The first time I read through Kiss Me, Satan #1, it reminded me of two things: books like Ten Grand which mix different genres (in TG’s case its case-supernatural elements with a dark crime/mystery) and the bizarreness of video games like Shadows of the Damned. This particular book molds together crime and supernatural elements…with werewolves. Although it’s probably not as bad as Twilight or Teen Wolf (I couldn’t tell you since luckily I haven’t seen either), it’s not hard for a story like this to seem pretty unoriginal. A pack of werewolves runs the underbelly of New Orleans. It’s your typical mob or gang type of operation that includes prostitution and protection. In the beginning, we meet Barnabus Black, who’s trying to do “good” by ‘the man upstairs’ to get into heaven. He gets chased by a group of demons who seem to be going after an amulet he wears around his neck. It has a goat’s head on it and some symbols, pretty clearly some type of demonic symbol. Why Barnabus has it or what its importance is isn’t explained. He ends up evading them which includes dropping a piano on the group and has a chat with Jules. Jules is a cigar-smoking cherub who gives assignments to Barnabus in order for him to get into heaven.
We then meet Cassian Steel and his wife Meredith, who are having a baby. Cassian is the leader of their pack, and we also meet his brother, right-hand man, or both (we’re not told his name or exactly his status in Cassian’s pack). Verona, a witch, comes over to their home. It is customary for a witch to look into a mother’s stomach to predict qualities about the baby. Most importantly though, is that it has a lycanthrope gene-meaning, the baby will be a werewolf. However, Verona claims that this baby does not have a lycanthrope gene, therefore will not be able to succeed his father’s reign as pack leader. Cassian wants to wait until the baby is born to take action regarding the next in line to take his spot.
He doesn’t trust his second-in-command because he thinks he’ll tell the baby’s fate to the rest of the pack. Cassian then transforms into a werewolf and tears his friend’s throat out. Cassian then realizes that Verona and a few other witches who were with her also know that the baby will not be a werewolf, so he sends one of his men to kill them. Guess who he runs into? Yup, you guessed it-Barnabus. This was his assignment-to protect the witches. He ends up using a silver bullet and blows the werewolf’s head off. Obviously this angers Cassian, so the issue ends with him ordering the death of Barnabus.
Usually I wouldn’t give away the whole story in a review, but I think it isn’t a disservice to anyone who reads this. It was very anticlimactic and incredibly predictable. Even if I hadn’t said what happened, I feel like anyone could have connected the dots. Where some books like Revival introduces many characters and weaves their stories together incredibly interestingly and unpredictably, this one fails to do that. There are a few characters, and their paths cross very predictably.
The art I felt was very good, but fell flat for me in the action sequences. It didn’t match the intensity for what was going on in my opinion. All in all, if you’re really into werewolves, pick this up. If not, it’s a pretty easy pass, at least until the story gets more interesting.
Score: 2/5
Writer: Victor Gischler Artist: Juan Ferreyra Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 9/18/2013