Cannibal - Tome 01

Cannibal #1-4

by Brian Buccellato (Other), Jennifer Young, Matías Bergara

Leur faim justifie les moyens

Willow, petite bourgade des Everglades en Floride. Les clients d’un bar découvrent avec effroi le cadavre d’un jeune homme dévoré vivant. Une nouvelle victime de l’épidémie de cannibalisme qui frappe la région depuis plusieurs années. Face à cette menace, le gouvernement fait la sourde oreille et, sans remède à l’horizon, les habitants sont démunis. Que faire de ces meurtriers sanguinaires qui, hier encore, étaient vos proches ? Il n’y a guère que pour les frangins Cash et Grady Hansen que la question est tranchée. Seule solution : tuer tous les infectés. Jusqu’à ce que le virus se mette à contaminer les mauvaises personnes...

Entre le southern gothic et le récit d‘horreur contemporain, Cannibal nous éloigne des sempiternelles histoires de zombies puisque les infectés sont ici conscients de leurs actes, mais impuissants face à leurs pulsions. Un thriller sur la monstruosité humaine dans le sud poisseux et électrique des États-Unis, où les hommes deviennent aussi sauvages que leur environnement...

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fantasy

Kindle Edition

First published March 14, 2017

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

An infectious virus is sweeping North America transforming its victims into hungry, flesh-eating cannibals and the small Florida town of Willow is about to experience its first outbreak. Cash and Jolene are young lovers but one morning Jolene disappears - did she run off or was she taken by a cannibal? Or has she been infected…

Cannibal’s a decent zombie-esque comic. The story feels a little thin and the characters aren’t exceptional but it’s an ok read.

I liked that it’s a different take on the zombie concept. The victims aren’t mindless, they’re aware of what they’re doing; they just have no control over it. They must attack/feed even though they don’t want to, they’re just ordinary folk, and you can see the horror in their eyes as much as their victims - it adds a whole new level of terror!

You get a strong sense of place, a good flavour of Southern America in Willow. The story is well-told and at times exciting like when a group of them go hunting the first cannibal. Matias Bergara’s art looks great as well - it’s very Greg Capullo-esque if you’re a Batman fan.

It’s not the most impressive story though. Not enough is happening to be very engaging and the mystery of the missing girlfriend - did a cannibal get her? - is not especially compelling to fill a whole book. I was just about interested enough to keep going but not much more than that. The ending though is pretty good so I’ll come back for the second volume.

Cannibal is like a lesser version of Southern Bastards with better art and a slight zombie angle to it. It might be worth checking out if you’re a zombie fan but don’t expect much going in as it’s not going to knock anyone’s socks off.

[Donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hot damn!

Horror, crime, drama, mystery, dark humor, all distilled in the gritty south? That's a winning combination right there. Brian Buccellato, Jennifer Young, and Matias Bergara killed it.

What makes Cannibal so enjoyable is, like the back cover says, it's a new twist to the horror genre. Like Walking Dead dramatizes survivors and de-emphasizes zombies, Cannibal makes the "infected" interesting again. They aren't mindless drones, they're like hungering vampires who blend in and strike back. It's the mystery of who's infected that's exciting. People begin to mysteriously disappear and get shredded and you don't know who's a cannibal.

Plus the drama! Because the characters, while building on southern tropes, are real and fascinating. They're dark and gritty. Heartbreaking. But somehow lovable and identifiable. And in the southern setting they just come alive.

The story takes place in the Everglades around Willow, Florida. The Hog's River Bar & Grill is run by the Hansens, our main characters. Roy, the father, and the brothers Cash and Grady. Cash's girlfriend Jolene disappears and this begins the chain of events. The extensive cast includes most of the townsfolk, like Sheriff Lee, Sheriff Mays, Louise and Boone, Carl, and so on. Their lives are interwoven in complex and fascinating ways. This element strongly reminds me of Southern Bastards and the way that a town, much like the mob mentality found in Shirley Jackson's short story The Lottery, is a character in itself.

But let's not forget the incredible Matias Bergara! This artwork is like a cross between Jason Latour and Sean Murphy, violent but exact, quiet but intricate. It can be hard and sketchy, clean and bold, or even minimal and silhouetted. And the full pages and splash pages are just beautiful. If that wasn't enough, there's brilliant overkill design put into this book with the whiskey bottle cover pages and elements, providing a truly authentic and immersive southern reading experience.

A crazy blend of The Walking Dead and Southern Bastards, fans of southern crime, crime, horror, drama, mystery, and indie comics will absolutely love this!

[Artemy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out strong, but too many characters and lack of focus made this comic a very confusing and ultimately boring read. It's only four issues long, but there are so many things going on at once, there just isn't enough time to process and start caring about the story. Disappointing read.

[Ona · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing special, although artwork was good.

[Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love and a cannibalistic virus and how relationships and communities are affected. Cool

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this new take on the zombie theme, and this series shows a lot of potential.

A hurricane sweeps through Florida in the 1990s and tears some prehistoric mosquitoes out of the ground. The mosquitoes carry a new form of yellow fever. A vaccine is discovered, but the side effect is it turns people into flesh eating zombies. But then again, not exactly. The people crave flesh, but other than that they are still normal. So you have people murdering and eating others against their will, and still possessing the conscience to feel guilt about it.

However, as in the Walking Dead, the zombies are more the background of the story and the humans are the centerpiece. I love the setting, although its more the stereotypical backwoods part of the Florida Everglades. Really, I think this story would have been better if it had been set in the 1930s, as thats the vibe I get. The art is very nice, but once again has a retro feel.

On a personal note, the town of Springfield, Georgia is mentioned in the comic, which has to be a first. I went to high school there, and its a very small town. Cool to see it mentioned, and surprising.

Overall I'm looking forward to the next volume. I'm a little burnt out on zombies in general, but this is different enough to work.

[Liz Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Václav · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fine southern gothic thriller. The art is not up to my favourite qualities, but it fits and I have no complaints about it. And I like how the atmosphere of southern bayous and small-town breathe from the comics. The story is so far simple, there is some kind of virus that makes people crawling the human flesh (and if they starve about a week, they got fewer and possibly die). And this issue mixes up with common southern smalltown issues, rednecks and so to create an interesting setting. Sadly, the first volume (four issues) only start the things and ends in point where all storylines are running. And that's just annoying and it makes you to just go for the second volume immediately. And if I read this in time when the first volume just hit the shelves and must wait, I would be disappointed and annoyed. Thus, maybe that low rating here on GR.

[Dylan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some fantastic rural noir; dark and compelling.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather cool new take on so-called zombies, in a moody Deep South setting.

Some virus infects people and turns them into zombies deep down in the Glades. Problem is, they're not the putrefacting moaning brain dead we're accustomed to. They're just like before except for this insatiable hunger of human flesh. And they can feel remorse for what they're doing.

From this point, we're thrown into the local fauna, roughnecks and whatnots with a lynch mob mentality, trying to guess who wants them to be their next meal and what to do with them.

So when Cash Hansen's girlfriend Jolene goes missing, everybody fears for the worst. And what about this guy Danny, who's not even from Willow, Fl. ? Surely this damn stranger could be one of them. Gotta ask Sheriff Lee to be sure.

For now, I can't say the cast is likeable but somehow I already root for some. Guess the hillbilly with a heart cliché still works on me.

The script is well handled, no small talk, tension is well balanced and the southern mood is definitely here.

Matias Bergara on the drawing board does wonders. Kinda like a rougher Sean Murphy with a brush rather than a quill. Very energic with good storytelling. Very good colors from Steve Buccellato.

Last treat, a very nice old flavored packaging that makes you want to sip a bourbon while reading the book.

[Alex Sarll]

Life in the Gulf Coast swamplands after the already tangled affiliations and scepticism towards outsiders which thread through local communities are further exacerbated by a cannibal plague. Which is to say, pretty much zombies except worse in that you don't know who is one until the hunger gets too much for 'em. It's clearly a permutation whose time has come, given this is a blue collar cousin to Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet. And if zombies in part represent the fear of the massed Other, perhaps this variant is a way of responding to the suspicion that someone you know might be a covert part of that mass by secretly being a Trump (or indeed Leave) voter? But where SCD is a black comedy which really ought to be terrible yet is somehow saved by the cast, this is played straight and nicely done all round. I especially like the art, though - surprisingly economical for how well it evokes the riotous flora of the area, and the coastal air. There's one panel in particular near the end, of a torch and twilight search party, which had me properly transfixed without even being emphasised as a splash or anything.

One puzzling detail, though - the Goodreads description offers an explanation of the plague which is nowhere apparent within the book.

(Edelweiss ARC)

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent start to a new series. The story does seem a bit choppy at first but it all works in the end. The artwork is pretty cool as well. This book was not over the top with the sexual or graphic violence for the story line. On that, you really jump into this cannabilism virus right in the middle. There is no start up or anything, and yes this is the first book. Again somehow it works. As to the ending, well done and leaves the reader hanging waiting for the next installment. Overall and as a whole, very well done and I look forward to seeing the next installment.

[Daniel Kovacs Rezsuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is great, but everything about the narrative feels off within each sequence between scene transitions, either visually, or how the dialogues are handled. The underdeveloped characters certainly did not help and neither did their confusing relationships witch each other. The geography of the place where the plot unfolds is also virtually indecipherable. Everything considered, this is a very frustrating book and the only saving grace besides its artwork is the promising twist at the end of the volume.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was kind of strange. Still trying to figure out that story, which was a bit on the fragmented side and didn't really explain much of anything that was going on. The artwork really reminds me of Eduardo Risso from 100 Bullets. In fact, it almost looks like a rip-off of Risso's work. There are also some echos of Southern Bastards in this, too. Really, there isn't a whole lot of originality to the entire enterprise.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the artwork in this one. I am definitely looking forward to more in the series. I left it on my coffee table because it makes for an interesting conversation-starter as well.
I obtained a copy from Goodreads in exchange for a review.

[Cree · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the setting. However, I felt the novel fell flat in some parts. I was trying to get the conflict between characters while still being anxious to see the cannibals. I was surprised, given the setting and the nature of the virus, that it wasn't as Walking Deadish as I predicted.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really good! People infected with the virus stay human but they become cannibals which means they can hide in plain sight until the fever overtakes them. How the virus started and its details aren't divulged in this volume but we slowly learn just a little bit about it throughout. Very well written with lots of characters and character development. While this is horror, there is only a bit of blood and violence with the plot actually being the main thing. A startling ending leaves us impatient for the 2nd volume.

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 3 out of 5]

nothing special, but a decent read.

[Joanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Brian Rosenberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hungry for more.

So… evidently there’s pandemic – the infected are cannibals. Sound familiar? At least the pandemic part, right. No masks in Vol. 1. The pandemic is in the background for the most part of Vol 1. It’s more of a murder mystery, missing person story.
Jolene, a local dancer goes missing. She’s the gal pal and potential betrothed of Cash, an offspring of the owner of the Hog’s River Bar. Cash does not take her disappearance well and winds up in jail himself.
Cash is set free and meets a taste of Good Ole Boy local justice. Honestly, he was due.
At the end of Issue 3, the readers learn the local Sheriff has a secret. Big secret. Hint: Don’t go fishing with the Sheriff. It won’t end well.
As issue 4 ends, we learn the fate of Jolene. She’s in a hole and she’s hungry. And not for Hog’s River Bar Happy Hour appetizers.
More stuff happens but that’s the gist of Vol 1. I was intrigued enough to purchase book 2.

[Rodolfo Santullo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regalo de Matías de hace unos años que nunca había leído completo. Y completo es un decir, porque está interesante reversión de “virus que se contagia con mordidas y genera caníbales pero ambientado entre paletos del sur” encontró un final temprano, cuando recién Buccellato y Young estaban plantando las piezas del universo. A pesar de que la historia en sí no cierra, estos dos tomos pueden leerse como un primer acto completo y bastante satisfactorio. El arte de Matías es magnífico. No a la altura de Coda -quizá su mejor trabajo hasta hoy- pero ya prefiguraba aquello de que el cielo es el límite para él, algo que sigue demostrando laburo a laburo.

[Zedsdead · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new virus causes the infected to crave human flesh. But this is far from traditional zombie fare; the sick are perfectly alive and generally feel terrible about it, fighting the urge as long as possible. No mindless biters, no headshots required (although I'm sure they work just fine).

A backwater community in the Everglades gets paranoid and xenophobic when the virus turns up close by. Three men who run a bar deal with missing loved ones, violent locals, and a friend on the run from...something.

Solid. Not my new favorite thing but there's potential here.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick and not too engaging read. I liked the art and the layout was cool, but the story was thin and all too tropey for my tastes. Like can we have one (please just one) female character who is someone other than a girlfriend or a sister? Or maybe relationships that aren't exclusively *gasp* straight?? Of course Cannibal isn't all too blame, its just that it feels like I've seen this story before.

[Sie Kensou · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este primer tomo logra captar la atención del lector. Eso sí, la presumida me sigue pareciendo por el momento superior a la lectura. El dibujo cumple y es justo para lo que se está narrando. Tiene el nivel justo de "suciedad" y ese trazo grueso favorece la narrativa visual. La principal pega de este primer tomo es que los números 1 y 2 tratan de ser innecesariamente enredados. Y se podrían marear sin tantos ires y venires. Aún así es una lectura rápida y no logra ser aburrida.

[Alex Everette · Rating 4 out of 5]

**I recieved a free copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway through Image Comics**

I really liked this comic, to the point where I'll probably try to get my hands on the rest! I'm pretty picky about comics, but this one definitely makes the cut. It's engaging, the art is really really nice, and I'm interested in seeing where it goes!

[Beelzefuzz · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book does not spend enough time on its world or lore. A tease at the beginning and a tease at the end sandwich a story of people who all kind of run together being held in one place for no reason and for too many pages. I guess the art more than imitates life here, it forces you to hold in once place pointlessly and then metaphorically eats a bit of your life.

[The Geeky Viking · Rating 5 out of 5]

CANNIBAL is a fantastic combination of small town crime and horror thriller. The story and dialogue by Brian Buccellato are top notch and the artwork by Matias Bergara matches the story perfectly. Image has another hit book on their hands and I'll certainly be buying volume 2.

[Brian Dickerson · Rating 3 out of 5]

BCDER: 61

Southern zombie action without true zombies. I was "iffy" on if I would continue reading Cannibal after volume 1 until a law enforcement reveal in issue 3 and another reveal at the end of the volume.

[Paul Allard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cannibalism exists in this Florida backwater – interesting concept

This comic collection assumes that cannibalism (caused by a virus) is sweeping this area of Florida. The local characters are more involved in the disappearance of Jolene. There's a fair amount of violence and death.

In light-brown tones, the illustrations are well-conceived although I had difficulty keeping track of who is who and the plot moves along at a reasonable pace. The lettering in the digital edition is tight and therefore a bit hard to read. Good collection – more to come in another volume.

[Thomas Straughan · Rating 4 out of 5]

liked the different zombie-like story line. and graphics are excellent. characters story line did get a bit busy and i did some back tracking for characters stories. thank you.