Lucky Devils #7 // Review
There’s a guy watching a video in his office in Milwaukee. He works for Garbloyd Financial Systems. He thinks that he’s alone. And in a sense he’s right...until the portal opens-up and a devil pops-up to give him a really strong pitch towards doing something really, really evil. The guy doesn’t really have much to say about the matter before he dies of an apparent heart attack. Things are getting worse fo r the devil in question in Lucky Devils #7. Writer Charles Soule continues his reasonably entertaining horror fantasy serial with artist Ryan Browne.
It looks pretty bad for Onion Screw. He’s been accused of killing a four-zed supervisor in his downline. On top of that, he’s been accused of falsifying records for his human. He’s been hiding all the good he’s been doing. So naturally, he hasn’t got much time...so even though he’s been the personal corrupting agent for this guy in Milwauee for a long time, he hasn’t exactly had a chance to introduce himself, but he hasn’t got much time, so he lays a little too much into him and he dies. Now the portal’s opening up in Milwaukee and Onion Screw is in even MORE trouble...
There’s a crude appeal in the overall run of a series that really could be done in a less horror-based format without losing a whole lot of the essence of the story. There’s an appeal to creating a blue collar crime/supernatural horror hybrid. There’s a balance that needs to be maintained, though. Lean too far in the direction of a traditional crime thriller and the magic feels like a gimmick. At times it feels like the demons and devils milieu is only a stylistic thing that doesn’t reach far enough into the heart of the story.
The art goes a long way towards making the action feel authentically weird. The visual reality of demons jumping around in crazy slapstick horror makes it all feel quite well-articulated on a very fundamental level that seems to be moving the overall feel of the series in the right direction. The weirdly cartoonish horror holds just enough of its own appeal to keep everything moving from cover to cover. Ryan Browne does a good job of amping everything up way over the top. Browne isn’t taking any of it too seriously. He’s got a solid handle on the humor, which makes it all feel quite well-executed.
There’s real potential in a deeper exploration of humanity and the horrors that it’s capable of. Lucky Devils could really explore some of that inmuch greater detail if it was pointed in the right direction, but as it is,..the creative team seems content to let it be silly and crude and fun. And that’s fien, but one. gets the feeling that it would be a lot more satisfying if it was just willing to explore just a bit more depth. There’s some really striking social commentary lurking just below the surface of the series. It’s too bad that they aren’t reaching too far in the right direction.
