Gets the Job Done
The Good: Going by the second cover on the page, because that's the one I have, the cover is fantastic. I have some other problems with it, but the overall presentation is fantastic. Showing us a character in a hazmat suit blended into a group of samey vampires is haunting, but I love the detail put in to make each vampire distinct from the others.
I again have some personal issues I'll discuss later with the interior art, but by itself it looks REALLY cool. All too often adaptation comics will get lesser artist to just get it done. I may not have heard of Mike Huddleston, but he cranks out some really damn fine work here. There's a great angular sharpness to all the action, something vaguely reminiscent of Dustin Nguyen, as well as a lot of nice details.
Considering that this is just a straight adaptation, there's not much to say that isn't praising the book more than the comic, but I will say Lapham does a great job adapting the absolutely astounding book. The script definitely follows through a lot of the same exact motions in a good way.
The Bad: As much as I do love the cover, I feel that it spoils a bit too much about the exact nature of the unique vampires created in this world. A chunk of the great pacing of the book can be chalked up to the slow reveal of the differences in the vampires.
As much as I LOVE the artwork, REALLY cool artwork, I don't think it's a good fit for this series. It's a little too cartoony, not trying very hard to be realistic. And for a series that has such a hauntingly realistic take on vampire (Still paying amazing tributes to the old kind) more realistic art would accentuate the creepiness much better. As a result, some of the moments that made my skin crawl in terror don't hit quite as hard in the comic.
And there's a few parts which were drawn out to superb creepiness in the comic, but were more straightforwardly done in the comic, losing some of the intense pacing.
I also don't like the way the coffin was drawn, but that might be a personal thing.
In Conclusion: 3.5/5
It's not 'bad.' It's not bad at all. If you've never read the book, the comic would probably rank higher. It's a damn fine adaptation of a fantastic masterpiece of a book, so I know the story itself is going to continue to be solid. However, unless you have an aversion to reading full text books over comics, I can't say I genuinely recommend this version of The Strain. The book is infinitely superios, and not just because 'the book is always better,' it's because.... well, mostly that. No other form of media is capable of captuing the slow creeping crawling pacing that made the book so damn effective. If you liked the book, this is an interesting alternative adaption, and when the action starts really happening, that'll probably be pretty awesome.
