Packs of the Lowcountry is an upcoming horror/adventure comic created by John Dudley and is set in a post-apocalyptic world. It follows the story of Bastion, a soldier from the Free Lands on a mission to aid those beyond the walls. It’s been 16 years since the world was invaded by various species from another dimension who not only wiped out the majority of the world’s population but divided it up under their control. As a kid, Bastion was able to make it to the Free Lands, the only remaining place on the planet not under the control of monsters. Now he’s on a top-secret mission with two mysterious companions, Sergeant Merrel and Helena, deep beyond the wall but the two won’t share all the details with Bastion. They possess abilities he’s never seen before, and this is his first mission beyond the walls. They’ll have to contend with mutated wolf packs, which are genetically modified humans, as well as other huge monster. But what is the team’s true objective and what do they have planned for Bastion? He’s about to learn the reality of the world beyond the walls.

After reading 4 of the 6 issues, Packs of the Lowcountry flirts with its potential to be all of these things but gets in its own way at times by either halting the character development at the wrong time or not providing a bigger context to the events taking place. There were a few occasions where I wanted the issue to take me deeper because the material was that interesting but a redundant action sequence would interrupt that moment or the focus would shift. But that means there were things to enjoy or else I wouldn’t want more of it.

There was some action that would reveal Helena’s powers as well as some of Bastion’s traits. It was revealed that Bastion suffered from anxiety attacks, and at that point it did feel like a distraction to the story. The artwork wasn’t awe-inspiring just yet but this sequence was pretty entertaining overall.

Issues #2 and #3 would delve relatively deeper into the current state of the world in terms of the creation of the packs and touch on the abilities possessed by certain characters. This would occur with Dr. Beach, who would work with Bastion’s team, coming into the picture. And I have to admit I was mixed about Dr. Beach because on one hand he clearly was important in the big scheme of things playing a crucial role in past and current events but he also would serve as a way to introduce elements that weren’t fully fleshed out. For example,  his involvement with powered beings served as a way to modify Bastion but the follow through was lacking. I don’t want to give away any spoilers so I’ll just state that the ambiguity attached to his actions made the story more intriguing however this would be interrupted with an invasion that should’ve been predicted.

Issue #4 was the best issue to date. The opening sequence with Bastion moving through the forest and the subsequent action was impressive and set the tone early. The artwork improved this issue too so that contributed to the excitement for what was to come. And the explanation about the Connect started to bring everything together. But this reached a new level with Agent T being revealed and the insight and understanding she would bring to the various situations and characters. This was the closest the series got to creating an immersive world and giving a greater context to everything taking place. And the character development was by far the best this series too especially with Bastion and Helena.

SUMMARY

Packs of the Lowcountry is an overall entertaining series but the middle issues don’t capitalize on the potential of the series and instead focuses on less interesting characters and events. The first issue does a good job in setting up the backstory and introducing the characters but issue #4 really brings everything to a new level by delving deeper into the crucial events and the enjoyable character development. Even the artwork improves throughout the series and this culminates with issue #4’s impressiveness. I hope the final 2 issues focus less on Baker’s pack and expands the scope to the greater conflict and world situation and I think that’s when the series shines.

Writer: John Dudley
Artist: Don Cardenas