What a wild and crazy ride this was! When a teens brother goes missing and she finds a place that’s not been explored at low tide, she and her friends lie to be able to explore it and look for the missing boy. What they actually discover is a world between parallel worlds, and strange things begin happening from there and once they travel back through the portal. The illustrations and the mysteries of the worlds kept me hanging on every single word. I absolutely loved this series and will be following it in the future.
*4.5 stars*

Thank you to the publisher, author, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange with an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was incredible - found family (just go with me here), supernatural creatures, PARALLEL WORLDS? yeah I'll be needing a volume 2 ASAP!

In The Cull we follow a group of friends setting out to shoot a short film, while looking for the perfect shot, they end up...on another plants or in a parallel world? They aren't too sure and frankly neither am I. Things quickly get dicey when the gang meets a red (blue) panda looking creature who eventually turns into a human, clueing the gang in on some of the lore of their current habitat.

Madness, of course, ensues.

Aliens(?) or creatures of some sort invade their home earth...or so they think. The Cull is a fun take on the parallel universe setting and the art is absolutely beautiful. I cannot recommend this enough to sci-fi fans who are looking for something exciting!

Thank you to Image Comics and Net Galley for the ARC. The story is an interesting one, but also one that kept me at arms length until the end. The ending was fantastic and makes me want to pick up volume 2 when it’s available. But it took me too long to care. The artwork is gorgeous and creepy in places!

Cleo's little brother is missing and she believes she knows where he went. So, with the help of her friends, they go looking for him.

I absolutely loved this. The art looks genuinely cinematic, the cast of characters are diverse and all feel distinctly human, and the plot feels efficiently paced and the twists are genuinely shocking and heart breaking.

I wish the filmmaking aspects weren't lost after the first third, it would have been cool for more 'found footage' style frames. I also would have liked to explore the relationships between the five characters more, especially Lux and Will.

Gripping, thrilling and shocking. I’m hooked. I’m not usually into the whole “superhero”/powers trope but this hits different. I love the female characters as well as the male ones too but there’s something badass about women being badass.

The artwork is so pretty and so good I had to look up the artist.

Can’t wait for the next volume.

I’m honestly kind of perplexed by Kelly Thompson’s <i>The Cull</i>. It’s not that I think the story was bad or anything, in fact I was actually really interested in the ideas that she ways playing with here. I just don’t know how well they all came together in the end.

I don’t know if this is due to the format—oftentimes, I find myself stuck on similar complaints with graphic novels that are trying to tell a story you’d expect to see in a novel. But, I’ve also had the fortune to have found a great many graphic novels that don’t suffer from this problem, so I know there’s a way to make it work. The issue, you see, is that <i>The Cull</i> is trying to stuff so much into this first volume that there are too many questions left unanswered, far too much of the story overall is convoluted, and the emotional payout you expect from the situations these characters are dealing with is not properly portrayed.

Everything just moves far too quickly for any of those pieces to come together and, unfortunately, those pieces are precisely what the story needs connected in order to be <i>good</i>. I always felt right on the cusp—right on the cusp of feeling connected to these characters, right on the cusp of feeling the emotions they felt in their journey, right on the cusp of understanding what was happening—and that does not lead your reader to connecting with or loving your story.

So, all in all, this was a good effort. But it just wasn’t quite enough. The pieces were there, they just needed to be tied together more efficiently.

I initially wanted to read this because of Kelly Thompson. If it has her name on it, I've most likely read it or want to read it. The premise of this felt new and although it felt a little rushed at times, I know it's hard to fully flesh out a story given a 5 issue run. The ending made me impatient for the next volume to hopefully come out!! Overall, definitely worth a read.

I received a copy of the Cull by NetGalley and Image Comics, Thank you!

The Cull is one of my first Graphic novels, so I am coming at this from a different perspective. The first thing that really drew me in to The Cull is the artwork. It is absolutely beautiful. The scenery, the people, the attire. Everything was so well done! It really kept me visually engaged the entire time.

This follows a handful of young adults on an endeavor to find a missing little brother and really what they end up finding is something far greater than they ever imagined. I really enjoyed most the characters, (tbh, Will didnt really have much of a say in here), but I did feel some of their interactions were a bit rushed or hollow (random sex in an unknown world??? We love sex here but, where the heck did this come from?) I also didn't quite understand the lack of fear of entering this entirely foreign place. They were so calm and collected! Ahh!

You really get immediately thrown into the story which I was not used to, but if I'm being honest, really enjoyed. There was a bit of foreshadowing in the early pages that really led to a big wow plot twist at the end that actually got me excited to learn about.


Definitelly recommend!

This was terrific. It's about a group of friends who go out in the middle of the night to "make a film". I reality, they've found a portal and think that the little brother that is missing may have went through it as well. Mattia de Iulis does a fantastic job of making this alien world look alien. It very much has a Stranger Things vibe to it crossed with The Mist. I really hope we get more of this story.

This is an interesting story which i would definitely like to see more of (how about that ending??). The artwork was really different, and the characters were really interesting. Definitely worth checking it out.

Intense. This story deals with mature themes and topics, but wraps everything up within this world of magic. While I’m not a big fan of the art style, I did enjoy the story and the cliffhanger.

I didn't know what to expect from the one but it's a portal fantasy graphic novel with magic, danger, and adventure that also navigates topics like grief, depression, and violence. I loved the artwork and colors, everything was so detailed and just beautiful. There are 5 main characters who are all given pretty much equal page time and consideration; each is developed pretty well and given their own motivations and backstories. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll be vague but you'll know what I'm talking about if you read it. There's a scene towards the end where one of the characters embraces what's perceived to be as weakness and turns it into strength -- it was a powerful scene and made me very happy that it was included. Also, not sure if anyone else will agree but there was a moment where I got a very "Power Rangers" feel from this one and since I grew up watching them, it was fun to be like ooh this reminds me of one of my favorite shows as a kid. It was cute and fun but with lots of drama and deeper emotion. It's definitely a story worth trying out and it's such a quick read. I was surprised by the ending and look forward to the next volume!

Thank you Image Comics for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It is Volume 1, though an excellent story so far! What first stood out throughout was the quality and detail of the artwork and design. The story and charcters developed well, and became increasingly engaging as it moved into the latter half of this volume. Look forward to more.

The worst thing about volume 1 is knowing I have to wait to read volume 2!!

The Cull is a cross between War of the Worlds, Stranger Things and X-men. It is really freaking cool.

Obsessed. I need more of this immediately.

One of the things I love most about Image is that they give a lot of opportunities for character work in their indie titles, unafraid of writers being wordy or trying new things. Typically art and writing in a comic compliment each other, because as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and so the script for a comic doesn't necessarily need paragraphs of narration or dialogue but I think The Cull benefits from its characters wordiness since the art panels need to do the heavy lifting of setting for a sci-fi/fantasy/horror comic. The art is telling a lot of story all on its own.

Kelly Thompson's The Cull is one part cosmic horror, one part superhero origin story, with a hell of a twist in issue 5 that you start to suspect but don't want to be true. Each character feels like a real, unique, fleshed out person. We're drip fed bits and pieces, though we'd don't get enough time with everyone since this is just the first five issues, but we get enough to know them and want to know more.

Mattia de Iulis's art is STUNNING. Like, these books are so gorgeous. The art waivers between photorealism and surreal almost-photorealism, which is perfect for a story about liminal spaces. It makes everything feel very dreamlike but with a veil of uncanny valley vibes. I also highly recommend checking out all the various covers for each issues because WOW. Like I want some of these framed.

But the end of the volume I was dying for more. I need to continue following these kids' adventures. I need to know they're OK. I need to know more about the liminal space. It's all so beautiful and fascinating and I cannot wait to see where Thompson takes it all.

3.5 * rounded down

The art was captivating, especially the color palette. The story was interesting but I felt it was a bit too rushed at certain parts. Overall an okay read with gorgeous art.

Thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for granting me access in exchange for an honest review.

Content warning for self-harm

3.5 stars, rounded down

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy.

It's very realistic compared to the comics I usually read and after finishing it, I am unsure if I like it. The colouring on the pages was pretty.

It's a creepy art style overall, which is also coupled with the quite realistic art style which looks more like fanart or a painting, leads to a chilling read as it feels very uncanny valley to me.

There's not many visual differences between the panels of the comic, so this makes it very easy to read and I would have liked some variation to the horizontal rectangle panels.

The plot is interesting and very character-driven, rather than plot, but we do get a huge cliffhanger at the end and I want to know what happens next.

The Cull is an interesting mix of horror/fantasy that does a great job of revealing new twists/surprises at the end of each issue and moving the story forward. Unfortunately I didn't fully understand enough about the story as I was reading, as character backstories and explanations for current events are both fairly vague. But I'm a sucker for these types of "hidden world" stories, so I kept going. The art is a hyperrealistic style that I don't see often. It was gorgeous in much of the volume, but some panels just didn't work. So overall a mixed bag, but I liked it well enough and will continue to read if more issues are put out.

Thanks to Image Comics and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

Interesting story. There was a lot going on; I liked that there weren't any lulls and that the events felt unexpected. There was one goofy part during the action, but I can forgive that considering its overall creativity. I didn't love the art style. It kinda felt like a B level CGI animation movie, but I got used to it as I got more into the story. Definitely curious where the narrative is heading in future volumes. 3.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and Image Comics for an eARC of The Cull Volume 1!!

What an absolutely stunning graphic novel! I truly enjoyed reading this one, while there was a lot to unpack I really enjoyed where the story was going. There was quite a bit of world building in this volume (which I actually liked), that seemed to really be setting up this graphic novel for success. The illustrations though, were something to behold. Illustrations can often make or break a graphic novel, these illustrations definitely made the the graphic novel!

4.25/5