Stanley’s stepping on some big toes here.
Creative Staff:
Story: Cullen Bunn
Art: Fran Galan
Letterer: El Torres
What They Say:
After an exorcism gone wrong, down-on-his-luck schlub Stanley finds he’s retained all of the demon’s supernatural powers and positions himself as the leader of an insane worldwide cult–only to find himself pissing off the demons of hell who are hot on his heels for revenge.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The embarrassment of riches continues as one of the newest Cullen Bunn series delivers a new installment, playing with demons and the like. Bunn has a knack for either picking or lucking out who he ends up working with and the team here definitely comes together wonderfully to produce a great-looking book In general, having Fran Galan just meant it was a must-read book. Galan’s had some great style for as long as I can remember seeing their work and it really delivers here in the violence, the detail, and just the kind of raw emotion that it feeds at times.
As the story has progressed, we knew that bad times were going to be coming for Stanley. With him now having connected with the Chuch of Lucifer, we see how the word is getting out a lot more and more actively, with two million people watching the stream of the service and a lot in attendance. Everything is increasing since he’s showing some proof, which is awkward in that you know enough will think there’s some fakery here, but his bringing demons into existence is helping enough to sway far too many. The problem, of course, is that it’s attracting a lot more attention from down below and we see a group of demon assassins that have been sent up to deal with Stanley and those that are aligned with him.
We do see how Stanley is trying to navigate this, especially since Zed is still hanging around even without power, but I do see Stanley as foolish in trying to get rid of him. Be wary, of course, but Zed is useful. Things take a bad turn, however, when the exorcist that Stanley used shows up at an outside lunch he’s having with Dezzy and we end up with the assassins showing up at the same time. This is a good bit of chaos since the exorcist actually bound Stanley, fearing for his own life, and that just puts everyone in danger. But it serves the purpose of getting Stanley to realize just how much attention he’s garnering out there beyond just the human world where he’s trying to get people to be aware that they’re more than just food in their souls for those above and below, and those down below are intent on stopping him.
In Summary:
Lucky Devil continues to be a fun twist on things when it comes to this concept. Bunn has our Stanley playing in a few areas with his influence growing thanks to the demonic powers but we also see that he hasn’t lost his humanity. He’s taking an interesting approach to the whole heaven and hell thing in a way that could actually help humanity, or doom it for reasons yet unknown. The dialogue is fun and I continue to like the cast overall, but it really stands out all the more with Galan’s great artwork, especially with the color design that’s being used for it. The whole thing just clicks wonderfully.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: October 6th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99