Comics / Comic Reviews / More Comics

Nancy in Hell

By Colin Andersen
August 10, 2010 - 21:05

WARNING: THIS IS A VERY MATURE-RATED BOOK AND THIS REVIEW WILL BE DISCUSSING PIECES OF IT THAT SOME MIGHT FIND UNSETTLING

Well now here’s a…different book. If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer was trapped in Hell, Nancy in Hell is pretty close to what you’d get. This is one of those series where what the title says is exactly what you get. El Torres and Juan Jose Ryp bring us the story of girl, the titular Nancy, a girl killed by a murderer only to wake up in Hell, understandably confused and upset. She quickly gets the lay of the land though and finds to be occupied by not only demons, but also other humans, some with their minds intact and others that are “Braindeads,” who are essentially zombies. The readers quickly come to see that maybe this isn’t exactly what everyone think of when they think of Hell. There are some decidedly interesting twists to the traditional idea of Hell.

I have to give writer El Torres credit for managing to give this issue much more plot than I was expecting. Honestly, I was only expecting this to be some bloody fan service but, while there is plenty of that, there is a clearly defined plot and one that has a pretty interesting twist introduced at the end no less. At points, it is downright cerebral with one character, Phil, actually having some pretty profound thoughts. I was pleased to find myself actually engaged in the story, even if it didn’t really kick in until around the halfway mark of the book. I actually found the characters quite interesting overall. Though Nancy isn’t exactly the most original character, she is a fun one and one I don’t mind following for four issues. The plot does sometimes fall back on being unnecessarily mature, but that’s only to be expected and, honestly, I doubt anyone would want to go into this book with it being any other way.

As  I said before, there is  plenty of blood and provocative shots of the lead buxom blonde and it’s all illustrated rather beautifully by Juan Jose Ryp. As a reader, you really do feel as though you’ve been moved into Hell while you’re reading this. Ryp’s art is stylistically similar to that of Frank Quitely, and for once, at least for me, that is not a bad thing. His characters sometimes appear in strange positions or look rather blobby, and not all of his women look as sexy as they are supposed to, but overall he does as excellent job bring this world to “life” (bad pun intended). He especially skilled at rendering horrifying landscapes and the demons that populate it. I really enjoyed scenery probably more than anything else in this issue. There’s some pretty disturbing stuff in here (well, only if burning stillborn babies bother you) and it is clearly a place no human would ever want to be.

I have to say, I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed Nancy in Hell. It is very much an 80’s throwback and there is a whole lot of the same stuff that horror movies from that time frequently used and yet, Torres and Ryp were able to add their own twists to this formula that really work. It’s not the deepest book out there, and it isn’t meant to be, though I guarantee you it is deeper than you were likely expecting. It’s not perfect by any means, but if you’re looking for something to satisfy that blood-loving, horror fan in you, then definitely pick this up.

Rating: 8 /10

Last Updated: January 17, 2025 - 08:20