2 out of 5

Hey y’all – do you like your comics angsty and four-letter filled, with David Fincher-esque dark and moody artwork?  Blood and Dust for you!

Some first issue potential – the kind of depth proposed by the subtitle – is quickly squandered when the recountings of the eponymous Judd are interrupted by an emergency in the woods that needs his tendin’.  Cue pin-up shots of angry folks and two more issues of a middling battle with unclear choreography.

The Glenny family – Grandpa Judd, Ma, and her three children – live on the outskirts of town, feared by the townsfolk.  …But also respectful of the service the Glenny’s seem to provide of saving people from forest problems.  Writers Michael Martin and Adam Orndorff let us in to the twisted nature of the family with an excellent opening punch – grandpa pins his nephew to a door with a knife to keep him still, and nephew treats the bloody wound like it’s simply a bother – and concocts a graceful way into backstory via a curious townsperson who wants to thank Judd for his part in a recent incident.

…And then, as mentioned, the rest of the comic.  I’m not giving artist Roy Allan Martinez enough credit by naming him a Finch knockoff – in the more hectic panels, there’s definitely a classic horror vibe a la Bissette or Corben – but his faces and figured have something of a Finch genericness, with a weird touch of digitalness that makes the whole thing look a little off.  Mired in dark greens and browns, colorist Raymund Lee does a good job of bringing richness to a muted palette.

I’m also being harsh on the script, which is, by all means, average, but the bulk of it feels empty in comparison to the initial issue’s promise, and the ‘threat’ in the forest feels rather hackneyed, and non-threatening.

There’s a good, trashy, Southern-fried horror flick somewhere in Blood and Dust, but it doesn’t quite nail the exploitation vibe or successfully juggle its world building elements.