Can even a bloodthirsty woman become a hero … or does she want to?
Creative Staff:
Writer: Pat Shand
Artwork: Renzo Rodriguez
Colors: Walter Baiamonte
Letters: Ryan Ferrier
What They Say:
In a when a family of Highborns ruled over Ancient Greece, Hades Blackstone – the God of the Underworld – fathered a child with a mortal woman. In an effort to keep his daughter, Angelica, safe from his enemies, Hades stayed out of her life … until she fell in love with a prince from a neighboring kingdom. A kingdom at war.
Hoping to save the immortal Angelica from a romance that would surely end in a tragedy, Hades sent the prince on a fool’s errand into the Underworld to slay a beast whose very blood offered those who drank it eternal life. Hades thought the monster would make quick work of the prince, but the prince triumphed and was infected by the beast’s blood. The prince became immortal, but he’d lost his soul in the process. He found Angelica … and he killed her.
Millennia later, Hades lived his life regretting these actions. In an attempt to set his heart at ease, his lover Liesel Van Helsing, teamed up with a witch named Marian Quin to resurrect Angelica Blackstone. The spell seemed to work, but Angelica was not brought back as the quiet daughter that Hades loved. Instead, she came back as a vampire.
This is the story of Angelica Blackstone, the Hellchild, as she tries to find new life in the city that never sleeps.
Content (please note that portions of review may contain spoilers):
The raid on the hideout was a success … or so it seemed. As her allies are busy sorting through the remnants and freeing hostages, Jezebel is far more concerned as to what lies outside. In a frantic rush to secure her fee, Angelica chases after her employer, only to find something missing – the corpse of Kevin Nestor is gone. The Hellchild was sure that she felt his heart stop before tossing the body out the window, but obviously that was not the case. But before they can argue to the finer points of this fiasco, one of the madman’s pets intends to cleanse its home of intruders; though it may valiantly try to defend itself against a demigod, even before the hellhounds can come to their aid, a swift fist down its gullet ends the charade. Slithering away to find a place to die, the duo allow the serpent to flee since they assume it will not survive much longer and continue their discussion. Conceding to her demands, Jezebel relents by telling her demanding employee to return to her place in the morning, where she will have her payment.
Satisfied as to the profitable negotiations, Angelica returns to her rundown apartment, only to find two annoying thugs harassing another tenant. Still feeling pleasure of being thanked by one of the previous victims, the bloodthirsty avenger quickly pacifies the hoodlums, but her rescue is returned by a look of absolute terror. While she might have saved the poor woman, her manner of liberation was not exactly violence free – it resulted in a complete decimation of the harassers. However even as she attempts to reconcile with her new frustrations, the enormous python has managed to find its master Nestor, who is communing with the spirit of Samuel Diamond. They have reached an accord, the two shall now share the same vessel and deem to call themselves Ouroboros. With their goals now within reach, the joined pair will once again attempt to purge the city of the filth called humanity … and no one can stand in their way.
In Summary:
As we hit midstride to the series, Hellchild has now started to question her own existence. This is the reason why I have always loved Pat Shand’s stories, he gives us insight to his character by that most useful of all devices – the internal monologue. Ever since we met her, Angelica has literally lashed out at the world: to release her pent up rage at being resurrected as a blood thirsty monster, to be brought back into a foreign world and of course, most of all, her slanted notion that she is once again a tool to be manipulated by her father Hades. It was that anger which drove her in the first series and as such, also given her the determination to try to survive in this strange land.
But now that she has had the opportunity to save someone, Angelica is in a moment of crisis. These fascinating soliloquies, internalizing her memories and ambitions by struggling with her own inner demons: whether to satisfy her own primal urges for food, violence and wealth or to help those in need, as her father does now. Those simple inklings have suddenly become so alien, as opposed to before her death where she lived an uncomplicated life without Hades’ guidance. But at present she ironically looks to him for strength, the man who she once cursed for a pallid life, who she currently sees as a savior and what she wishes she could become. These reflections for her lost humanity ground this anti-hero, a struggle at a crossroads, allowing her to bloom and possibly move forward or to stagnate into something she never wished to be and truly become a monster.
Just when you think this series couldn’t get any more intense, we then underestimate Renzo Rodriguez with his artistic fury which is Hellchild. To start this issue with immediate action and then emphasize those grotesqueries with Walter Baiamonte’s vivid and yet oppressive use of color to accentuate that same event only multiplies the tension and richness of this ridiculously ambitious story. Nothing is left to chance, you can tell what will happen by just looking at the faces: a sly smile, shock expressed in the eyes or a sideways grin of mischief, it all shows how much Rodriguez enjoys portraying these characters as they go about with what they consider normal. And yet the story is never sacrificed to make room for the art nor vice versus, they work in conjunction to bring out the best of each other. The over the top scenes almost feel like something out of a grindhouse horror movie, but in the best of ways with such action that it threatens to burst forth from the page. The violence is never too gory for the subject, and since this is Angelica, she never holds back on her justice, be it intentional or tongue in cheek to relieve her frustration. You cannot but help to feel the casts’ intensity and identify with it, whether it be for good or bane, this narrative just gets better as it goes.
(In case you were wondering, yes … that is Pat Shand in the background with Angelica being evicted. I have confirmed it with Renzo and Pat.)
Now that Angelica has had a taste of what her father now considers a normal life, can the Hellchild really turn back to her former existence? This issue is so defined by the actions of the art and the intensity of the story that it is a shame that it had to end. And yet we as the audience have to reflect on the meaning of the Ouroboros: the symbol of a snake consuming its own tale in a continuous cycle of destruction and creation, a double meaning for the tale. On one hand we have Nestor remaking himself as what he considers should rule over humanity and then we have Angelica; she is someone who was once human but now burdened by a monstrosity which lives inside, threatening to consume her very existence … all dependent on the choice she will make. Can she really live up to what she see as Hades now or will she succumb to those thirsts that now drive her? I cannot wait to see how this series ends!
Grade: A+
Rating: T (Teen)
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: January 25, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
