Purgatori #01

Purgatori #01

Dynamite Entertainment 2021

Written by Ray Fawkes

Illustrated by Alvaro Sarraseca

Coloured by Salvatore Aiala

Lettered by Tom Napolitano

Purgatori’s really living the vampire demon life. She’s got Lilith’s nasty mind worm eating her willpower. She’s going bug-nuts crazy. And now, there are a bunch of witches targeting her with their weird body-snatching schemes. Clearly, it’s time for some quiet introspection and careful planning, right? Get ready for bloody mayhem instead!

I like that destiny isn’t one single path as is described here. Destiny has choices attached depending on which path you take and we are presented with three different paths here that she could take. The idea is phenomenal and to see that it all depends on the choices she makes, influenced or otherwise, and it doesn’t take up that much space it’s wham bam thank you Sam and we’re off the story at hand. I really like this book and this character and what we see here is only glimpsed at in the previous arc with her and Vampirella. This is going to delve much deeper into who she is and what she’s about and I’m excited for this to happen, plus if she’s to rid herself of Lilith’s curse she’s going to need to concentrate and with this new threat presenting itself the chances that literally all hell breaking loose could actually happen.

I am 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 exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a marvellous job in establishing their personalities.

I greatly appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers begin to emerge and grow. I like the way that we see the layers open up new avenues to be explored. What these avenues do, explored or not, is add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story and this we see through the Monastery, the witches and with Lilith’s worm are all great examples of these avenues that have been opened up. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

I am a big fan of the interiors here. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of work in the attention to detail is truly wondrous. How we see backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments as well as 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 utterly marvellous. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The creativity and imagination that we see is phenomenal and most remarkable is seeing all those folks inside Purgatori’s head being represented. This ties into how we see the colour work as well. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works and how to maximise its effects.

​

Purgatori is a phenomenal character and it’s great to see just how much so through the eyes of these creators. She doesn’t get nearly the attention she deserves and she needs to play a more prevalent role in the Dynamite Universe as she’s such a complicated, complex and all consuming kind of character. Ray’s writing is impeccable and the characterisation is flawless while the interiors bring this all to life exceptionally well.