The first issue of Inferno: Hellbound gave me the impression that this series had potential, but the writing was a little weak and the artwork didn't really click with me. Honestly, I figured that my opinions would lower with further issues, and that it was another "close but no cigar" for Top Cow when it comes to my tastes. Then I read Inferno: Hellbound #3, and had to go back and check out #2 as well, and what do you know? I like it. I like it a lot. The art still wouldn't have been my first choice, but it serves its purpose, and Wohl and Silvestri build a solid cast in the second issue and set up some truly creepy and dark moments in the third.
Though Inferno is playing out along all the cliched lines, it's doing so very well. The sinister corporate figure who knows more than he's telling, the honorable and skilled leader who has a fatal flow that lets him fit in with these evil bastards, the shifty loyalties of the various team members, it's all right out of the military science-fiction/horror playbook. But it reads like a good action movie should, with characters that are entertaining, suitably bad and dangerous, even if they're not 100% believable. I mean, this is a book about murderers and corrupted soldiers being sent into Hell to fight demons... how much realism can we expect?
There's a darkness in the book that is welcome, and not unexpected from Top Cow's line. John Dante's revenge on the last killer he's been tracking, and the killer's habits, are pretty dark, and the way he tests his potential team for toughness and skill is a great example of black humor. In addition, when they actually start going to Hell, things get really interesting. One expects in a comic like this one that plenty of the soldiers are going to bite it, and opening up with a death to establish why the men have to be bad to get in is a great trick. In addition, the vision of Hell is pretty strong, as we really get a view of it in the third issue.
Which brings me to the visuals. Marc Silvestri, as expected, doesn't make it past the second issue on pencils (none of the Image founders are known for their speed), but Billy Tan, working with a familiar roster of inkers, steps in and provides a fairly seamless transition. It's Top Cow house style, not always my favorite but it works well enough. And Tan actually gets some really great work done on issue three, from the sense of being surrounded and opening up with heavy weapons that is crucial to this type of story to the first splash of Hell, a barren plain with random angry lightning striking down. In addition, the appearance of ghostly riders on the ridge, just waiting quietly, is truly eerie, a great moment for the series.
There are some questions unanswered in Inferno, such as why these criminals don't try to make a break for it earlier, but it's referenced in the second issue and answered somewhat in issue three, as we see that some of the team may give in to their baser impulses and lose not only their place in the mission but something far more important as well. There's also some great character drama in the third issue between Grace and the dead spirit of her father, again a bit of a cliche but well-used to establish character history and motivation. Inferno is reminiscent of Aliens or Predator, a classic military team up against a supernatural menace that it doesn't know how to deal with, and it looks like the creative team is poised to take advantage of all the potential in the concept.
