No matter how desperate you are … NEVER make a deal when it seems too good to be true.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Ralph Tedesco
Artwork: Renzo Rodriguez
Colors: Fran Gamboa & J.C. Ruiz
Letters: Fabio Amelia
What They Say:
When Chris Monroe falls for a gorgeous co-worker named Rebecca, he’ll do almost anything to win her over. He finds that the devil himself is waiting in the wings to cut a deal and make Chris’s dreams a reality. But Chris knows the price of his soul is too high of a price to pay. However, Chris soon learns that it’s not his soul the devil is necessarily after.
Content (please note that portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Chris was your average office drone, stuck in a dead-end job, forced to raise a rebellious nephew and burdened by escalating medical bills for a father who mistreated him. Everything in his life seems to be going downhill, except for the one paradise in his world – his co-worker Rebecca. She was beautiful and his ultimate fantasy, aside from one glaring fact: she only dated good looking guys or ones who were rich. And if that wasn’t depressing enough, when he arrives home that night, his ungrateful brat of a relative has the apartment engulfed in the stench of what seems to be a demonic ritual, complete with blood offering, pentagram, and black cloaks. Still stunned by the abominations which a teenage can imagine, this overwhelmed uncle makes an off-handed comment of making a deal with the devil for a better life before finding himself whisked away.
After rousing himself to consciousness back in the office, it is only then does Chris remember his prior statement once he is greeted by a dapper man introducing himself as Lucifer. Now convinced he in a waking dream, the befuddled man goes along what is considers a prank and concedes to the smooth-tongued rogue’s offer for the chance of Rebecca to noticing him; however when he assumes the cost of this deal is his soul, this shady character assures his new client there is no need for such a vile agreement, as long as Chris is willing to grant another form of payment – his father’s life. Seeing no harm in sacrificing someone who treated he and his brother so badly, especially if this is all a delusion, the confused man concludes the meeting before waking up in a cold sweat. It is only during the next morning does a fading illusion begin to make sense as a certain buxom blonde begins talking to him, asking if he would like her matching ticket to a hockey game; as he nonchalantly makes small talk to her generous offer, an unexpected call shakes Chris to the core … compensation for this contract had come to term. Was this all a coincidence or is there more to that nightmare than he can fathom through his grief? Perhaps this foolish dreamer should have heeded the warning from a familiar red head rather than continue down this tortuous path of ego and indifference – for now only time can tell.
In Summary:
Harkening back to interpretations of the apocryphal life of Faust and the short story by Washington Irving The Devil and Tom Walker, writer Ralph Tedesco delightfully manages to grasp the sinister nuances of this epic tale of temptation. To be honest, when I started to read this issue, the first thought was this would become another banal example of manipulation and contrivance through demonic means … and I am delightfully glad this was not the case. The method by which Tedesco beguiles Chris and the reader into accepting the terms is maniacal in itself: Lucifer contorts the facts so each compromise sounds less outrageous since it doesn’t directly affect the bearer; then at the same time, the contrivance of a victim deserving this judgement and unless you fulfill the bargain ploy something bad might happen, cinches Chris into thinking he might lose it all. We have all seen this scheme in one way or another – the deceiver grants one desire and adds on ever more clever lures, until finally the victim feels obligated to accept any future costs, no matter how heavy or ridiculous. Control is cyclic and in the end, only one receives what they want and of course, it usually does not end with a happy ending. However even if this plot has been seen before in monotonous variations, it is the unlikely twist Tedesco supplies in his narrative which turns everything on its ear; instead of a straightforward offer, we get a counter-proposal which quickly devolves as Chris goes deeper into debt … making it sound more like a business deal instead of a fight for his very soul.
However, even with this shrewd narrative, it could not hold much sway for the audience if the artistic team fell short in its graphic translation. Luckily for this story, artist Renzo Rodriguez is able to offer his stunning twist on the tale, with a surprisingly effective opening sequence, introducing both the below average guy Chris when compared to the striking beauty of his goal – Rebecca; that first page wonderfully summarizes the entirety of the issue in the sad story of a person wanting what may forever be out of his reach. Of course, we might have been able to tolerate the tale if it ended there – watching Chris stalk her, but Rodriguez would not allow us to suffer such a mediocre fate without pushing the envelope and showing us his version of Lucifer. This is where his ability starts to shine – showing us this demonic tempter appearing to be an ordinary man, but at the same time, there is something sinister about him … with all the charm of a viper. However, all of his appeal would not be as effective without the haunting and yet provocative colors of Fran Gamboa and J.C. Ruiz – breathing life into this story. From the amazing curves of Becca, to the nauseating ceremony which started this fiasco, all that they touched seems to be influenced by what underlies the story, the devil himself. You would not think Satan was involved within this narrative due to the brightness of the beginning tones and yet the shadows which they create with a darker palette slowly creeps into the tale, making us think this business man is something entirely different. And this is why this issue works so well.
The Devil made me do it takes on an entirely different meaning when we see it through the eyes of desperation. And yet with the talents of Tedesco, Rodriguez, Gamboa, and Ruiz this story takes on a life of its own, thanks to the synergy of word and art. Something which should have been ordinary now becomes a wholly different tone due to a creative twist and the illustrative worth of being able to interpret this literary vision. I for one am glad they decided to take this risk and show us a different side of a classic tale.
Grade: A-
Rating: T (for Teens)
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: July 12, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
