Oh, right, this was a thing.
Creative Staff:
Story: Gail Simone
Art: Walter Geovani
Colors: Adriano Augusto
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
The Death-Defying ‘Devil, aka Bart Hill, has done everything he can to protect the residents of the Winslow House from the evil that wants their home. Will he have to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the people that took him in when he needed help the most?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The series comes to a close with this issue and I have to admit, going into it, I barely remember the book. We had our last issue way back in December 2019 and the combination of delays and the COVID-19 pandemic pushed this book all the way back to this part of June. That’s not great for a book that I was already struggling with and a character that I had no connection to but was curious about. Gail Simone has more than earned her cred with me over the years that I’m willing to try just about anything she puts out but this book, even with the great pairing of Walter Geovani on the artwork, just fell flat for me after a curious start that had potential. It’s been a slog to the finale and then discovering that the book you forgot about actually has a finale out six months later.
With this being a finale, it’s almost all about the action and hell has sent a bill collector, as Tubbins says. The book opens in dealing with him some before it shifts to more current events with ‘Devil facing off against Death in the street where he’s being offered a deal to save the little girl. It’s a standard piece and ‘Devil is even happy to accept it as he’s lived a good life and wants the kid to live. But she’s insistent that no deal wit the bad man will be properly honored and she refuses it, which in turn leads Death to reveal his true face, a minotaur style body, that proceeds to then go toe to toe with ‘Devil. And that gets pretty involved, and dialogue-heavy, as the back and forth gets underway and it touches on the host of characters that live in the house where ‘Devil has called home for this run.
In Summary:
But, honestly, after six months, none of it resonates. I don’t remember who any of these characters are anymore. It’s nicely put together visually and I’m sure the story connects well enough when it’ll eventually be read in trade, but with the problems I had in earlier issues, going into this one it just felt like a lot of sound and fury with no weight behind it. I had a lot of things I liked about this at the start and I was excited to see this team back together, but as it progressed very little of it worked for me and it just keep accelerating that way. There were simply too many things going against this book and that gap was a real knife in the back for it.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: June 10th, 2020
MSRP: $3.99
