Written and Illustrated by Nicholas Melanshek
White Cell Inoculation is one of those types of indie books that grabs you straight away with the art style that doesn’t fit into the normal mold of comic art. Melanshek has a style that isn’t easily defined or even explained, trust me, I tried in the my first review of issue one. The art is truly unique and very beautiful, like I said hard to explain, but beautiful nonetheless. The colors are mostly black, white, and grey, but there are parts of the book that stray into other brighter colors and it almost always follows along with the story to accent certain parts. I find Melanshek’s art style captivating, it absorbs me and folds me into the book as if I’m a part of the story. The panels flow seamless and are all pieces of art in themselves that combine to become a truly special book.
The only complaint that I have about White Cell Inoculation is one that is a general theme within the indie comic community; because the creators have lives and aren’t full time creators it takes them a while to come out with their books. I started reading issue two and quickly realized that I needed to go back to issue one and give myself a quick refresher course. Luckily the story is seriously enthralling and gripping, so much so that I read the entire first and second issue back to back. The world of White Cell Inoculation is deep and once I went down the rabbit hole I didn’t come back for air until it was over. I give Melanshek credit for not letting the story lack, a lot of times artists that also write will let the story trail off while they focus on the art but the story is completely on point and Melanshek builds the world with both art and writing. Post apocalyptic stuff can be hard to write sometimes, because it’s too easy to half ass, but Melanshek has created a scenario that is interesting in both the story and character development. There is a vast world of intrigue, good guys and bad guys, the White Cells and the West, where a war for what is left of the world is continued. The characters are deep and the plot is intricate; this book has elements of a good thriller, drama, and action movie, but in a very well put together comic book package.
Issue two is most definitely on my pull list and there will be a limited print run June 6th but right now issue one is available on Comixology and print on the Freefall Comics website. You can also follow White Cell Inoculation on Facebook.
