Exorsisters #8 // Review
Cate and Kate have come to their father to ask for his help. It's been a while since the three of them have been together. There's a lot of explaining to do. And since this is Cate and Kate, that explaining is going to involve demonology as writer Ian Boothby continues his strangely enjoyable Exorsisters. Once again, artist Gisèle Lagacé brings the story to the page with a clean comic impact aided by colorist Pete Pantazis. Boothby and company provide a bit more insight into Cate and Kate's background in another fun expedition into the dark and funny world lurking just around the corner of contemporary life.
Cate and Kate's dad has stumbled into the same business that his daughters are in. After a rather unfortunate incident with a couple of demon prostitutes, he saw an advertisement for his daughters' exorcism business. He turned over a new leaf and promptly became an exorcist who just happened to also be the wealthy head of a megachurch. Cate and Kate witness a church service led by their father and quickly find themselves a bit suspicious of his power. Things are not all as they appear. Cate and Kate are in real danger.
Boothby's wit is particularly sharp in a story of a father and his daughters. His instincts for comic dialogue keep the story moving from beginning to end. Boothby does an excellent job of bringing across family drama with a sparkling sense of dark comedy. Beyond the dramatic family comedy, the story itself isn't all that interesting, but the wit keeps it fresh from panel to panel with a pair of leads who are a great deal of fun to hang out with. The contrast between Cate and Kate makes for a particularly enjoyable dynamic between the two of them, their father and a few assorted demons who creep into page and panel.
Lagacé continues to cleanly cartoony, rendering a contemporary world filled with demons and black magic. The weird contrast between a world of darkness and Archie-like art feels as oddly appropriate as it has in the series's first seven issues. The subtle rendering of Cate and Kate is particularly well-articulated in chapter eight. The subtle differences in postures and reactions between the two sisters have a depth in nuanced family interactions. More than that, though, Lagacé has a striking handle on bringing to the page two different characters who look identical. When chance and circumstance dictate that Cate literally let her hair down, Lagacé allows a more perfectly identical appearance to shine through the characters' individual styles. She's able to do this without compromising that subtle difference between the two in action and reaction to the events of the issue. Once again, Pantazis gives the supernatural its own kind of radiance while lending depth to the drama, as seen in the characters' faces.
The mystery of Cate and Kate has been gradually lifting throughout the series thus far. There's a danger in starting any protagonist in the shadows. Once they become revealed in greater detail, they might come across as being a lot less intriguing. To Boohtby's credit, Kate and Cate are actually MORE appealing now that they've had eight issues to inhabit.
