Image Comics 2018
Written by Ian Boothby
Illustrated by Gisele Legace
Coloured by Pete Pantazis
Lettered by Taylor Esposito
Did you sign a deal with the Devil? Has your fiancé been dragged to Hell? Then Kate and Cate Harrow should be the first ones you call for timely soul retrieval at a reasonable rate! But why are these identical twins so different? Is there a darker secret?
I was curious about this more than anything, I saw it and thought the premise might be good and it’s something that we don’t see much of in comics lately. So I was thinking yeah okay let’s see what this is all about. Ian does a great job on the opening here and I have to say it pretty much does what it has to and then some. Not only does it set the tone for the series and establishes what we can expect to see but it also lays down some fundamentals between the girls. I thought this a great thing to see and the exchanges, see dialogue or banter, begin to flesh out their personalities nicely.
Ian does a great job here with the way that this book is structured. There entire ebb & flow of the issue is something that makes you fall into this with such ease. The girls and the first case we see is one where we kind of get that first peek of their abilities and knowledge. It is just enough to lend them that credibility as to what they do and leave enough still wide open that as a reader you want to see so much more explored. As a series opener as well as a first issue this does everything right so I am now excited to see where this is going and what is in store for the girls next. If the cliffhanger ending doesn’t showcase that for you then nothing will.
The characterisation here is pretty solid stuff as well. Like most sisters they have very different personalities and Kate is the wild uninhibited one whose manners might be considered lacking. She is a pistol and the kind of girl we love to see and at a wedding location she’s swilling champagne from the bottle and helping herself to the wedding cake. Yeah she is the one you want to hang out with while her sister Cate is more the book smart no-nonsense kind of girl. Opposite sides of the same coin and all that is very apropos and well while the ending kind of says why the how of it all remains unknown and it’s intriguing as all get out.
I am not gonna lie I was disappointed when the interiors didn’t look anything like the cover. Gisele has a nice all-ages style don’t get me wrong but this kind of series I was hoping for more. That said the utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a nice eye for storytelling. Backgrounds are utilised fairly well, though I'd like to see more detail in them. The creativity and imagination on display is utterly delightful and while Hell is as cute as all get out and the overall effect is more Scooby Doo than really scary but that’s okay because we are entertained the entire way.
The story itself here is interesting in that not all things that people go through will be supernatural in nature. I mean this one starts at a wedding and ends with deception and revenge so yeah it is going to make the reader take a harder look at what people are capable of doing to one another. From a strong interesting premise and a story that is full of surprises and the unexpected prepare to be entertained oh and forget about the Charmed ones because these sisters have them beat!