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Monday, June 16, 2025
Image Comics from Lunar Distributors for June 18, 2025
Tuesday, June 10, 2025
#IReadsYou Review: FARMHAND #17
FARMHAND #17
IMAGE COMICS
Rated “M/ Mature”
Farmhand created by Rob Guillory
Chapter 17: “The Bridge”
Farmhand is a dark fantasy comic book series from comic book creator, Rob Guillory. Guillory is also known for his award-winning tenure on the long-running comic book, Chew (Image Comics), with writer John Layman. Farmhand is written and illustrated by Guillory; lettered by Kody Chamberlain (who also designed the Farmhand logo); and currently colored by Jean-Francois Beaulieu.
Set in and around Freetown, Louisiana, Farmhand focuses on the Jenkins family: Ezekiel “Zeke” Jenkins; his wife, Mae; their children, Abigail and Riley; Zeke's father, Jedidiah “Jed” Jenkins; and sister, Andrea (“Andy”). Once upon a time, “Jenkins Family Farmaceutical Institute” used stem cell biotechnology to grow plant-based replacement human organs and tissue. Once upon a time, transplant recipients saw this as a miracle. Now, Zeke and the rest of the world see the miracle as a curse.
Farmhand #17 (“The Bridge”) opens with a wish it was once upon a time – a vision of what could have been. But this is the world of the Jedidiah transgenic seed... In this real world, Zeke and the family are living the trailer park life, and Zeke is feeling the full 12-year-old rage of his daughter, Abigail. These are all the complications of a plague begun by his father's “science.”
At the institute, Zeke has to hear crazy theories from Walter Sparrow. But the crazier words come from old Joe Thibodeaux, a man to whom Zeke gives a ride home. By the end of the ride, Zeke will know some crazy shit – all of it about himself.
THE LOWDOWN: In the two years since the publication of Farmhand #15, Rob Guillory may have used that time to really think about Farmhand. Already a tight concept, it has returned, crazier and more inventive than ever. Farmhand #16 revealed just how far off the moss-ridden rails this series had gone. Readers were introduced to a world not ready for the post-apocalypse – not when the apocalypse, so green and pretty, was still happening.
Farmhand #17 reveals that even Guillory's collaborators are on that wacky weed. Colorist Jean-Francois Beaulieu turns the colors of Farmhand nightmarish for Zeke's mind-numbing dreams and visions. Then, he flushes the daytime world or “reality” in neon and dayglo-inspired inebriation. With his lettering, Kody Chamberlain impossibly creates a volume for Farmhand – a mixture of fonts both ordinary and demonic. In a way, Chamberlain is pumping up the volume to cacophony – all the better to “hear” the lunacy of this series.
With Farmhand, there is practically a surprise on every page. Rob Guillory is pruning our expectations because it is actually a good thing not to know what to expect from your favorite comic books.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of dark fantasy fiction and of great comic books will want to be a Farmhand.
A+
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
https://robguillory.com/
https://www.instagram.com/rob_guillory/
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
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The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
---------------
"Farmhand #17" is collected in FARMHAND VOLUME 4: THE SEED, which is available at Amazon.
Amazon wants me to inform/remind you that any affiliate links found on this page are PAID ADS, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on affiliate links like these, BOOKS PAGE, GRAPHIC NOVELS, or MANGA PAGE and BUY something(s).Monday, June 9, 2025
Image Comics from Lunar Distributors for June 11, 2025
Monday, June 2, 2025
Image Comics from Lunar Distributors for June 4, 2025
Thursday, May 29, 2025
#IReadsYou Review: HUCK Volume 1
Monday, May 26, 2025
Image Comics from Lunar Distributors for May 28, 2025
Monday, May 19, 2025
Image Comics from Lunar Distributors for May 21, 2025
Monday, May 12, 2025
Image Comics from Lunar Distributors for May 14, 2025
Monday, May 5, 2025
Image Comics from Lunar Distributors for May 7, 2025
Thursday, May 1, 2025
#IReadsYou Review: FARMHAND #16
FARMHAND #16
IMAGE COMICS
STORY: Rob Guillory
ART: Rob Guillory
COLORS: Jean-Francois Beaulieu
LETTERS: Kody Chamberlain
GRAPHIC DESIGN: Burt Durand
COVER: Rob Guillory
32pp, Colors, 3.99 U.S.(April 2022)
Rated “M/ Mature”
Farmhand created by Rob Guillory
Chapter 16: “Fallow Earth”
Farmhand is a dark fantasy comic book series from comic book creator, Rob Guillory. Guillory is also known for his award-winning tenure on the long-running comic book, Chew (Image Comics), with writer John Layman. Farmhand is written and illustrated by Guillory; lettered by Kody Chamberlain (who also designed the Farmhand logo); and currently colored by Jean-Francois Beaulieu.
Farmhand sees Ezekiel “Zeke” Jenkins, a graphic designer and illustrator, return to his hometown of Freetown, Louisiana with his wife, Mae, and their children, Abigail and Riley. Zeke's father, Jedidiah “Jed” Jenkins, and sister, Andrea (“Andy”), own and operate “Jenkins Family Farmaceutical Institute.” Using stem cell biotechnology, the “farm” grows plant-based replacement human organs and tissue. Once upon a time, transplant recipients saw this as a miracle. Now, Zeke and the rest of the world see the miracle as a curse.
Farmhand #16 (“Fallow Earth”) opens with a once upon a time – a flashback to when Jedidiah first staked his claim, had his vision, created a miracle, and first watched it turn into an abomination. Now, his ex-partner, Monica Thorne, is a demon who rules the world … perhaps.
She is certainly the power in what is left of Freetown and its inhabitants. Everyone is infected with the “Jedidiah seed,” the transgenic seed that combines human and plant DNA to produce human organs capable of being grafted onto patients. In addition, the Jenkins are also infected with family dysfunction, as Abigail finds herself caught in the cold war between her father and grandfather. Happily, there is sanctuary … for now.
THE LOWDOWN: It is exactly two years since Farmhand #15 arrived in comic book shops – just as the world was going into pandemic mode I had not forgotten about Farmhand, but I had forgotten how much I really liked it. This is a really and truly great comic book series.
For a long time, I thought of Farmhand as a kind of mix of the original version of “The Twilight Zone” television series and of Stephen King's dark fantasy fiction. However, Farmhand has both grown and evolved, and while it retains the touches of Rod Serling and of King, it has become something else. I won't call it dystopian or apocalyptic fiction, although there are elements of both.
It is metaphorical and allegorical, and I see that in Jed Jenkins, who has some Biblical level anger. Still, for the first time, I really identify with him. Like many Black men of a particular time, he has some scores to settle with the Jim Crow society a.k.a. American apartheid. His fall begins when his struggle becomes narcissism and revenge.
Like King, Rob Guillory has fashioned a great man vs. evil struggle without losing the human drama. Zeke, Jed, and the rest of the Jenkins got family problems, and Guillory won't let us escape them. The characters' personalities, motivations, and conflicts read as genuine. Farmhand is more than mere genre fiction because Rob's imagination gives his readers both an incalculable crypto-zoography and characters whose humanity rings as authentic and meaningful.
It is good to be down on the farm again. I hope you give Farmhand a try, dear readers.
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of dark fantasy fiction of great comic books will want to be a Farmhand.
A+
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
https://robguillory.com/
https://www.instagram.com/rob_guillory/
https://twitter.com/ImageComics
https://imagecomics.com/
https://www.instagram.com/imagecomics/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Image-Comics-Inc/178643148813259
https://www.twitch.tv/imagecomics
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHmaKLo0FXWIPx-3n6qs3vQ
https://www.linkedin.com/company/image-comics/
The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
--------------------
"Farmhand #16" is collected in FARMHAND VOLUME 4: THE SEED, which is available at Amazon.
Amazon wants me to inform/remind you that any affiliate links found on this page are PAID ADS, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on affiliate links like these, BOOKS PAGE, GRAPHIC NOVELS, or MANGA PAGE and BUY something(s).