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SPEAK OF THE DEVIL #6(of 6)by Gilbert HernandezDark Horse Comics 

 So, finally, we reach the end of the road. Anyone who’s been attentive enough will know i’ve reviewed the previous four issues of this series(Uncle Tel reviewed issue 1), and along the way felt the road we’ve travelled in this series hasn’t entirely been a smooth one.What started as a quirky tale of a teenage voyeur in a devil mask, suddenly veered off course into a much darker story of a trio of serial killers. In my previous reviews i had suggested that the sudden plot shift halfway through the series was seemingly jarring, and felt at odds with the development of the main characters up til that point.I had also felt that the very extreme violence of issues 4 and 5 was somewhat excessive and perhaps gratuitous.Certainly shocking and uncomfortable, and rightly so, but there was another feeling I had that didn’t sit well upon reading the second part of this series.What I was aware of was a certain sense of discomfort gnawing at me regarding Speak of the Devil. I was hoping for answers and a decent conclusion with the final issue.Did I get it ? Well, here’s the answer… 

Firstly, there’s certainly a conclusion to the story plot-wise that ,on the whole makes sense. Our protagonists basically reap what they’ve sowed, and in that respect, Gilbert draws the only real conclusion to such wanton violence and mayhem one can expect.No one escapes the horror that is set in motion halfway through our story.Unfortunately, that’s the final answer I was expecting, and within that is the thing that’s been gnawing away since the end of issue 3. Because the final truth of this series is that at it’s heart is, ultimately, a bleak,nauseous nihilism. Even the only seemingly decent character is implicated, and has to resort to killing(one can argue out of love,and mercy, but the final panel suggests the tedious possibility of the pattern repeated). In the end, there’s nothing redeeming in this series, and it saddens me to think that this is Gilbert’s conclusion here. 

 It’s as if he’d decided to piss inky misery all over the pages for our miserable untertainment,or as his artistic take on the human condition. In that respect, it’s an adolescent conclusion, and what ultimately made me finally sick of this series. Because in the past, he has tackled such themes with a maturity , humanity, and a compassion for his characters and their predicaments. Here there’s maybe perhaps a certain tired contempt going on, or a make it up by numbers-can’t be bothered-it’s for Dark Horse attitude. I don’t know. What I do know is that, read as a whole, this series is bleak, ultimately depressing, cold and heartless.You may say,  well what do you expect? It’s about serial killers.And you have  a point. As does Gilbert maybe.Hence the conclusion reached.  But perhaps I expect more from an artist who has certainly produced in the past two of the greatest stories in the comic strip medium, in my opinion  (Heartbreak  Soup, and Human Diastrophism ). In the end I just felt depressed, sad and sickened. It  almost made me want to read a Superhero comic. 

 Almost.  

 I really shouldn’t expect so much, maybe. 

Disappointed Brown