Slugfest!
Creative Staff:
Story: Brandon Thomas
Art: Lee Ferguson
Colors: Jose Villarrubia
Letterer: Simon Bowland
What They Say:
Winston Wallis – the last human in a world of monsters – has an uncanny amount of good luck. Conspiracy surrounds him as he rushes to solve the murder of an innocent man…er, uh, monster.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I’ve struggled with Sympathy for No Devils since the first issue as I feel like there’s something I’m missing, or a key I haven’t unlocked in order to get what’s going on here. Brandom Thomas is definitely having fun with it and has fully realized these characters, situations, and the world they live in but it hasn’t come across to me in a way that I’ve been able to connect with. At the same time, I’m thoroughly enjoying what Lee Ferguson puts to page as there are some really great designs here, whether they’re the small creatures like Floyd or just what we get from our leads with Crae and Winston. It’s interesting, unique, and it has me wanting to learn more about it all.
With this issue, the bulk of it feels like it’s when Winston and Crae find themselves booted out the window and end up crashing along the shoreline. Both recover quickly but their time talking ends up taking a darker turn because Crae reveals that, while perhaps not exactly corrupt, the bad guys basically found a way to use him and it simply disappoints Winston in a huge way. With what he did in leaving the force and all because he believed in Crae really eats at him here, especially since it was a kind of basic moment of weakness issue where Crae ended up with another woman instead of his wife and has been living elsewhere for several weeks now. It’s a typical weakness things that blows up his life but it just eats at Winston in a huge way with how things between them went down and his belief in Crae being the last good detective.
Of course, as the two start investigating things more, which requires a trip to Crae’s house and dealing with his wife, more of the truth of who is behind all of this starts to come out. It’s nonsensical to me because I lost part of the plot of this a while ago but I love that it’s essentially small blob Floyd who is behind the whole setup in an effort to woo Addison to himself. I have no idea if makes sense or not but I love the way it reveals itself in the narration just as Winston figures it out and as Floyd makes his grand proposal to her, only for Addison to practically die of laughter. Which, naturally, sets Floyd off to kill her, himself, and anyone around them for the next few minutes because of how he feels. Hoo boy.
In Summary:
Sympathy for No Devils is… a thing. I’m still not sure what the big picture goal is here and what they’re trying to get to. I’m enjoying some of the character material, not all of it, and I’m definitely digging the artwork and what I’ve been able to grasp of the world design. But it hasn’t pulled together into something that makes sense for me, though I’m looking forward to seeing how it all tries to tie it together in the next final issue.
Grade: C+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: January 27th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
