Publisher: BOOM
Writer: Justin Jordon
Artist: Jorge Coelho, BOOM! Ten Years Variant Cover Rob Guillory, Variant Cover Nick Pitarra
Colourist: Tamra Bonvillain
Editor: Ian Brill
Release date: OUT NOW!
Price: $3.99

In the end, it is the simple concepts not the grandiose, not the multi-issue crossovers starring Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Besides, so many names to remember, so little time to care. The KISS concept is never more apparent than in comic books: Keep It Simple Stupid. And fortunately, John Flood #1, achieve this dynamic.

Writing theory suggests simple concepts can be added to, the larger the concept, the more unwieldy it is, adding a nuance, a different kink, will very likely send the grandiose crashing to the turgid ground it sprung from. So start simple and build. And if the concept is built well, you know, people will flock to it. And, I would argue, John Flood #1 aces this.

When sleep deprived, ever so slightly left of field in personality and social skills, millionaire, the eponymous John Flood, employs ex-police detective, Alexander Berry to complete a job for him, well, simple enough right? No. Writer Justin Jordon has plenty of narrative room to play around with, ensuring the reader is hooked. John Flood #1 is like going through the front door of the house you live in, only to discover the lounge is a maze.

Jorge Coelho’s art fits the bill and, like the good artist he is, Coelho restricts his artwork to the story, its temper and the evident narrative themes. The story in John Flood #1 will grow on you and so will the artwork.

The combination, and the excellent colour work from Tamra Bonvillain, turns every page in the reader’s nervous fingers. And John Flood #1, as one doomed Colonel Kurtz once said, is really like a diamond bullet through the forehead. The genius certainly. But, like Kurtz, the Horror, too.

 

Reviewer: Steve Hooker