Zenescope Entertainment 2021
Written by Pat Shand
Illustrated by Eman Casallos, Ismael Canales & Juan Francisco Mota
Colourd by Maxflan Araujo, Edwin Estrada & Jore Cortes
Lettered by Taylor Esposito
Keres is the Goddess of Death, and has punished many deserving beings sending them to pay for their sins for eternity in a hellish afterlife. But Keres isn’t the only one who should be feared. The world below is full of those who seek to take power but also escape the prison they are held in and rise to our world. The 12 Kings of Hell are making their move and only Keres stands in the way of utter world-changing chaos. Will she be able to stop them and keep hell from rising? Who is the 13th King of Hell?
This one took me by surprise, in a good way mind you. We’ve seen Keres throughout her time at Zenescope and we’ve had a spotlight here and there but nothing like this before and to see how she came to be, what her role is and just her life overall is utterly fantastic. I think the way that we see her origin and how she and her compatriots are seen throughout the realms and by the twelves lords of hell is fascinating stuff. What this really does is make me want to see more of their past and how Keres managed to put them on the “new” path. Pat establishes a rich history to be explored over time and hopefully that will too will come to pass.
I’m completely chuffed over the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does wonders in establishing personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the story introducing the characters, the story and the worlds they live in really does a magnificent job in establishing so much we want to see more of.
I’m enjoying how we see this being structured and how the layers begin to emerge and grow which then leads to avenues opening up to add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.
I really like the interiors here. There’s some great creativity and imagination happening here in how we see the demons and the Keepers, oh and let us not forget those hyena’s. The linework is clean, crisp and strong so along with how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work is exceptionally well rendered. I would like to see more backgrounds being utilised as I feel there aren’t enough of them, still how we see the composition within the panels bringing out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is extremely well done. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show some really talented eyes for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows some great understanding of how colour works.
Before this issue I was kind of annoyed by Keres because I didn’t understand what she was about but she seemed to permeate the landscape for a while. Now having seen and read this I have a better understanding of who she is, what her role is and why she permeates the landscape and I’d like to see her make a few interactions with some of the more well known folks in the Zenescope Universe. Pat’s sharp, excellent writing and characterisation along with these solid and dynamic interiors have managed to really change how I feel about the character and that’s a sign of excellent storytelling.