Tuesday, May 26, 2009

First Issue Spectacular - Hellstorm: Prince of Lies

Oh the nineties, you tried so hard to be so cool and edgy, but you just ended up just being lame and dull. Case in point: Hellstorm: Prince of Lies



Hellstorm here, was a product of a good sized fad. At the time the whole dark and supernatural thing was huge, what with the successful Midnight Sons books, that a revival of Hellstorm seems pretty academic. The big problem with this book is that it panders to that fan base so much that it alienates any new fan who would dare pick up the issue.

The issue starts with the apparent birth of our titular hero, and then promptly focuses on some other random characters. For the majority of the book we follow around this guy:



Gabriel.

He's your standard 'down on his luck', alcoholic, retired demon hunter who is pulled back in the game when he gets an ominous anonymous letter about a Satanic Cult starting up.



Apparently, that was just the kick in the pants he needed to get back in the game, and spends the rest of the issue tracking down this cult.

Meanwhile, bums are being kidnapped throughout San Francisco to be used in Satanic sacrifice with guess who leading the charge:



So, of course, Gabriel infiltrates the cult (somehow), and ends up at the site of their latest sacrifice where the cult is about to cut into a homeless woman. Being our defacto hero, he leaps into action, and takes on the ringleader, Daimon Hellstrom.

Then it gets weird.

As Gabriel is getting his ass handed to him, who rides in to save him other than Daimon Hell-STORM.



Hellstorm defeats Hellstrom by making his trident appear in Hellstrom's chest, which sends Hellstrom back to hell. As it turns out, well... How about we let the man explain it in his own words:



Uh... Yeah.

Anyway, with this our titular hero has a newfound vigor for... something and flies off, but not before taunting our issues hero:



So yeah, apparently Gabriel is supposed to be the Son of God... I guess.

Alright, so the book is confusing, over-reaching, with muddled art and no clear purpose, this couldn't have lasted all that long, right?

*Checks the Interwebs*

TWENTY-ONE ISSUES?!?!

Ugh.... Stupid nineties...

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