Judas Breed #2 - PenInkColor Studios

JUDAS BREED No. 2, August 2016

Predominantly concerned with Connie Beaumont and her crewmates desperately struggling to save one of their own from an alien arthropod attack, Kenneth Brown’s script for Issue Two of “Judas Breed” does an amazing job of combining a person’s natural scepticism at such extra-terrestrial life actually existing with the far less forgiving perspective of them then using such a lethal creature as a weapon for the military. In fact, one of this twenty-eight page periodical’s many strengths is its storyline’s ability to move away from the nail-biting terror of Linda’s murderous metamorphosis as she literally starts tearing her friends apart to the more subtle Machiavellian machinations of Alex Hunter on board Olympus Base One.

Enjoyably however, there’s also much more to this comic than a simple case of an aggressive alien monster being sought after by the Armed Forces Intelligence Department, due to its author imbuing it considerably-sized cast with as much character as its panels allow. Arguably taking the lion’s share of this spotlight is the kind-hearted Tony and more matter-of-fact Kevin, whose somewhat contrasting reactions to all the death and destruction around them rather engagingly throws the unlikely duo together, and resultantly makes their shocking combined fate towards the very end of this publication all the more disconcerting.

Equally as effective is the penmanship behind Doctor Michelle Lee Walker and the aforementioned Hunter, which eventually establishes the pair as this narrative’s lead antagonists. Alex quite quickly settles into the role of a cold-hearted governmental killer who is prepared to go to any lengths in order to keep the extra-terrestrial’s existence a secret, even poisoning a tray of delicious donuts. Yet it isn’t until this comic’s distinctly disturbing conclusion that Kenneth cleverly reveals his storyline’s amiable, silver-haired scientist to be perfectly happy to disavow her medical morals so as to make “a lot of money in the process.” 

Likewise, the contribution of Ryan Best’s artwork to the success of this book cannot be overstated either, with the illustrator pencilling some genuinely chilling moments during Linda’s transformation into a walking machine of destruction. The savagely sudden deaths of Greg and Bradley show just how insanely vicious the alien arthropod can be, and this brutality contrasts nicely with the complete lack of emotion on Hunter’s face when he later nonchalantly orders Angela to ensure Tony and Kevin are permanently ‘cleaned up’.

Written by: Kenneth A. Brown, Illustrated by: Ryan Best, and Lettered by: HDE

Judas Breed #1 - PenInkColor Studios

JUDAS BREED No. 1, March 2015

For those sci-fi horror fans who like their comics to play out more like Ridley Scott’s original “Alien” film than the franchise’s later all-action sequels, Kenneth Brown’s narrative for Issue One of “Judas Breed” must have seemed like a manna read from heaven when it first hit “Kickstarter” in September 2014. Indeed, the increasingly tense atmosphere generated by Connie Beaumont’s exploration of an unknown planet is so well-penned that it comes as no surprise that the publishing project was successfully funded with “two weeks to go.”

Foremost of this book’s enthralling ‘hooks’ is the freelance screenwriter’s ability to seemingly place the NASA scientists in deadly danger, such as when the expedition’s leader is sucked down into a sink hole, only to then show that the central protagonists were never going to actually come to much harm. This technique repeatedly puts the reader on edge, especially once the astronauts start handling a supposedly long-dead fossil found on the neck of a giant extra-terrestrial skeleton, as the audience knows that at any moment the potential threat is suddenly going to become all too real.

Likewise, when the alien menace does finally reveal itself, Brown’s ability to significantly up this comic’s pace is excellent, as all hell breaks loose in the cargo room within the space of just a few panels. This truly shocking sequence is particularly well-delivered due to the author once again momentarily bringing a brief pause to the bloody proceedings by intimating that the inert fossil could only merely stab its hapless victim if they were unwise enough to physically touch it, before ratcheting up the terror another notch or two when it becomes a fully-mobile, dart-firing insectoid; “Oh my god! Connie! I can’t feel my legs! Help me! Aaahhh! Connie, get it off! Get it off!”

Helping this twenty-eight periodical make such a terrifying impact are Ryan Best’s layouts, which go a long way to showing both the friendly relationship enjoyed by this comic’s central characters and the ancient decay of their surroundings when they excitedly discover “the find of the Century.” The artist’s pencilling is particularly prodigious when it comes to Linda’s grim fate, as its easy to imagine from his drawings just how frantic the female scientist is to escape the scuttling of the living fossil as it clambers up her back and heads for the nape of her exposed neck.

Written by: Kenneth A. Brown, Illustrated by: Ryan Best, and Lettered by: HDE