Lucky Devil #1

Lucky Devil #1

Dark Horse Comics 2021

Written by Cullen Bunn

Illustrated by Fran Galán

Lettered by El Torres

A down-on-his-luck schlub is possessed by a malevolent demon. Just when he thinks things can't get worse, the exorcism goes wrong . . . and he finds that somehow he's retained all of the entity's supernatural gifts. After a path of revenge on all the people that have wronged him, he begins to gather worshippers and form a cult. But the legions of Hell don't take kindly to this, and they send demonic agents to murder the schlub-turned-god before he gains too much power.

I love Cullen, he’s got this bizarre and wonderful mind, creativity and imagination that he’s able to unleash upon an unsuspecting populace. I absolutely adore that this is a play on Stanley and his Monster, albeit in a much darker, scarier kind of way like the original Grimm stories. One of the most impressive things we see in this issue is the complete and total transformation of one man’s personality from the first page to the last. That we can see him relate his story to a support group and start off as this meek, timid and kind of inept man into what we see on the last page well hot diggity damn son this was utterly fascinating to witness.

I love 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 exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances establishes their baseline personality. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more we are drawn into it.

I really appreciate the way we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge, grow and strengthen. The layers contain the characterisation, plot twists and oh so much more and whether they work with the main arc or simply swirl around it they all add depth, dimension and complexity to the story. I really am liking the way that we see the transition of this man and how he knows who he is throughout the issue. The way that everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is magnificently done.

The interiors here are completely and utterly fabulous! The linework is great and how we see the varying weights being utilised to create the detail in the work is phenomenal. That we see backgrounds being utilised throughout is sensational in how they expand and enhance the moments. How they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is fantastic. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a marvellous eye for storytelling. The colour work is utterly brilliant. How we see the wear and tear on the apartment building is stunning. The magma, the restaurant and there are so many more moments where the colour is essential to making this pop. the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is done perfectly.

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This is different, innovative and I cannot wait to see where this is going to go next. This is what Cullen does: he creates a story, a world and the characters who inhabit it that feels so complete and fully realised. This is so completely interesting and dynamic in how we see everything coming together. This is phenomenally written with great characterisation and interior artwork that perfectly matches the story.