Creative Staff:
Story: Andrew Constant
Art: Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy
Colors: Chris Sotomayor
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
What They Say:
Having learned who is responsible for the hellish transformation of the Earth, our reluctant team makes its way toward the source of the hell zone across the brutal nightmare landscape of Death Valley to put an end to the horrors facing the Earth. But with a group of people who all hate each other, tensions run high, and the fears of Etrigan and Jason come into light. Will the group hold together? Or will humanity’s last hope shatter?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Moving into the second half of this series for The Demon means we have a fairly familiar structure ahead of us but also a lot of fun. Andrew Constant gives us some solid road trip material here that digs into the way these characters have so much weight to their stories yet it doesn’t upend things. Part of that is thanks to the characters themselves but also some really great artwork that keeps it all moving and flowing. Walker and Hennessy continues to make this a richly detailed journey and Sotomayor’s color work just elevates everything as there are so many key colors to this storyline. This team has been on fire since the start and this issue is no exception.
Considering the nature of this group and the lengthy interactions they’ve had that go back a long ways thanks to the Demon Knights days, the dynamic between them is engaging to watch. Etrigan is prodding as he often does to cover up his own actual fears while Merlin is almost petulant at times in an effort to draw out Etrigan’s true side. This actually gives us some intriguing aspects of the character as we learn from Etrigan and through Merlin of how Etrigan has been shunned to the point where he no longer belongs in Hell, which the others can’t quite grasp. But the realization that Blood’s presence within him, and Etrigan’s inability to break him, is something that has isolated him from all others as that sliver of good that Jason is cannot be abided in Hell. The bond that the two share is often the focus of stories but this digs into a neat element of it.
Jason, for his part, is definitely still struggling with many things because of Etrigan. With him bonded as he is even in this form and unable to get away from him more than a few feet because of it, it just gnaws at everything on top of his own dark view of himself, unable to see any good. To make matters worse, he still views events from the Demon Knights days as to why Xanadu has avoided him so much and he’s kind of right there. His view of being unable to handle Etrigan being something that she left him over, and it’s true, but more because he was trying to do it all himself rather than get/accept help from her. There’s a lot of simple issues to this that many are simply like to their core from a young age and it’s easy to view Jason as being like that, considering his loner status in general. But as Belial is closer to breaking through the tear, he needs everyone else and part of that is realizing that he could have been with Xanadu if he realized he could have accepted help from her in dealing with Etrigan.
In Summary:
The character study aspect of the journey segment of The Demon is well done here in giving us plenty of each character with the strain they’re facing in the here and now and some of the past. Merlin is probably the most underserved here and that’s no surprise as he’s almost a tagalong character. The focus on Etrigan, Jason, and Xanadu is spot on and getting a peek at what Belial is up to and how Lucifer is needling him is the icing on the cake for this. Exploring the bonds that these characters share is the main focus and it works out well, though I think it’s more about Jason at the center than anything else, though Etrigan is a close second in the reveal of how he’s being treated in Hell.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: DC Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: February 28th, 2018
MSRP: $2.99