Contagion #4 // Review
Horror is a tougher subject for superhero comics. While comics are often able to find a creepy atmosphere or aim for a horrible incident, the comics so often wind up fading into the traditional punch-em-up rather than an actual horror story. Just in time for Halloween, though, is a book that looks to change that. With its fourth issue hitting the stands now, Marvel’s Contagion seems to be nailing those key horror tropes needed.
Contagion issue 4 is written by Ed Brisson. Art is by Damian Couceiro, with Veronica Gandini on colors. Cory Petit letters the book as well.
It is day two since a mysterious plague has hit New York. Coming from the mystical land of K’un-Lun, the land where Iron Fist learned his martial arts, a plague has been carried to the Big Apple. It infects humans, mutants, Inhumans, and anyone else alike, leaving them in a coma with plant-like growths all over their bodies. It spreads over the land and buildings like wildfire, draining the energy from those it infects, and the carrier takes on the powers and abilities of those affected. With New York under quarantine and the heaviest hitters for science and magic out of commission, Ben Grimm and the street-level heroes of New York try to find a cure… or at least survive.
Contagion is genuinely disturbing on a lot of levels. Earlier issues did a fantastic job building a sense of dread and unstoppable menace of this plague, and Ed Brisson has an excellent idea in this book. This plague takes some of the best ideas out of the zombie tropes, and Brisson runs with them. The brief peeks the reader receives outside of the quarantine bubble are genuinely disturbing and make a more significant tale than what’s on the page. Character work is also excellent, with a lot of more “minor” C and D list heroes getting a fantastic chance to shine. This is a fantastic look at the minor corners of magic and the street-level heroes and is worth reading for that alone.
Art is nothing short of amazing. The titular Contagion is genuinely disturbing on every possible level. Organic tentacles, pustules built to bursting, and it grows everywhere. Shading and coloring are dark and dismal when needed, making a fantastic tension visually as readers go through the book. Body language and expressions start to take a backseat to the buildup of the Contagion, however, but that helps solidify how severe the disease actually is.
Horror fans should check this book out, and anyone who’s a fan of Ben Grimm should also be looking this way. Fans of both are in for a real treat, and it’s a rare “event” comic that seems to be delivering on the promise.
