Before you go any further, disclaimer time: the Lucky Devil comic is a mature, gory horror comic. It is not for children, mothers who love knitting and the Hallmark channel, and not for people with a sensitive disposition who still sleep with the lights on.
With that out of the way, let’s jump right in. I think that by now, everyone who reads these posts must be overhearing me talk about how much I love the horror genre, even though it’s true. Horror is the best genre out there, and that’s just a fact. But along with loving all things horror, I also apparently love repeating myself, so here goes: I really, REALLY, love horror.
However, when it comes to horror, whether you’re talking about books, games, comics or movies, not all horrors are made the same. For instance, I have absolutely no time for all the Paranormal Activity style horrors. I enjoy my horror as serious as they are gory or so bad that it becomes good and funny.
Written for Dark Horse Comics (Black Hammer: Visions; Tales from the Umbrella Academy: You Look Like Death; Orphan and the Five Beasts) by writer Cullen Bunn (Harrow County; The Sixth Gun; Deadpool) and artist Fran Galán (Campisi; The Cullen Bunn Library; Knights Temporal) comes Lucky Devil. A story about your run-of-the-mill down on his luck guy who never has the guts to stand up for himself until one day when he wakes up with the devil inside of him… literally.
Because Lucky Devil is such a short read, I don’t want to spoil too much of the story. That said, the Lucky Devil comic is all about Stanley – an entirely underwhelming average guy. Stanley is the type of guy whose girl would cheat on him, whose boss would scream at him, and whose coworkers would forget all about his existence until they need him to run after them. And that’s precisely what happens. Stanley is just living his days as the ultimate example of the human doormat until one day he wakes up to find a devil has possessed him, and the devil inside of Stanley wants revenge.
After much carnage by the hands of the devil possessing Stanley, Stanley seeks out an exorcist. However, when the exorcism is botched, and the devil is banished from Stanley, but devils powers remain within him, things quickly get interesting.
It feels like a waste of good words to even mention how grotesquely beautiful and, at times, vomit-inducing the art throughout Luck Devil is. You’ve got eyes; you’ve seen it in all of its glory for yourself. But for the sake of it coming from me, the art in the Lucky Devil comic truly is everything. I’ve read my fair share of horror comics throughout the years. Many of them have amazing stories, which is why I stuck with them.
However, most of the time, when you’ve got a good horror story, it gets bundled with art that feels relatively flat and timid in comparison. Lucky Devil does not suffer from that misalignment. Instead of the art ever being eclipsed by the story, the art is a vital part of it. It creates a reading experience that can only be called emotion-inducing and cinematic.
At its core, Lucky Devil is not just a horror comic, it is also a comedy, and while that’s a combination that’s been used countless times to great success on screen, it’s something that, more often than not, does not work as a comic. Yet, in the case of Lucky Devil, it does. I found myself gleefully turning each page, dying to see (excuse the pun) what ridiculously funny and horrific thing awaited me next.
I don’t think I need to stress again how much I love a good horror, so I’ll just say that the Lucky Devil comic is about as good as it gets. If you’re looking for something short and as humorous as it is gruesome, this is the perfect comic for you.
Want to grab Lucky Devil for yourself? Head over to Critters and Comics. The series is currently available in the following formats: Digital or as 4 Single Issues. If you don’t know what any of that means, but you want to, then click here and have your mind blown.