in such a way that you can't help but wanna know what happens next. Seeing the fate of his predeccessor and the way out Dane could face also helps show the major downside of where this story can ultimately go and the final page, with a child hallucination hovering over a stoned (anti-)hero is just so creepy that I can't help but need the next issue now. The only downside is a a few pages which move away from the main story, but thats a minor detour and doesn't affect the story too greatly to matter.
I'm really starting to hate my local shop. They keep telling me to try this book and that book and I end up hooked. Harvest is no exception. I've said I might get issue two, but in reality it won't be a "might", it'll be a "definitely" because this book is too good to pass up.

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