Written By: Cullen Bunn
Art By: Brian Hurtt
Published By: Oni Press
On what could be a series titled, “Books I read but don’t review,” The Damned #2 is out this week, and I’m wondering why I never covered the first issue. I quite liked it. It was a strong debut with a cool world, some fun characters, and a few fistfuls of demons—which is at least two fistfuls more than what most books offer.
What I like about this book really boils down to those demons. The characters and setting themselves aren’t all that new: It’s a mob book, with gamblers, moonshine brewers, dangerous bosses, and shady deals. We have characters named Pauly Bones, Tony, and Big Al. Except Big Al is a demon, and some of his cohorts are too.
It’s Goodfellas* meets Constantine.
This one little twist on the mob genre is enough to set The Damned apart from its brethren and add an entirely new sense of danger. Pauly Bones is rolling dice with an honest-to-god devil, drinking, smoking, and smirking while he does it. The devil is dangerous; we all know he is, but Pauly is on a streak and maybe isn’t all that smart. It turns his dice rolls from a regular win/lose affair to something else.
Because if the devil loses enough, Pauly could still lose with him.
Granted there are rules on how the demons can operate and interact, but they’re also demons. I don’t expect them to follow those rules, at least not to a T. Hell is filled with killers, thieves, and lawyers, after all.
The package is sold quite well by Brian Hurtt’s artwork, which has the right amount of grit and playfulness to it. I’m both fine with your generic mobster named Tony as a silly nod to the genre, and the demons walking around. The book is menacing, but only as much as it needs to be. I’m reminded of old cartoons from when I was a kid, like Batman or Invader Zim. Yes it’s a cartoon, but it’s the kind that can get scary when it needs to.
The Damned is a solid mobster book with plenty of charm and new ideas that set it apart from the genre it calls home. I’m happy to be reading it, and I’m hoping the rising supernatural elements allow it to keep me on my toes.
*I’ve actually never seen The Goodfellas but Wiki says this was a fine comparison
