When The Last Book You’ll Ever Read came out last week, I said in my review Cullen Bunn is one of the best idea guys in comics without even knowing Lucky Devil was coming out a week later. Lucky Devil not only confirms my thoughts, but it’ll likely reach a different kind of horror audience. Out this week from Dark Horse Comics, Lucky Devil has an incredibly detailed and unique art style by Fran Galan you won’t want to miss.
This issue opens with a sad sack of a man named Stanley in a help group sharing how his acts are atrocities. And indeed they are, as we see an entire fast-food restaurant laden with bodies horribly massacred. Stanley stands amongst the bodies in shock and every severed limb, a puddle of blood, and a pile of intestines staring right back at him. It’s an opening double-page splash you’ll linger on for some time as you soak in Galan’s incredible details in the colorful Where’s Waldo style horror show.
It’s a great opening stinger that plays out the day Stanely has had. We learn via Stanley’s narration to the group in captions how he knows his girlfriend cheats and knows his coworkers don’t respect him. Even his job is pathetic. As he goes through his day you can see how tensions would rise in Stanley and how a real beast may come out. This all leads to Stanley trying to cure himself of his literal demon, which spins the entire premise on its head. In truth, this issue could have been a great one-shot, but Bunn’s twist near the end adds a whole new layer to explore in the following issues.
Galan’s art is incredible, with creative ideas with gore and violence you’ve never seen before. We’re talking subway train doors with teeth and a new kind of vomit your worst nightmares couldn’t think up. The detailed art is impressive with an expressive style that feels lean and purposeful. There’s a sexiness to the art that feels European and incredibly new in the American comics scene, too. Galan also colors the book with keen attention to detail that helps solidify this world as very real. The tint of Stanley’s glasses, for instance, helps focus our attention on his very sad eyes.
Letters by El Torres are strong too, keeping things clean and the word balloons taut. There’s a great bit involving vomit sounds via word balloon that adds to one scene.
Lucky Devil #1 is a strong start to a new series with great gory horror and an even greater premise. It feels like a much gorier Sam Raimi film that’s somehow also prettier than anything he’s done before. Lucky Devil is clever, original, fun, and gross in the prettiest of ways.
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