Review – Out #1

Review – Out #1

Writer: Rob Williams

Artist: Will Conrad

Publisher: AWA

Release Date: October 6, 2021

Variant Covers: Christopher Bust, Will Conrad

Issue #1

In the waning days of World War Two, with the Allies advancing, a desperate Nazi officer unearths an ancient force of evil that he hopes will turn the tide of battle: a vampire. To test the power of his secret weapon, he unleashes the monster on an unsuspecting group of Allied POWs. It’s up to Nocona, a Comanche language expert, to communicate with the vampire to find out what it really wants.

Writer: Rob Williams

Out is an amazing mix of horror and war genres. Taking the best from films like Escape From Colditz and horrors like 30 Days of Night. In Poland, POWs dig up an ancient coffin and are then sacrificed to the monster within. As the Germans are losing on all fronts they are willing to unleash a vampire on the Allies, but first, they need to make sure they can control it.

Enter Nocona, a Native American Comanche code-breaker, who has a knack for languages. Along with other difficult POWs, he’s sent to the inescapable Neusschzollern Castle in Bavaria as test subjects for the Vampire.

Out uses clever wordplay as it’s revealed that as well as trying to escape the castle, Nocona is a closet gay making it both a great story but an allegory for those that would target those that are different.

I think Williams is doing a great job with this first issue to build tension as well as develop both the plot and characters, while not overloading the reader or playing too heavy into genre tropes. the author notes at the back of the issue show his inspirations as well as what drives him as a writer adding a nice touch to those not familiar with him.

Artist: Will Conrad

The artwork in the issue works well with the script, showing the Nazis as the monsters almost immediately, although the way allied prisoners treat Nocona they’re not far behind. Tones ate washed out and plaid apart from spurts of bright red blood flashing across the beginning and end of the book. The artwork has parallels to Mike Mignola’s BPRD, but again that is no bad thing.

Overall Thoughts

This could be a by the numbers mix of WWII and Vampires but the script and artwork compel you from page one. For the investment of five issues, I think will be a quiet burner for 2021 that suddenly everyone wants to get hold of. AWA must already be negotiating with Netflix to turn this into a movie or series as it has wide appeal.

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