KILLER OF DEMONS #1 REVIEW

[Kevin Sutton]

Reviewer: Kevin, kevinsutton@cheerful.com
Story Title: The Life Infernal


If the angel on your shoulder tells you to kill, there's probably something wrong with you.

Writer: Christopher Yost
Penciller: Scott Wegener
Colours: Ronda Pattison
Cover: Scott Wegener & Christina Strain
Letterer: Thomas Mauer
IFC Art: Scott Wegener & Christian Ward
Editing and Design: Thomas Mauer
Logo Design: Jeff Powell
Published by: Image Comics

Killer of Demons is an easy chuckle-worthy tale of casual violence overlaid on a world of debauchery and ignorance.

Dave is an otherwise ordinary office worker who is driven to kill seemingly random people simply because they look different. (Horns, tails, wings, etc...) Dave has pictures of Dilbert on his cubicle wall, but there's less office humour to be found here than a more wide ranging and more brutal satire of our low class world. (For some reason I'm thinking of Mike Judge's Idiocracy) Dave's employer is a tobacco company that encourages smoking, making pornographic movies on office grounds; lunch breaks at strip clubs, and may or may not be trying to sell mayonnaise as a primary food source.

Dave's brother is a bit better; he's a heroic FBI agent entrapping child predators by pretending to be an underage girl in World of Warcraft. For him, it's an unusually satisfying role.... that is, job. He mocks his brother for not being as heroic as himself, but is kind enough to unknowingly lend him a variety of medieval implements with which to kill bartenders, secretaries, and burger jerks.

There's a lot of tension in the story. Dave isn't really threatened by the monsters he kills, but there is the growing possibility that he could be caught by the police, and the ever present chance he's nothing more than a murderer. The reluctant Demon Killer is obviously tormented by the possibility that he is merely insane instead of chosen as his angel says; but he doesn't make any headway with his sex obsessed psychiatrist. Still, given the sad-sack state of the world Dave works in, I have to wonder if many of the demons being killed really have done anything specifically to deserve to die at the end of his many blades.

There's a very casual feel to the whole enterprise, as the Demon Slayer offs people just about anywhere he finds them, and there's a notable lack of a suitably divine direction to his efforts. (In that respect, he's more like a level crunching gamer than someone on a divine quest. The humour likewise is quite understated, and not joke oriented. The artwork, plot, and dialogue are all used to show-off both the awkwardness and absurdity.

The artwork is straight and direct, easy to follow and a good fit for the style of story. There's nothing too complex about the imagery, but a lot of the images and expressions are really good representations. Most of the details are pretty sparse, and in a few places the details can seem rushed; but the comic is also loaded with lots of little funny easter eggs added into a lot of panels, and the action, (limited though it is) is pretty solid.

This story looks to be a very good black comedy so far. It's a little tragic because the main character isn't particularly happy with either his job or his destiny/hobby, but his murder spree is too amusing and his friends too stupid for this to be oppressively dark. Killer of Demons is 34 pages with no ads, (Well, except one that doesn’t count) so its’ above average cover price is worth it. I would recommend you give this mini series a look.

OVERALL:


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