Wheeling and dealing our way to hell.
Creative Staff:
Story: Paul Cornell
Art: Tony Parker
What They Say:
Motherfather’s 1974 world tour has been one hell of a trip—and now, as the band’s traitor stands revealed, the devil himself has come to collect his due! Get your front-row tickets to the fiendish grand finale, from Paul Cornell (Wolverine, Action Comics) and Tony Parker (Mass Effect: Foundation)!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This Damned Band has been one hell of an interesting read over the course of its six issue run. Some of it worked exceedingly well for me while other parts fell flat. Part of that is just related to the fact that as it delved into different facets of the life of a band some of it is more interesting to some folks than others. But as a whole, the series put together some neat ideas and really fleshed out the weirdness of the group while playing with the undercurrent of something terribly evil out there that’s just bubbling under the surface. Bringing it all to the forefront the last time around with Clive making his big play to sacrifice everyone and become the sole survivor just paints him as even more cracked than before. But it felt pretty spot on with how it unfolded combined with the surreal nature of not sure what’s real and what isn’t.
With the finale, well, it does bring everything to an end though I wish we had a greater epilogue section in order to follow the survivors and see how their lives turned out. Clive’s big play is one that goes brutal here as he sets everything up to take everyone out and ensure his deal with the devil is paid in full so he can gain the power he wants. There’s a great kind of craziness about Clive here, a possessed kind of certainty and intensity, that really sells him in this position and to have gone the distance that he has. So when we see Alice discovering Summer Flower and others under the stage in sacrificial positions it doesn’t feel out of place because of what we’ve seen of him so far. Clive is fully committed and there’s a lot of appeal in seeing him playing it all out like that.
The flip side to the book is where Tony Parker gets to play with things again as those that are sent to the other side get to have their own surreal adventure with Satan. It takes on its own great tone because of the artwork but also because a push is made to negotiate with him, something that the group sent there is able to do whereas Clive was all about base power. It takes a really neat turn as they make the play with Satan about the best way to gain long term power and influence compared to what Clive offered and they basically present a better deal. It’s one that definitely makes a whole lot of sense and it allows the sides to switch in a way. The reveals through the narration how things unfold afterward, cleaning up the reality of the events with the narrative that comes together, leaves its own ambiguity about it that I like. That’s something that has been a part of the series since the start and keeping that at the end definitely works well.
In Summary:
This Damned Bad was a pretty surreal ride throughout and I’m still not quite sure what I think about it. As a whole work, it did some really great stuff in capturing the time and characters through Cornell’s scripting and dialogue and the fantastic artwork from Parker. The nature of the finale is definitely appealing in seeing Clive being fully on with what he’s done while everyone else is trying to survive. Bringing Alice back as the real savior of things has a whole lot of appeal as well and she definitely has some great sequences here, especially with how things end with her and Kev. That feels well earned here by the end and made a big impression on me overall. This is definitely a great little trippy series that for fans of music and the genre are definitely going to have a whole lot of fun with.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 6th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
