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SPEAK OF THE DEVIL #3

By Gilbert Hernandez

Dark Horse Comics 

Reviewed by PAUL BROWN 

So, in this issue, things suddenly start moving plot-wise, and our characters’ perverse motivations perhaps become clearer-or do they ? Val is suddenly usurped in her role of Devillish voyeur,  Linda maybe isn’t the goody-goody stepmom we may have thought she was, and Paul…well, just may be the biggest unhinged nutter of the lot.

I like the fact that Gilbert’s cartoon style artwork belies the adult themes always inherent in his storylines.

What’s at the heart of this seeming teen drama is, as often in Gilbert’s work, dark, suppressed sexual desires. I like the way he uses the revealed connection between Val’s doll in the drawer/Paul’s dead baby memory as some shared psychological trait, the fetishisation of the Devil mask, and it’s effect on our main protagonists, and the underlying sublimated sexual lusts/ motivations of the characters that are at the heart of the story. We’ve even got the dramatic cliffhanger ending this issue, as the aforementioned sexual undercurrents that have bubbled away come bursting to the fore. Although, considering we’re only at the halfway point, issue-wise, it’ll be very interesting to see just how things pan out in Number 4.

 I think it’ll be interesting to read this as a whole as opposed to episodic issues, as I think it’s likely it’ll read better as a story. Certainly in the form of a six-issue series, I find it’s a very quick read per issue. I don’t think the format necessarily works well for Gilbert, and i’m not suprised to see he has recently published stories solely in the Graphic Novel format/Single Book form( “Sloth”, “Chance in Hell”), which certainly suits his type of work better.

I’m wondering also if this may be a reason for The Hernandez’s Love & Rockets moving to a yearly,Graphic Novel format in 2008. Remembering the early issues 64 page format allowed them to do long single contained stories (”Bem”, “Mechanics”,”100 Rooms”), perhaps this makes sense and is the right move for Gilbert.

 But I digress. Another enjoyable Gilbert story is developing, thankfully at a smarter pace than the first two issues, and I look forward to it’s progression. As a last note, I paticularly loved the opening chapter page-the weight of those brooding clouds, the dead space between them and the houses, and the scale of the image with our solitary protagonist.Not to mention the neat little trick with the moon. Brilliantly and beautifully rendered. 

Paul Brown