THE CURSE OF CLEAVER COUNTY #1, from Source Point Press on March 22nd, 2023, regales readers with a tale of murder, family drama, and mayhem when a serial killer targets the prestigious Harlow family.
The Details
- Written by: Garrett Gunn
- Art by: Kit Wallis
- Colors by: Kit Wallis
- Letters by: Dave Lentz
- Cover art by: Kit Wallis
- Comic Rating: Mature
- Cover price: $4.99
- Release date: March 22, 2023
Is It Good?
Spinning off into its own title from Source Point’s recent Cleaver County double feature anthology, THE CURSE OF CLEAVER COUNTY #1 follow the wealthy, elite, and wholly dysfunctional Harlow family when one of their own gets gruesomely dispatched by a masked serial killer. What secrets is the family hiding? Why has the killer started to target them? None of these questions get answered in this issue, but the issue gives you plenty of incentive to find out.
Garrett Gunn’s script centers on the titular Cleaver County and its most wealthy and famous family, the Harlows. The highlight of this story is the eclectic band of family members who each operate with a hefty amount of family and emotional baggage. You have the overbearing patriarch who rules with an iron fist, the workaholic son who’s determined to make his father happy, and the youngest daughter who can’t wait to get away from the family’s shadow.
All the makings of a tight family drama are present, and you quickly start to get a sense of which family members you hope will live and which ones you hope will get what’s coming to them.
That said, the plethora of characters introduced in this issue’s down point. There are a lot of names and faces to tease out of the dialog, and Kit Wallis’s style doesn’t lend itself to distinctive character faces, so it was sometimes hard to tell which character was which, particularly between the women.
How are the kills? The issue starts off with a bloody gruesome one you won’t soon forget. A majority of the issue is spent setting up the family, but if the rest of the series builds on the first kill in this issue, horror lovers are in for a bloody good time.
Interchangeable faces aside, Kit Wallis’s stylized art always impresses with how well it applies to multiple genres. From Red Ronin to Good Boy to Cleaver County, Wallis always finds a way to make this style work without losing any of the drama or emotional punch, and it works well here.
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What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]
We begin with William Harlow working a late night at the office. After an angry call from his father over a contract foible, William heads down to the dumpsters outside to dump a few coffee-stained papers. William doesn’t leave the alley alive.
The next day, an assortment of Harlow family members head to the family estate for a party. As the issue progresses, we see firsthand the undercurrent of tension and dysfunction between the assortment of family members. We conclude the issue with drug funding, boyfriend smooching, and sheriff knocking.
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Final Thoughts
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THE CURSE OF CLEAVER COUNTY #1 starts off with a bang and builds on the shock value with an impressive amount of character- and world-building. The characters’ voices are unique, and Wallis’s art is a treat, but issues would have benefited from paring down the number of character introductions.
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