Review: The End is Totally Nigh #3
I’m coming in late on this series, but from what I can tell from this issue it’s a “chosen one” style of story involving a young girl that’s hunting demons and being guided by possibly angelic forces. Is it the most original idea you’ve heard? Probably not, but the thing about comics and stories of this nature is that the execution of the series is the reason to check it out.
The story begins in the present as a man and woman descend on an elevator in to Hades. There’s a rocky looking two headed demon (the one on the cover) awaiting its sacrifice and they’ve come to check in on everything. We cut to a day earlier and find a man named Hero sitting in a diner waiting for his kind of sorta date Jane, which is in the bathroom. Jane is the star of the show and currently she’s receiving her next instructions from Ramona, a curvy red-head. Jane is to leave town and hitch a ride with a specific trucker and head to a town named Halesbells (love the double meaning in the name). She protests, but as she turns back around Ramona is gone. Jane heads back out to sit with Hero who saw Jane exorcised a room full of second graders before his eyes earlier in the day. They celebrate with pie and sex, but Jane follows orders and leaves the next morning. I think she took his whiskey to, good for her.
While I didn’t quite have a feel for the different characters, several of the plot lines were made clear in this issue. The writing was doing its job if someone can start on the third issue and figure that out. There’s Jane’s storyline which obviously ties in with I’m guessing angels since it’s a demon story. Then there’s Hero and his friends storyline; they could be fighting against the demons or working with them that part wasn’t quite revealed and lastly was the demon storyline. All of them work very well together and you’re able to see the different plots weaving in and out of one another. The dialog was choppy at times and I didn’t really like the diner conversation since it wasn’t romantic or even believable since there was not discretion with their demon talks, but otherwise I enjoyed the actual story and the ending which was a big surprise.
The art is decent, but I found myself going back and forth on it. There are times when it’s not very consistent and I think that’s what makes me like and dislike it. The characters and backgrounds are detailed and fit the story, but then there are times that the character faces don’t match up. In particular their eyes were very inconsistent. Then there’s the panel layout which was great. The usage of the panel break gave one piece of art the feeling of motion and in general all of the layouts were great.
I actually enjoyed this issue. Sure it reminded me a lot of things like Buffy and Supernatural, but I think Jane is in interesting character. The fact that she’s basically alone is a different touch on the genre as well. If you’re a fan of demon fighting stories or the two TV shows I mentioned previously, then I would definitely recommend checking this series out. I enjoyed this third issue so much that I want to go back and check out the first two because of it.
Score: 3/5
Writer/Creator: Kara Barrett
Artist: J.C. Grande
Publisher: Aria Comics and Alterna Comics
Price: $1.99
Website: TheEndisTotallyNigh.bigcartel.com
