DC Horror Presents: Soul Plumber #1

DC Horror Presents: Soul Plumber #1

DC Comics 2021

Written by Marcus Parks & Henry Zebrowski

Pencilled by John McCrea & PJ Holden

Inked by John McCrea

Coloured by Mike Spicer

Lettered by Becca Carey

From the creators of The Last Podcast On The Left, exorcism just got a whole lot easier. After attending a seminar hosted in a hotel conference room by a mysterious group called the Soul Plumbers, Edgar Wiggins, disgraced former seminary school student, discovers what he thinks is the secret to delivering souls from the thrall of Satan. But after stealing the blueprints and building the machine himself, out of whatever he can afford from his salary as a gas station attendant, Edgar misses the demon and instead pulls out an interdimensional alien with dire consequences for all of mankind.

Alright I wasn’t sure what to expect out of this but it is a horror title so I knew I had to read it and find out what’s what. For me it kind of has a Shaun Of The Dead kind of vibe and I like that because I wasn’t expecting there to be this kind of humour involved with the book. Now it isn’t really a horror/comedy story, it just has some intelligent thinking man’s humour in it that adds to the story itself in some surprisingly great ways.

I’m very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceedingly well. The character development we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really brings their personalities to the forefront. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages introducing the characters, the story and this world they live in we really find ourselves enjoying Edgar’s personality and ways.

The way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge and grow is exceedingly well rendered. These layers open up avenues to be explored and while some will be, and already are, and some won’t be but they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. Seeing that moment Edgar takes his fate into his own hands is fantastic. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is exceptionally well achieved.

The interiors aren’t what I was expecting and I believe that’s a good thing. The boys have very distinct styles that really do work well with this story. The linework is clean, crisp and sharp and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work is exceptional. How we see backgrounds being utilised throughout the book does a great job enhancing and expanding the moments. It also works well within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show some talented eyes for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the story being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works.

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I like where we see this going and that Edgar is who he is. He’s a great character find and the way we see him portrayed is phenomenal. You can easily see the kind of man he is and how his devotion is such a large part of who he is but he’s still kind of a loser and I have no doubt that this man is going to do what he does and muck it all up. The writing is strong and the characterisation is exceptional and with these stylistic interiors I think we’re going to get a lot more than we bargained for with this story.