In a bid to broaden the number of comics we cover at ComicsXF, we give you, the reader, these mini reviews of some recent releases.
Out of Alcatraz #1
W: Christopher Cantwell | A/C/L: Tyler Crook | P: Oni Press
Remember Alcatraz, one of those Lost-esque mystery box shows, about time-traveling Alcatraz inmates and guards starring Sam Neill and Hurley from Lost? Well, this isn’t like that, and while I maybe was looking for a little more of a sci-fi/supernatural angle, what we get from Out of Alcatraz #1 is still pretty fun. Chronicling the adventures/misadventures of a pair of inmates as they escape from the infamous prison in the 1960s, there’s hints of something bigger and darker going on, making it more than just a straightforward crime drama. Christopher Cantwell does a good job of quickly and firmly establishing personalities for the two escapees and their “handler.” But the real draw here is the art from Tyler Crook, who turns in lush images that look like watercolors but are still packed with detail and nuance.
— Austin Gorton
Let This One Be a Devil #1
W: James Tynion IV & Steve Foxe | A: Piotr Kowalski | C: Brad Simpson | L: Tom Napolitano | P: Dark Horse | Backup story by Rachel Deering, Jesse Lonergan and Aditya Bidikar
The Jersey Devil is my neighbor. By that I mean he lives next door, borrows my power tools without returning them, eats my livestock and is always swooping, swooping, swooping.
No, by that I mean I live in a developed part of the New Jersey Pinelands, in the county where the legend of Mrs. Leeds’ 13th child was born. So I was excited to read a take on ol’ JD from one of the modern masters of horror comics, James Tynion IV, his Razorblades magazine partner, Steve Foxe, and Piotr Kowalski, whose art has ranged from the disturbing Come Into Me to the horror-comedy Where Monsters Lie.
The team tells a story in two halves, each set in the past. In 1909, bookish Henry Naughton, forced to return to his family’s rural home after the death of his father, ventures out to see what’s attacking their chickens and sets eyes on a frightening, demonic beast. In 1735, Deborah Leeds curses a difficult delivery as the child quickly metamorphoses into a horror.
While the Jersey Devil is the reason for the season, the book appears to really be about Henry and how he doesn’t fit in in South Jersey. The young writer is patronized by his mother, insulted by his brother and harassed to varying degrees by the townsfolk as he tries to figure out what he saw that night at the henhouse. It’s a story of alienation that Tynion tells well, because he’s told it before, in Blue Book, in Department of Truth, in Something Is Killing the Children. This is not to diminish the work, but to say you can be confident in knowing what you’ll get from it, like a band made up of rhythm guitarists.
For the real monster riffs, check out the black-and-white backup story about another cursed child drawn by Jesse Lonergan. You’ll believe formalism and free jazz can be the same thing!
— Dan Grote
Buy Let This One Be a Devil here.
The Lucky Devils #3
W: Charles Soule | A: Ryan Browne | C: Ryan Browne and Kevin Knipstein | L: Christopher Crank | P: Image
Hell is heating up for lesser demons Rake and Collar as, shortly after being promoted to the fourth circle of Hell, they are forced into taking a huge risk to hold onto their ill-gotten gains. Not that their humans Starr and Cam care; while everyone else around them’s lives burn to the ground, they’re moving on up courtesy of their hardworking devils.
Charles Soule and Ryan Browne are cooking with gas on this series. Every detail they add to this fictional world, like Rake’s slam poetry past, is effortlessly funny and enriches each character and consequently the story as a whole. The depiction of hell throughout the first three issues has morphed from uncanny resemblance to our world into a full-on mirror of our late-stage capitalist world. With some of the pitiful content I see on social media nowadays, slam poetry nights in hell are beginning to seem idyllic, but I digress.
Even though I could stay and luxuriate in the brilliance of the setting Soule and Browne have brought to life, the plot is also great. This issue introduces an element of jeopardy that promises to ratchet up the stakes, tying Starr and Cam’s fates to a level of hellacious bureaucracy unimaginable in even their worst nightmares.
— Jake Murray
Falling in Love on the Path to Hell #7
W: Gerry Duggan | A: Garry Brown | C: Chris O’Halloran | L: Joe Sabino | P: Image
Rejoice! Gerry Duggan and Garry Brown’s tale of two warriors’ unexpected romance in the afterlife (the premise really is just all in the title) has returned after a six-month hiatus. The real hook of this series is the sensual but quite sweet romance between the cutthroat killers American bandit McWraith and Japanese samurai Asami, so I was excited to see them back on page again.
You can tell that in the six-month gap, Garry Brown has been putting in work. His beautifully detailed pencilling overlaid with sketchy inks combined with Chris O’Halloran’s varied, almost floral arrangement-esque color palette gives this book a really distinctive style that you can just luxuriate in. The three consecutive double-page spreads of McWraith and Asami balletically yet mercilessly tearing through the hell demons is a particular highlight. It’s not all action, though. This issue sets up the plot and character battle lines brilliantly for the next arc. Great to have ’em back.
— Jake Murray
Buy Falling in Love on the Path to Hell #7 here.
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.
Austin Gorton also reviews older issues of X-Men at the Real Gentlemen of Leisure website, co-hosts the A Very Special episode podcast, and likes Star Wars. He lives outside Minneapolis, where sometimes, it is not cold. Follow him @austingorton.bsky.social.
Dan Grote is the editor and publisher of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Paul Winston Wisdom. Follow him @danielpgrote.bsky.social.
Jake Murray spends far too much time wondering if the New Mutants are OK. When he's not doing that, he can be found talking and writing about comics with anyone who will listen. Follow him @stealthisplanet.bsky.social.
