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THE MARQUIS: DEVIL'S REIGN: HELL'S COURTESAN #2
Recommended (7/10)
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Oni Press
Writer/Artist: Guy Davis
Letters: Vince Locke
Editor: James Lucas Jones
Price: $2.95 US/$4.50 CAN |
Though I love Davis organic artwork and gothic cityscapes, I found his previous The Marquis stories to be a bit impenetrable. Atmosphere and mystery were emphasized over plot and script, I found. Hell's Courtesan, though, is a different matter. This shorter story still boasts depth and a chilling tone, but I found it much more engaging, due in part to a strong subplot with one of the book's more grounded figures.
Bodies are beginning to turn up throughout Venisalle again, and the murders are being attributed to the deadly Marquis, punisher of the sinful, once again. But some of the killings aren't his handiwork, and he discovers a bizarre demon that inhabits the body of a young prostitute is to blame. Meanwhile, de General, intent on avenging the men killed by the Marquis, finds himself questioning the wisdom of the Inquisitors.
Something nasty lives inside the part of Davis's mind that handles visual design. The demons he crafts to do battle with the Marquis are bizarre, disturbing amalgams of flesh and bone and teeth. The most surreal and striking design, though, is of the "Courtesan." It's corruption given form, but there's a haunting, almost mesmerizing beauty to its distinctly female form.
Easily my favorite aspect of the story was the subplot revolving around de General. His disgust with the system in which he works is beginning to bubble up to the surface more, and it's easy to relate to him. He's our human portal into the bizarre world of Venisalle, where demons run wild masked as people, and the very worst the human heart has to offer rules, masked in righteousness. De General's may be an antogonist in the book, but he's no villain. His hatred of the Marquis stems now from the loss of his men, and again, that's easy to understand.
There's an interesting parallel at play in this book. The Marquis kills the demonic, and Hell's Courtesan does as well. So why do they end up in conflict? The difference lies in the intent. The Marquis is out to punish, but the Courtesan is satisfying its own cravings... its own vices.
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