Kelly Thompson takes us through Norma Editorial The Cull (The Sacrifice), a fantastic adventure starring a group of young friends who will enter a world that fits only their imagination
Kelly Thompson Over time, through her own merits, she has become a screenwriter whose work must always be paid attention to. The winner of an award Eisner brings us now, together with the hyper-realist cartoonist Mattia De Julisa work with a very current tone published in our country by Editorial standard under the title of The Cull.
Young people ready to bleed
In previous decades, the fact that a story featured children usually gave it a childish quality. The Goonies, ET, The Neverending Story or the sagas of Harry Potter or Percy Jackson they would be a good example, although we could certainly also consider it a counterexample It or inside lord of the flies. But this trend has been changing for a few years now, and the series Stranger things It would perhaps be the most recognizable face of this new style. Yes, even children can be protagonists of stories for adults in which the beautiful gives way to the grotesque…
Thompson develops this comic along the same lines. From the first page he introduces us to each member of the group of young women we will accompany in this story, giving each of them space to immerse themselves from the beginning. We quickly see that they are not interchangeable dolls, but in a very few vignettes they provide us with the background necessary for us to form a mental image of the life each leads.
Under the pretext that night light is what they need to shoot a scene for the short film they are developing, they leave their respective homes and meet at dawn to go to a place on the coast where some time ago the brother of a boy disappeared . Once there, it won’t take long to see the fantasy part of the plot explode, and that’s when rock’n’roll.
The characters over the story
Two decades have passed since then Lost It changed television forever and imposed the idea of putting characters above a long-term plot, giving them trauma, a past and an evolution over the course of the story. But that way of writing stories is still relevant today, and it’s clearly the one Thompson adopts here.
Both through flashback or conversations, the experiences of these characters and what they have suffered and experienced to reach the current moment have shaped them and will be vitally important as they enter the new world of science fiction that awaits them on that coast. Their concept of reality will be turned upside down and their sanity tested, but what really stands out is how each is affected by the events that happen.
In the graphic section De Iulis uses a style that can be artificial, partly due to the digital color that he uses partly due to the hyperrealism of his figures, but he manages to impart a good narrative rhythm and with 4 or 5 cartoons per page, taking advantage of the entire width a cinemascopemanages to give the comic a filmic touch that doesn’t disappoint at all.
Will it continue?
It should be noted that far from being a closed story, the volume concludes on a powerful note cliffhanger which clearly requires a continuation, even if to date this volume seems to be the only thing coming out. If so, it’s a curious choice for Thompson to end the comic. Otherwise we will have to be patient and wait for a second volume to arrive in our country…
As for the edition, it must be said that this tome presented by Editorial standard It comes in hardback format without dust jacket with a page size of 18 x 27.5 cm. The volume contains 152 pages in color and includes the translation of the original edition of the work of the same name. The recommended retail price is €28 and went on sale in December 2024.
Review of The Cull
A SPECTACULAR ADVENTURE WITH REMINISCENCES OF FOREIGN THINGS, PAPER GIRLS AND GODZILLA
Kelly Thompson (Black Widow, Captain Marvel), Eisner Award winner and emerging cartoonist Mattia De Julis They present a dark story about five friends who decide to shoot a short film about an iconic rock in a small town. But I’m not actually there to shoot a short film. One of them lied. And that lie will change EVERYTHING.
Author: Kelly Thompson Yes Mattia De Julis