Farmhand #6 Kicks Off A Deeper Mystery
by Tony Thornley
Rob Guillory’s creator owned series Farmhand returned this week, picking up the threads from the end of volume one. It’s a welcome return for the series.
Guillory, Taylor Wells, and Kody Chamberlain all return this issue to pick up with a little bit darker and scarier world.
Jeb’s business is falling apart, just as he takes a day off to go fishing with Zeke and Riley. However, that’s not everything, as multiple transplant recipients are returning to town with strange new mutations, and the Jenkins seed seems to have infected the town itself. The question is, how?
If the first arc was a slapstick sci-fi comedy, this arc seems to be dialing that back quite a bit and diving into the more horrific aspects of the concept. Guillory’s script dives right into those more horrific aspects, barely acknowledging the change of tone, but still fitting in really well with what came before. It’s a much more confident story and much more interesting as well.
Guillory’s line work sells that horror. The sight of the mutated “transplants” is gross, but it’s also extremely sad. The issue-ending animal attack is genuinely scary, using disorienting layouts and angles to draw readers into the attack and move them through the page up to the disturbing final page reveal.
If this issue has a most improved player, it’s Wells. In the previous arc, many of the characters had unnatural skin tones, and the lighting and effects were a bit off. Here he’s able to make the characters look much more natural, but also add some green tones in ways that feel more like a special effect than a choice that doesn’t quite work.
I’m glad to see this series back, and even more excited to see how much it’s improved in its break!
Farmhand #6 is available now from Image Comics.
