Set in the aftermath of some strange plague or apocalypse where people appear to be spontaneously turning into giant locusts, Locust follows a man named Max through two different time periods.
In the present, he's hunting for a girl named Stella. Stella's been taken by a man named Ford, so Max moves through a dark, largely empty landscape, following a trail of Ford's followers and encampments. Nieto covers everything in extremely dark, murky colors, to the point it's hard to tell what's happening sometimes. That's OK, because most of what's happening is best categorized as, "not good." Child sacrifice, people in heavy robes talking about divine punishment, that sort of thing.
In the past, we see Max and his mother during the early days of whatever is going on. Max is trying to get them to safety, but finding it difficult. Fortunately, they're rescued after a car wreck by a man named Ford. Ford seems organized, disciplined, with a large group of well-armed people ready and willing to follow his commands. I see no possible way that could end with child endangerment!
The scenes in the past have a more varied color scheme. Still murky, but there's the reds of the taillights, the orange of fires burning in the chaos. The former police station where Ford's established his base is tinted a dull, sickly green. Not sure what kind of lighting they're using for that, but I guess you use what you've got in an apocalypse.
It makes sense. The scenes in the past, society is just starting its descent. There's still life and struggle and all that. The scenes in the present, the world has more or less settled into what's passing for normal. The locusts aren't going away, aren't being cured. People are hiding in the remains of what came before, but they aren't building anything back up. It's like a dying star, down to a few faint, flickering embers.
As you can see, Nieto adopts a variety of body styles for the afflicted. I never noticed any pattern to what sort of appearance a given person took after the transformation, but there may be one. Or they may just be at different stages, with that big winged one being the final form. There's a fair amount of body horror, panels focused on people peeling their skin away, revealing compound eyes and exoskeletons, or the giant locusts tearing flesh away from a victim's face. The latter sort of thing usually isn't as focused on as the transformations. The death is an end state, while the transformation signals a new problem to deal with. A stranger, or even someone Max knew well, that's become a threat just like that.
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