The first thing to note about Purgatory Pub is that it is very theological. If you’re someone that’s defensive when it comes to your beliefs then you might find this to be a challenging read. Not that you shouldn’t still checking it out, but you will be challenged. To sum up the story Purgatory Pub follows an angel and a demon that are friends. They drink at the same pub and they vent about work. They’re job, is to be the angel and demon on your shoulder though they don’t work across from each other. There are a lot of angels and demons doing the same job and so they’ve never been paired up though it is eluded that the day is coming.
There’s another storyline running throughout the book about Lucifer and of course God and Michael play a role in that story as well.
For me this book was hard to get into and it wasn’t the point/counter-point discussion of religion, it was the fact that that was the only discussion. Sure it offers the setting of a bar and at one point a rock show, but that’s it. I didn’t personally find any of it to be humorous or there to be the presentation of new ideas. I think it’s meant to come across as taboo, but when you present it as the norm, as the reader I then accept it as the norm.
The writing is okay. The plot is pushed along by the dialogue and the dialogue walks that fine line of almost being exposition. You get a pretty strong sense for both characters, but I can’t say that I liked either of them. I didn’t dislike them either; I just didn’t care one way or another. That’s another reason it was hard to get into this book, if you don’t care about the characters than you’re not likely to care about their journey.
The art is definitely the best part. It’s in all black & white with grey scale and it works for the story. There’s a constant contrast of Heaven and Hell shown as they’re in walking distance from each other. There’s a couple of occasions in which the main characters are in large crowds and the crowd is void of detail, but it works because it doesn’t overload the panel and makes the character and their dialogue easy to spot/read.
Some might find Purgatory Pub interesting, but again for me I was just hit over the head with the same subject for the entire book. I view it like this; it’s Coke vs Pepsi. You can replace every reference for Heaven and Hell with Coke and Pepsi in this story. That’s one-hundred and thirty pages of the battle between Coke and Pepsi and frankly after that two things happen A) you don’t want to hear it anymore and B) you definitely don’t want to talk about it either. That’s how I view it, others could be looking for that outlet and this might be the answer.
Score: 3/5
Writer/Artist/Creator: Gabriel Dunston Publisher: Fire Lights Media Price: $15.00 Website