Too cool for Hell.
Creative Staff:
Story: Joshua Hale Fialkov
Art: Matt Triano
Color: Mark Roberts
Letters: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
From the critically acclaimed creator of THE BUNKER comes a daring new series that follows a team of the world’s best Exorcists as they battle the army of Satan himself. Picking up where the last issue left off, our heroes must venture through hellfire and demons in order to face the devil himself. But, the secrets they all hold may be their undoing. With breathtaking art from breakout artist Matt Triano and covers by Jock, Joshua Hale Fialkov pilots the boldest new series in years.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Seven of the world’s greatest exorcists (I think of them as the holy A-Team) descend into Hell to stop an incursion of demons into our world. However, their pasts, their cultures, and their personalities may make them unable to complete the task and they may well end up killing each other instead of the Devil.
This issue shifts focus from Malcolm O’Rourke—the former Catholic priest—to Rabbi Brenda Davide. We learn a bit about her life and her super power and through her we discover the reason why Malcolm is so important to the mission. It adds some much-needed depth to her character, but honesty, not as much as I had hoped. I had to look at the previous issue to find her name, and I would have to do the same with any of the other characters except Malcolm.
Even with this backstory, the Rabbi doesn’t really have a personality. There is a general feeling of unhappiness with her life and the world, but that’s about it, and beyond moments where she provides information to the rest of the group, the only meaningful interaction she has is a back-and-forth with Raab Al-Fayed (also had to look up his name) about the Jewish state and the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Raab’s personality is basically “angry Palestinian” and anger is about the only emotion displayed by any member of the team. Chun-bai mixes it with a sense of irritating superiority, but that just changes the flavor slightly.
Triano’s art is still solid, although there are still issues with heavy ink lines and shadows. And Roberts’ colors do well conveying atmosphere and mood. The color palette shifts from blacks and blues to reds and blacks, creating a visual transition from the real world to the world of Hell, and it works. Together Triano and Roberts make Hell look as terrible and frightening and disgusting as it should be.
Oddly enough, the Devilers barely react to Hell. They stride in as if they were going to someplace moderately unpleasant, not the dimension of eternal pain and anguish. Even the atheist, George, who just tagged along for the ride, seems detached from everything. The members act as a battle-hardened group who have faced similar situations before, comporting themselves like the Justice League or the Avengers, and that brings me out of the story a little bit. Hell, for me, should be a big deal. It should be the last place anyone would ever want to go. It should be frightening and disgusting and terrible, as I mentioned before, but the characters’ reactions take away from the impact of the art.
In Summary:
Issue 2 of The Devilers is pretty much second verse, same as the first. While the story moves along at a good clip and the art is solid, the characters are almost cardboard—even the character whose life we learn about in this issue. They display no real emotion other than anger or bemusement, and their reactions take away from the impact of the setting and plot. I compared the group to the A-Team earlier, but now I think that they are more like The X-Men: they are individuals from different nationalities and with different powers who do not always get along, but put those differences aside for the greater good. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that, it does create a sense of jadedness that hasn’t been earned. With any luck, the story will come together at the end and these issues I’m experiencing now will be taken care of, but for the moment, this just isn’t connecting with me. Not recommended.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: N/A but I wouldn’t let kids read it.
Released By: Dynamite
Release Date: 14 June 2014
MSRP: $2.99
