Kiss Me, Satan #2

By Victor Gischler, Juan Ferreyra, & Eduardo Ferreyra

Dark Horse Comics are known for their fantastic horror books and the new mini-series, Kiss Me, Satan, is more than a worthy addition to this already excellent pedigree. However, the overall feel of KMS sets it apart from the pack. The book is humorous, mysterious, dark, and full of action; there’s a little bit of everything.

While the story felt somewhat typical in the first installment, it remained a great read. There were some interesting plot hooks introduced last month, but KMS #2 really kicked things into high gear. While we originally determined that the protagonist, Barnabus Black, was in the employ of a higher power, in issue #2 we get a hint that he may not even be human. The slight allusion to this point was subtle but effective, and really piqued my interest for further installments in this story. The aspect involving the werewolf clan and the coming heir is touched on in this issue, but the bulk of the book features a lot of great action. Kiss Me, Satan #2 was quite an exciting issue with plenty of fights and chase scenes that were perfectly executed. However, one of the greatest points of this latest installment was the humor found throughout. The characters constructed by Victor Gischler have some wonderful dialogue. The characters themselves are beginning to feel a lot funnier than they had in the first issue, and despite the grim and violent nature of this story, it works really well and makes the book that much more enjoyable; and really, it’s tough to go wrong when your book features ninja skeletons tearing down the street in a giant truck.

Fan-favorite artist Juan Ferreyra does some of his most amazing work to date in KMS #2. Every panel is magnificently detailed with a great sense of realism. Each scene is fully realized in terms of even minor details, and the action sequences have a very fluid, dynamic feel. The colors, assisted by Eduardo Ferreyra, are absolutely fantastic; they make every page feel incredibly lush and deep with perfect lighting effects and deep tones that are perfectly blended together to further enhance the inherent realism of the illustrations. As we’ve seen from Ferreyra in the past, the violent scenes are similarly well-detailed in vividly bloody gore. This aspect doesn’t have a sense of extremism or shock-value, but instead fits quite well with the simultaneously grim horror feel and the abundance of humor.

Kiss Me, Satan is a great horror book laced with humor, dark and otherwise. The dialogue is excellent and makes the story even more fun than it could have been. Even so, the plot is developing at a good pace for a limited mini-series, and there are some really interesting mysteries yet to be concluded. However, the artwork is sure to shock fans of any genre; this is simply very high quality work in every respect. While there are a number of really good horror books from Dark Horse, this one is presented in a way that makes it feel different from the others.