(Cool) Shite on the Tube – Film, TV, Comics, Games, Books, Genre Pop Culture.

Literature Review

The Molting – Comic Review

The Molting – Comic Review
  • Writer/Illustrator – Terrance Zdunich
  • Letterer/Designer -  Oceano Ransford
  • Colorist – Brian Johnson

You may know how much I love Repo! The Genetic Opera and when I got an email from Terrance Zdunich publicist about his new works I gladly hopped onto the review wagon eager to see what else his mind could come up with. The Molting, a illustrated series, independently released and financed by Terrance about a twisted family history is what I got.

Covered over twelve issues (I only received the currently released first 4 issues), The Molting covers a history from the dawn of man till current day. Issue One (Guilty Susie) throws us straight into the thick of it where Susie and her brother Anthony are standing at their parents funeral. Set in Muscoy in 1961, the orphans are given to their aunt and uncle by the court. What follows is abuse till the climax that removes a piece of humanity from Susie and also us the reader.

Susie & Anthony bury their parents.

The opening issue sets the stage and the following releases move away from 1961 and brings us to 1992, Anahem. Susie has gown up, gotten married to what looks like a strung out Vietnam Vet and had two kids. The focus now moves to the youngest sibling Joseph, a teenager who is isolated and follows his brother into trouble. The stories from here are broken into three sorts of narratives. The first is the “current” world time, second is history lesson narrative and the third is the roaches.

The interesting and slightly frustrating thing about the issues two onwards is that we are peaking into this very strange family lives but cannot see the whole picture. The plot has a beginning, but I don’t know where the end is, and admittedly I have only read four issues out of the twelve. I want to know what happened to Susie from book one to book two. I want some answers as two how a family so dysfunctional became that way. Coming from someone like me who in reality had an upbringing with very little dysfunction, this world is strange and a little bit more horrifying that I care to admit.

For a lot of people I can see this read being a little slow. The apart from the first issue, we get no real conclusion at the end of each comic. There is no cliffhanger and unless you have dropped into the world, it could be easily left without the need to jump back in on the next release. That being said, I personally found the world bizarre and interesting. The use of #$@ and other characters to show dialogue between Susie and her husband, make me wonder if it’s just lots of swearing or they are communicating in some weird language.

Terrance’s artwork is simple and effective. The coloring by Brian Johnson is flat with little shading on the characters to give the comic a very different feel than it commercial brothers. The backgrounds are a mix of minimalist actions and buildings. This isn’t a bad thing. The atmosphere is there and in later issues almost becomes claustrophobic.

The Molting is an experience that you won’t get from another of the majors or even other imprints. It’s horrific, personal and deep. While it isn’t an exciting read in the classic sense of the word, it definitely is intriguing.

You can find all of the current released singles over at www.themoltingcomic.com

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

About The Author

avatar

Self-proclaimed media addict, Bruce is the technical power house of Joffre Street Productions which includes being a founder of the world (in)famous podcast (Cool) Shite on the Tube. When Bruce isn't working on this website, he is working on other peoples websites and new media solutions. Movies, comics and 50 foot robot wrangling is where Bruce is at.

Article Information

  • Posted: Monday, September 13th, 2010
  • Author: Bruce Moyle
  • Filed Under: Comic,Review
Tags: , , ,

Comments

Comments are closed.

Latest (Cool) Shite Shows