In Hell We Fight! #1 // Review
A strangely eclectic group of four people meet up for some ice cream. In Hell. They don’t know each other really well, but they’re in for an adventure. They’re hoping to take over an ice cream truck, but they’ll get a bit more than they were expecting in the first issue of In Hell We Fight! Writer John Layman begins his latest tale with the aid of Argentine artist Jok. It’s a quick-paced fantasy horror adventure set in a fun kind of hell that opens up a lot of different possibilities that could be really interesting to explore.
Midori was a big assassin with the Yakuza. She used to kill people. Now, she’s looking for ice cream. She has been joined in the task by a kid named Ernie Comstock. (Seems like a nice kid. Killed by a cursed ax. Such a tragedy.) Then there’s Xander. He died WAY back. Apparently, he went to Hell for killing too many frogs. (Layman opens the issue with that story. It’s a whole...thing...) There’s a demon kid who wants to tag along...and since he’s the son of a MAJOR demon in Hell, they might as well bring him along, right? They’re only going to steal from an ice cream truck. What’s the worst that could happen?
Layman’s weird cast of characters is fun by virtue of the sheer randomness of their backgrounds. The diversity of the ensemble makes for a fun dynamic for an adventure series. Layman starts them out small by trying to hijack an ice cream truck, but he clearly has MUCH bigger plans for them. Layman’s vision of Hell is interesting too. It’s not so much a place of suffering as it is a rural place that’s only slightly worse than the realm of the living.
Jok’s art is strangely exaggerated on nearly every page, but it gets its point across with ample style and emotional weight. Every character has a distinctly different poise and personality that Jok renders without any sense of undue amplification. Lines tend to be warped and jagged when they could be smooth, but this IS Hell. And Hell isn’t exactly pretty. Some of the demonic imagery occasionally hits the page with impressive depth and impact. As the opening issue lacks a whole lot of action, Jok isn’t given much of a chance to be expressive with the physical. There’s a great sense of emotion that comes across in the framing of the characters, their postures, and subtle changes in facial expressions that serve to give Jok’s visuals substantial appeal.
The fact that they’re expecting ice cream in Hell kind of suggests a delightfully weird vision of the afterlife that should be fun to follow as the series keeps going. As the series opens, it feels like it might have had more of an impact if it had spent a little more time with the characters in the ensemble prior to the adventure, but it may be a bit too early in the series to make that kind of judgment.
