Review by Ian Keogh
A group of young people have been consigned to Hell and some have been residents for a fair while. Based on the early example of 19th century student Xander Waterford, the bar for dispatch to Hell is set pretty low under John Layman, Xander’s crime being consistently squashing frogs. Compared with the Yakuza’s youngest assassin Midori Fukada it seems somewhat trivial unless Hell operates on the Buddhist concept of all life being equal.
Their version of Hell is a dirt poor country landscape with a demon popping by every now and then, sort of like The Waltons with an occasional guest appearance from Elon Musk. It’s not ideal, but surely better than the flaming pits of legend. The crew we’re following have some loose ideas about how to improve their conditions, but this doesn’t greatly extend beyond acquiring ice cream. However, in doing so something of possibly infinite value falls into their laps.
Artist Jok is Argentinian, and so not to be confused with the Scottish artist Jock, although equally talented. As seen on the sample art’s presentation of assorted bounty hunters, Jok’s designs are excellent, and he applies the same slightly off-kilter and angular style to the remainder of the art. His Hell is suitably decaying and distressed, and his demons terrify.
Despite the location, Layman’s story is a rite of passage experience, but a meandering one where the stages of the journey are more important than any destination. It leads to a succession of imaginative interludes and chase scenes, each magnificently realised by Jok. However, there’s never any great sense of the characters being any more than vehicles for short comedy moments, and even the art can’t rectify that.
