Author: Robert Kirkman
Publisher: Image Comics
Rating: WARTY!
Illustrated by Paul Azaceta and Elizabeth Breitweiser
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration for this review. The chance to read a new book is often enough reward aplenty!
I didn’t like this graphic novel. There was really nothing here for me to like. The story is by the same author who wrote the Walking Dead, so it’s hardly surprising that he came up with what amounts to the walking demonized. It’s really the same story. People, evidently randomly, are possessed by demons and turn into flesh-eating, bloody-mouthed zombies (for all practical purposes). Kyle Barnes is able to exorcise these demons. He teams up with a pastor and they set about doing the work that their god really ought to be doing if he existed.
It’s never made sense to me that it’s always up to us – no god has ever stepped in to lend a hand. It’s the same in this story. And the same, and the same again, since every time someone is possessed, we get the same story of Kyle and Pastor Pal tossing the demon out. Over and over with really no variation. The artwork was pretty decent if you like your artwork bloody and with a side of garden-fresh gore, but the story was really non-existent, which probably means it has what it takes to get made into a TV show….
Kyle’s wife left him and took their child, and won’t let Kyle get a look in. The police suspect him of abusing children because he forces demons out of them (which can leave a burn mark), but they can’t prosecute because no one will turn him in – not when he’s freed their loved one of an evil spirit. Kyle is depressed and the writer depresses us in turn by telling us just how depressingly depressed he is. I grew tired of reading same ol’ same ol’ over and over with very little variety.
Kyle’s endless flashbacks didn’t help at all (unless they’re done really well – and are truly necessary to the story – flashbacks as such are worthless for all intents and purposes), but they did provide some relief from the monotony of yet another exorcism. Plus Kyle was abused by his mother rather than his father, so that was a bit different, I admit, and I loved the double meaning in the title.
The story is set in West Virginia (that’s the largely virgin territory just west of Virginia…), so you’d think there would be something better to possess people with – how about coal creatures? Anthracite attacks? Some bitchin’ bitumen? No, it’s just demons. Why they’re doing it? Unexplained. How they’re doing it? Unexplained. What they hope to achieve? Unexplained. What Satan gets out of all this? Unexplained. Why God is asleep at the wheel here? Unexplained. So, not a lot of substance or plot. Maybe that comes in volume two?
