FARMHAND #14, available in comic book stores on Wednesday, March 4th, answers a question that’s been on fans’ minds: How was the Jedediah Seed created? Writer and creator Rob Guillory takes readers on flashbacks to Katrina 2, a horrific natural disaster that destroyed Freetown twenty years earlier. It is here Monica Thorne experiences a vision of a mysterious being claiming to be “God.” And it’s ready to alter the course of events in Freetown forever.
Story
In the present, widespread panic spreads throughout Freetown. The Jed Seed’s effects have been showing up in the townsfolk, even if they didn’t receive transplants.
Zeke and company conduct separate investigations throughout town, learning just how far the adverse effects have reached. People and animals are becoming more plant-like. Zeke and the group soon find that Thorne, manipulating Jeb, is behind it all. And Jeb is not happy.
Guillory’s writing plays out like the beautifully constructed sci-fi horror comic that it is. One thinks of cult classics such as The Happening in its ability to show what our world would look like of our ecosystems started fighting back.
Artwork
Guillory’s penciling and ink work is just as engaging as his writing. The blending of human anatomy with green plant-like appendages gives this issue an unsettling surrealness. Rico Renzi’s coloring helps create this effect by contrasting the “unnatural” colors of artificial items throughout the town with the earthy colors of those affected by the Seed.
Kody Chamberlain’s lettering fits wonderfully with the horror theme, employing erratic, red fonts when used for the demonic speech of the “God” figure.
Comic Cover
Guillory and Taylor Wells’s cover artwork features Thorne examining an eyeball growing from a mysterious plant, showing readers how integral she is to the Seed pandemic.
Conclusion
FARMHAND #14 reveals more about the Seed’s history than ever before, showing how involved Thorne was with it from the very beginning. The engaging narrative, digging deeper into the earth of Guillory’s imagination, keeps us coming back for more.
Do you think the Seed’s effects will spread to the rest of the country? Let us know in the comments below!
