Review: Her Infernal Descent #1

Originally posted on Irish Comic News (5/Jun/2018)

Created by Lonnie NadlerZac Thompson and Kyle Charles.
Written by Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson.
Line art by Kyle Charles.
Colour art by Dee Cunniffe.
Letters by Ryan Ferrier.

The story opens in a house where the air is thick with grief. The woman who lives there spends her days drinking deeply from the well of despair. The loss of her husband and family has washed away all trace of joy from her life. One day as she ascends to the attic, she is greeted by the ghost of William Blake who offers her the chance to be reunited with her family. But to do so she must travel through the various levels of Hell. With everything she loves already take from her, traveling through Hell doesn’t scare her. So she accepts the offer made by Blake.

The art in the opening pages is all about conveying the prevailing sense of loss the woman carries through her days. The scene shows a person who has given up and is merely passing time. A combination of line art displaying a house that hasn’t been tidied or cleaned is quite some time. The choice of colours for these pages also help underscore the sorrow the woman is experiencing.

As the duo begin their journey, there’s a page where the panels are connected by a labyrinth. A labyrinth that the reader could actually trace a path through that connects each of the panels on the page. It’s a nice design touch to the page to lead the readers eye through the page. An instant cue that indicates that reality is peeling back is the orange and yellow colour of the sky and the duo are moving every closer to the fires of Hell.

I was curious about the lettering choice for Blake’s dialogue is the use of white text on a black speech bubble. Even amongst the dead, this is an anomaly and I did wonder if this was in part due to Blake’s ability to travel between Heaven and Hell.

Her Infernal Descent shows the extremes to which someone will go to claw their way out from the crushing weight of grief for a chance to save those they love.

A good start to what looks to be an interesting mini-series.

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