Feeding Ground #1

Written by Swifty Lang, Michael Lapinski, and Chris Mangun
Art by Michael Lapinski

Although the story in the first issue of Feeding Ground can be a little hard to follow in a few places, it's an interesting debut from a trio of creators I'm unfamiliar with.

Feeding Ground is set in a Mexican border town, and appears to be centred on a coyote (a man who helps people cross the border illegally) who seems to have some sort of connection with Blackwell, a military contractor-type company with ties to a farm that has taken over large parts of the region.  There are some things going on with the coyote's family back in Mexico - his wife has had a run in with someone who appears to be from a drug cartel, and his daughter has had a strange thing happen to her along the fence that involves blood and dogs, but it's unclear.

There are also many hints that something strange is going on in the desert.  One of the pollos - the men that the coyote helps cross - is running around naked and cutting into his flesh at one point.  I think this is supposed to be a werewolf comic at some point, but the creators are keeping that close to the vest here.

Okay, so it's obvious that things weren't very easy to understand from re-reading what I just wrote, but I'm still intrigued enough to read the rest of this series.  The art is a little stiff, but the character work is lovely, and reminds me a little of Francesco Francavilla.  The monochromatic colour scheme works well at suggesting the washed out feel of the desert.

This issue is thick and heavy, with 28 pages of story, which are then repeated on the flip side, but in Spanish.  I don't know if they are going to be continuing with this gimmick, but it's kind of interesting, especially since it didn't become an excuse to jack up the cost of the book (which is a good buy at $3.95).  Check this out - it's flawed, but it's almost much more earnest and clearly a labour of love than a lot of the books on the stand.