”From Lafayette Cemetery to the bayous, Kiss Me, Satan will take you on a thrilling, and visually stunning ride around New Orleans, with gloriously gory images that horror connoisseurs will revel in.”
For fans of the paranormal and horror buffs, Dark Horse Comics’ current offering Kiss Me, Satan has it all. It is loaded with action; there are witches, demons, vampires, werewolves and a fallen angel, as well as some other very cool inhuman beings. My favourite? Ninja corpses.
The story is by novelist and comic book writer Victor Gischler (Clown Fatale, Noir), an Edgar Award nominee who is also currently writing an epic fantasy novel being published in serial form entitled Ink Mage. Gischler provides the intriguing and entertaining narrative intertwined with witty dialogue, while Argentine artist Juan Ferreyra, who dished up that unforgettable buffet of horror in Colder, creates the outstanding images that encompass the violence and terror – but also the beauty – of the Kiss Me, Satan world.
Together, Gischler and Ferreyra bring something fresh and sexy to the paranormal and horror landscape. You will love the characters that adorn the pages of this book: each equipped with a personal arsenal of kick-assery. From Lafayette Cemetery to the bayous, Kiss Me, Satan will take you on a thrilling, and visually stunning ride around New Orleans, with gloriously gory images that horror connoisseurs will revel in.
“Frankly, the partnership with Juan has been amazing. I can’t imagine anyone else doing what he’s done on this book,” says Gischler. “I gave Juan some guidelines and descriptions, but he really took matters into his own hands and came up with some fantastic designs for all the characters.”
In #1 of Kiss Me, Satan we learn of an impending birth in the city’s werewolf pack run by Cassian Steele, the anxious father-to-be. He reminds me a bit of Alcide from True Blood but you can also think of him as a kind of Tony Montana (but minus the chainsaw because, you know, he’s a werewolf). A witch named Verona has threatened his position in the pack (she was just doing her job, really) and there is literally nothing he won’t do to hang on to it. How far he will go is revealed in #2 and it is quite shocking.
Verona is simply one extremely cool witch who possesses the all-seeing ‘Eye of Fates’ not to mention some awesome eyeball finger-bling. She can also bring stone angels in graveyards to life with a simple touch, and along with her provocative trio of apprentices, Dax, Liddy and Zell, who can cast some wicked spells of their own, they find themselves on the run from the barrage of monsters Cassian has sent after them. But even these badass witches need protection, which is provided by Barnabus Black: a mysterious, sexy, coffee and doughnut loving fallen angel, whose newest mission from upstairs is to protect the ladies at all costs.
As to how Gischler managed to fit in so much into one story, he says: “That was really what I wanted to do. I wanted readers to really feel like this is a fully realized and fully populated world. I want readers to feel they half-way know this world already … but with plenty of room left for surprises.” There are evident nods to Lovecraft in the comic, “maybe unconsciously some Poe in there” as well, Gischler says, “but really, the whole thing is a big soup of influences.”
Ferreyra excels in drawing action scenes and he does an outstanding job of bringing a human aspect to these paranormal beings by capturing their emotions with a few strokes of a pencil. He also brings a subliminal aspect and spiritual beauty to the witches – something that is often lacking in many modern adaptations. Ferreyra also produces some brilliantly bloody images that even Dexter would get a kick out of photographing, and I ask Gischler about one particular scene from #2 to discover how it came about. “I always give Juan something to start with,” he says. “With the doctor-splatter, I’m sure I said something like “make it bloody” and then Juan took it from there.” Another visual highlight of the comic is the intricate and magical ‘Eye of Fates’ and Gischler says Ferreyra’s “initial pencils for the Eye of Fates were truly wonderful,” adding, “again, I hit him with a description and a direction, but from there he really took over and brought it to reality. I love how the Eye of Fates came out sort of Cthulhu steampunk.”
With Ferreyra based in Argentina, does it cause any problems with the two working together? “Not really a problem at all,” says Gischler. “I guess comics is a global business these days. I’ve worked with artists from the Philippines, all over Europe, and elsewhere.”
With three issues of five published so far, Kiss Me, Satan fans will be eager to learn how the story will unfold when #4 is released this week, and indeed, many are keen to know if there will be more to come in the future. “There has already been some loose talk about Juan and I teaming up again for a Barnabus Black follow up, and naturally I’d love that,” Gischler says, “but who knows? I know Juan is already onto another project. The guy really is a rising star.”
Kiss Me, Satan is available to preview here. You can keep up with all things Victor Gischler at his official blog or follow him on twitter @VictorGischler.
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