What could be worse than discovering Heaven isn’t what you thought and that it’s actually incredibly dull? Spending that eternity with the man that killed you. That’s where David finds himself this month in High Heaven #3. After committing suicide, Ben, the man partly responsible for David’s death, becomes his roommate in the afterlife. As one would expect, they do not get on well together.
Outside of the main chapter this month the variety is present as ever — the book features: another installment of Hashtag: Danger by Peyer and Giarrusso, prose story Eraserhead by David Schmader with illustrations by J. P. Crangle, prose story Crosstown by Paul Constant with illustrations by Cayetano Valenzuela, and finally the short story Death by Matthew Sharpe featuring the illustrations of Fred Harper. Another strong variety of content for an insanely competitive price.
AHOY Comics
The Good
As always the main chapter of High Heaven is incredibly good. Each AHOY book has its own niche and this one certainly caters to the cynical readers who probably have a soft spot for ’90s Vertigo books in their heart. The bleak dark humor of the issue, seeing David rooming with the man responsible for his death presumably for eternity in the afterlife, is the sort of darkly amusing premise that is sure to entertain a large group of comic readers. But more importantly, beyond the silly idea, the chapter expands on it so much that by the end readers will forget that it’s a dark joke. Ben hasn’t been given the same time as David to grow but it’s clear that he will, which will in turn help build David as a character. It’s a testament to Peyer as a writer that he can take these cynical premises and craft them into well wrought moving issues.
On the other hand the Hashtag: Danger chapter is again adopting the dark humor but due to its cartoony style, manages to do so in a totally different way. The final panels are sure to get a chuckle out of readers.
With three prose pieces this month there is plenty to keep readers on past the usual installments of High Heaven and Hashtag: Danger. With noticeably different styles each story will engage the reader in a slightly different way. Eraserhead may get a laugh, Crosstown will make readers think, and Death may well elicit a tear drop. All in this is a fantastic collection.
AHOY Comics
The Bad
It’s really hard to find anything to criticize this month. For such a well rounded issue readers cannot go wrong picking it up. If one was to go over the book with a magnifying glass perhaps they might find something personally disagreeable but for the most part this is a fantastic book. The prose pieces are all fairly short, which obviously works with the book so perhaps the accompanying illustrations could have been larger to accommodate the page space. This would be an example of the magnifying glass inspection however.
The Verdict
This is a downright fantastic issue and every comic reader really ought to do themselves a favor and pick it up. If High Heaven isn’t on your radar yet, it really should be.
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