Blood Of The Demon #2
By Leroy Douresseaux
May 21, 2005 - 22:01
DC Comics
Writer(s): John Byrne and Will Pfeifer
Penciller(s): John Byrne
Inker(s): Nekros
Cover Artist(s): John Byrne
40 pp., color, $2.50
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The first issue of BLOOD OF THE DEMON, the latest series incarnation of Jack Kirby’s popular character, Etrigan the Demon, showed promise in spite of a few bumps. Issue two is promised fulfilled. See The Demon go toe to toe with an elder god! See Jason Blood put his foot down! – as he and Etrigan come to a new understanding about their relationship. See the Demon spit fire!
Byrne has always had an affinity for Jack Kirby creations and co-creations. That really showed in his run on the mid-90’s New Gods series and its re-launch as Jack Kirby’s Fourth World. As was the case with those two late series, BotD crackles with energy, power, and fire, just as a Kirby original would. Byrne smartly plots the series in two ways: one lets him draw half of an issue as a monster comic with lots of horror action and the second way allows him to build the internal logic of this series. Will Pfeifer’s dialogue flows right along with the action. Even pages with lots of character exposition move along nicely because there is hardly a moment when Pfeifer puts too many words in a character’s mouth.
As for the art, Byrne’s pencils are at their best here when he draws Etrigan tearing across the pages moving from one panel of naked aggression to the next, and Nekros is the perfect compliment for the tone Byrne is establishing for this series. Together they create rip-roaring monster comic art that seems out of place in a market that prefers realism (or the superhero comic fan’s version of it). Nekros also solidifies the elements that are wanting in Byrne’s Doom Patrol, facial expressions and figure drawing. And the final splash page, featuring a special guest star, is alone worth the price of admission. B+
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