EXTREME CARNAGE ALPHA #1: I Smell Blood (Spoiler-free Review)

We are still picking up the pieces from King in Black. Our heroes and the world are tired and looking for answers – only problem is, there are none. 

Following an event with the magnitude of the King in Black is no easy feat. The follow-up has to be as complex (if not more so) than its predecessor. When telling a story including symbiotes it needs to be daring, unforgiving, a splash of horror and, filled with thrilling plotlines. Extreme Carnage #1 meets those wickets and will have you in line wanting more. The creative team, lead by Phillip Kennedy Johnson with pencils by Manuel Garcia, inks by Cam Smith, Marc Deering, and Roberto Poggi, colors by Guru-eFX, and letters by Travis Lanham pulled out all of the stops in this initial creepy offering.

Creepy in this sense is a good thing. The panels are filled with gore and violence done right. The colors jump off the pages with unrelenting determination, in a team-up with Johnson’s prose in the form of a really well-done book. This is not your father’s Carnage or your run-of-the-mill symbiote story. From the first panel, we get a nice slow build-up to what a post-Knull world looks like, and depending on your train of thought, might play a role in what side you decide to champion. The bad thing about this review being spoiler-free is having to jump around the topics you want to talk about. On the flip side, it’s stories like this that make spoiler-free reviews almost exciting because it makes the need to talk about the book that much more. 

Phillip Kennedy Johnson has constructed a new-age symbiote story that blends gore and politics in the right places. The art team has done such a great job and creating a world that makes your skin crawl that goes perfectly with Johnson’s style. I understand that folks are burned out on anything with a symbiote, however, not reading Extreme Carnage #1 would be a disservice to your comic book-loving soul. There’s something here for everyone; gore, symbiotes, politics, and action-packed panels. One of my favorite parts in the book is when Dr. Miller gets off the plane and in the car with Eugene, this is straight out of a John Carpenter as is the whole book. Yes, Extreme Carnage is that good!