The Killing Jar

The Killing Jar #1-5

Published by: Bricker-Down Productions

Written by: Justin Zimmerman

Illustrated by: Russell Brown

Drug-Runners, & Gun-Slingers, & Addicts, oh my!

The town was called Saguache. The Indian word for blue-earth. At one time it housed almost 600 people. Now it’s population was down to 200. And most of that was violent drug-users. Some say “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop” If so idle veins are his highway.

Anna and her mentally challenged younger brother Michael live in Saguache, if you can call a desolate wasteland home. Their father passed away so all they have in a world overrun with ravenous drug-addicts is each other. Anna, despite her bum leg, has been doing a good job taking care of her brother. Keeping him alive. Keeping him safe. They have survived man-made Hell thus far. But it hasn’t been easy. Nothing worth having, comes without a struggle. But they get by. They manage to scrape together what happiness they can. Michael despite his mental capacity, despite his father’s death is a happy kid, one whom loves his sister. Anna is tough. She has to be. Life hardens you, or you splinter under it’s burden here in Saguache. She does what she has to, to keep her brother smiling. But life always has it’s curve balls. Whether you’re flat on your back or not, it fires ’em at ya like a cannon.

3 drug-runners are coming to town.. they keep the people vicious, fuel their fix, feed them a whole new brand of drug. For fun the death peddlers rape their way through small town America. This time out it’s Ted’s first run. His uncle is the big bad boss, so impressions have to be made. Ted thinks all he has to do is use and deliver. He has no clue what the other 2 runners have up their sleeve. They’re going to make him earn his piece. First house they see is Anna’s. They rub two brain-cells together and decide for Ted that he’s going to rape her. Problem is he doesn’t want to. He may be a user, but he ain’t the violent kind, and he has no intention of harming Anna or her brother. He begs her to run, but her frightened brother shoots him.. and right from the gunshot all hell breaks loose from it’s chains. The 3 want to stay alive. They devise a plan and start shooting there way to freedom. Only bullets buy liberty. But there’s always that god damn curve ball. The 2 drug running rapists are only the beginning of the shit-storm about to hit Saguache. Standing between them and escape is droves of violent, psychotic users who are hell bent on killing for their fix.

This title was right up my alley, and living in the refrigerator box next door. A hellish mix of post apocalypse, and small town horror, with a dash of rampant crime. It was enough to get me flipping through the 5 issues I have in about 20 minutes flat. Flipping through it so damn fast the pages might as well have been made of fire. I freaking love Anna! Maybe it’s sexist on my part, but I love me a ‘take no shit’ heroine. She was resolute, skin of granite, and yet she still had the allure of a snake-charmer. Since the story slams you right into the eye of the maelstrom, there wasn’t much in the way of character development. There was, but they were developed on the run. No worries you’ll feel like you know the whole lot of them by the turn of the last page. You can relate in some ways to both Ted, & Anna and their daily struggle. You’ll find yourself having an almost weird Stockholm-esque feeling toward Ted. He isn’t a bad guy, he’s an addict in a psychotic situation. He runs with the bad guys, but not out of choice. He puts up a fight to help someone he doesn’t even know, and takes a bullet for it. Justin Zimmerman did his job, kept you turning pages like an addict looking for an antidote. He keeps you teetering on the edge of your seat, keeps your eyes flitting, and your fingers fumbling for more. While it would be hard to place this in one genre, as it fits neatly into 3, I’m going to call it some manner of post-apocalyptic horror. It, put quite simply, has everything that makes a comic junkie like myself salivate; gun slinging, violent crossed-like addicts with pitch forks and all manner of rudimentary weapon, likable, lovable, & detestable characters, and of course blood and it’s all too familiar compatriot guts. There is a strange sense of hope woven throughout the plot, because for drug addicts there is always a shimmer of redemption. All in all it was pretty god damn awesome. I’d love to read more of Zimmerman’s work. I rarely get to say this, but this was my first taste of what he can do, and I am anxious to sink my teeth a little deeper.

What really magnified the magnificence of this title was the flawless illustrations!! They were perfect for this medium!! Go team Russell!! His art was spellbinding. I found myself poring over the work of this pencil & ink magician. I drooled, I literally drooled when I opened the cover and saw what I was in for. I was blown clean out of my pants. Haven’t been able to find them since. My only compliant is that due to the lack of dialogue on some of the panels it was a little hard to follow at times, but that might have just been a case of me anxiously flipping through the comic so fast, anticipating seeing what was around the next corner. I found his work akin to Stefano Casselli’s work on Hack/Slash by way of the great Tony Moore… when he does covers no less. Very fine penciling with a splash of gray tones thrown in here and there for the detail that only comes with shading whether it be with ink or grays. By now you’ve probably figured out that I love black and white comics, that for some reason they really add to a somber storyline. Especially when horror is concerned. They help with the gritty, hopeless feeling. And this did just that. So as you can probably tell by now, I was impressed, uber-impressed. This guy has a shining career & a half ahead of him. Watch out for this guy because if he keeps it up he’s gonna be a star. A white dwarf on his way to becoming a red super giant.

So here’s the point where I tell you to pick this up like immediately. It’s available at ComiXpress.com or Graphicly.com. I’ll be hunting down further issues as I’m going to be following this series to the grave. I hope it doesn’t end. With all the other titles I read non-stop, and there are about 40 or 50 of them, I am sad and ashamed to say I missed this one!! It doesn’t happen very often that I don’t pick up on something this good. I love horror and post apocalyptic titles so I can almost kick myself for coming into the game so late on this. The Killing Jar, it’s worth every minute & every dollar you spend hunting it down. Pick it up, you’ll love it!! “It was so damn good it’ll make you want to slap your mama!!”