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INFERNO: HELLBOUND #2
Mildly Recommended (5/10)
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Image Comics/Top Cow Productions
Writers: Marc Silvestri & David Wohl
Pencils: Marc Silvestri
Inks: Batt, Jonathan Sibal, Jason Gorder, Danny Miki & Crimelab
Colors: Steve Firchow & John Starr
Letters: Dreamer Design
Editor: Renae Geerlings
Price: $2.50 US/$4.00 CAN |
I really wasn't expecting all that much from Inferno: Hellbound. I had no idea what the premise was, and given its superficial appearance as a number of previous "Kewl" efforts from Top Cow, I had no interest either. Much to my surprise, I was met with a brilliant premise. With that foundation before me, I read on, anxious to find more of such strong potential. Instead, I discovered a script and artwork in need of stronger degree of clarity.
A gateway to Hell has opened up in Jerusalem, and demons are creeping into our world as a result. The doorway must be closed, but the key is on the other side. That means someone must pass through it, but even before death, only the wicked are permitted in Hell. The U.S. government sets out to recruit a squadron of the worst criminals to retrieve the key -- a squadron to be led by an ex-military man appropriately named Dante.
The gritty, dark tone of Silvestri's artwork certainly suits the tone of this story. Visually, he mixes the supernatural elements with military ones nicely, just like James Cameron mixed military and sci-fi riffs in Aliens on the silver screen back in the 1980s. The problem here lies with character definition. Far too many of these characters look exactly alike. There are only three character designs at play here: ruggedly handsome hero-men, ugly brutes and lethally sexy babes. If it weren't for the crowd scenes, I'd think that there were only three characters in the whole book.
Mind you, that lack of variation in character design might not have been as big a problem had the dialogue done a better job of differentiating among them. this issue focuses on the gathering of the forces -- exclusively so, unfortunately -- so one might expect those forces to be identified a bit more clearly. I realize that the nature of the plot and the tone of the story in general means quite a few of them are simply cannon fodder, that doesn't mean that some effort to at least name the characters, let alone develop them, shouldn't be made.
Despite the book's problems, though, its premise is exciting and clever while being somewhat simple at the same time. There's a chilling, unpredictable tone to the book that keeps the reader turning pages, desperate to discover what happens next.
Note: This comic book was not among this week's new releases.
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