Review by Ian Keogh

There’s a sense of disbelief to The Exorcism at 1600 Penn from the start as it’s seen from the viewpoint of Kevin and Mara Doyle, two children of a mixed race marriage. Kevin is African-American, but Mara could pass for Irish. For a thriller that’s supposed to be set in a recognisable world it’s a constant nagging presence.

Kevin and Mara’s mother Kelly has been elected US president, and Hannah Rose May’s plot contrasts the stresses of that job with the tribulations of the children entering a new school. The primary issue facing the President is Havana Syndrome, a mysterious illness afflicting those working in American embassies abroad. She’s cautious about pointing the finger at a single country for causing the illness when there’s no definitive proof, but an opposition Senator is rabble rousing on the matter. Kevin and Mara bicker, but matters take a more serious turn when she has a seizure at school.

The Exorcism at 1600 Penn is paced like a thriller novel, and the loose drawing of Vanesa Del Ray is good, but not best suited to a world intended to sell a reality. The sketchiness of people and their surroundings doesn’t suggest the necessary permanence. This isn’t helped by Jordie Bellaire providing uncharacteristically unsympathetic colour, great swathes of the same shade over a dark background.

It’s halfway through when a maguffin is introduced, building on the children being sent to a Catholic school and a prank in the local church. It’s unlikely and shifts the entire tone of the story. When the human tensions deriving from the problem manifest they’re unconvincingly melodramatic as it’s difficult to believe a parent would prioritise keeping a political secret from their own family when their child’s life is at stake. Furthermore, the graphic novel’s title is too obvious in pointing the way toward what’s only necessary in the final third.

All in all, a good idea about exploring the pressures on the first woman to be US President is undermined by the surrounding sensationalism.