Cry Havoc #1

Cry Havok, Issue #1

Cry Havoc, Issue #1: "Dog Days" teases a half-human woman being held in a cage in the Red Place before moving to two women looking at a hyena in a London zoo.  The hyena is in a smallish cage while his mates, the females, are in a larger enclosure.  Next, one of the girls (Lou) is in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on a helicopter, talking about how she was attacked by a werewolf in London while busking near Old Bailey.  The helicopter lands in a black site where they "rendition" prisoners, to use the War-on-Terror-era parlance.  They look at helmet cam footage of an apparent werewolf who killed five C.I.A. agents before setting 10 prisoners free.  The deal?  She uses her werewolf powers to interrogate prisoners, and they help her not turn into a werewolf.

The highlight of this title is the artwork by Ryan Kelly, which can be downright terrifying at times. There are three colorists on this title.  Nick Filardi does the colors in London, Lee Loughridge does the colors in the Red Place, and Matt Wilson does the colors in Afghanistan. While Filardi's colors focus on blues to match the busker's hair, Loughridge's colors are more yellow, to match the deserts and tundras of Afghanistan.  There isn't much of the Red Place in this first issue, but of course, there is plenty of red in the scenes that do involve the Red Place.  The lettering by Simon Bowland is exceptionally clear and precise.

There's a lot of contrast in this title, and not just the colors.  The scenes in London are purposely prosaic, although the scene with the hyena foreshadows both the werewolf attack and perhaps Lou killing her lover.  This contrasts with the abject cruelty of the helicopter gunner killing a goat for no reason. Everyone on the helicopter is a little "different," hinting toward an ensemble cast of metahumans. Overall, this is an excellent first issue with a lot to read.  In fact, the inside cover of the title reads, "for more information, reread comic," which I did.  Recommended.