A review by leelah
Colder, Vol. 1, by Paul Tobin

3.0

3,5*

In its heart, a very formulaic story of hero beaten down, until he finds courage in love to fight back (yawn), but all that generic crap is mixed with several very interesting concepts.
First of those is that insanity is a portal to another world, scary one where nothing makes sense or if it does it's in most horrifying way. It shows for some amazing art and it lets author's and artist's imagination go wild with this. Problem comes from switching it on and off like insanity can be affected in that way. Look, medication also "quiets down the voices in head", but it doesn't take them away. So, that one didn't really work for me- insanity as a quantifiable measurement, something Declan and Nimble Jack, protagonist and antagonist of this story, can add to or subtract from others. It simply doesn't work that way. I also frowned upon why they focused on homeless people as "the most likely to have severe mental issues"- it goes all ways, you can find your psycho in boardroom, or hell, running for president, just as much you can find them under the bridge.
The real reason you should pick this up is Nimble Jack. Entire concept of this evil character is done in an amazing way, and it's with him we can see how comic, as a blend of writing and art is such a rich medium. Nimble Jack is nimble and you can see it in Juan Ferreyra's art who draws Jack in motion just perfectly. Nimble Jack is also scary and creepy as fuck and Tobin doesn't shy away from making him even scarier as the story goes down. I'd be happy with entire volume of just Nimble Jack walking between worlds and wrecking havoc- he is that good.