The Devil’s Cut Review!

 New company, DSTLRY, introduces its creators and stories in The Devil’s Cut graphic novel! It is contains eleven stories with nineteen artists and writers, at least sixteen covers, and 88 pages. So to properly cover them, this will be divided into two parts. “Spectregraph” is by James Tynion IV, writer of the horror series, Something is Killing the Children for BOOM! Studios, and Christian Ward, co-creator of the sci fi comic, Invisible Kingdom. It begins in 1981 at a diner. The artwork has a good, retro 60’s advertising art look. There is a balding, middle-age man waiting for a man in sunglasses. He asks the man if he believes in ghost stories. This is all told in a series of closeups and cigar smoke. 

He says that the “richest man in the world” has built something that he wants taken. A dark mansion is seen at night in a storm. The thief has a pencil-thin moustache and manages to sneak into the mansion. He finds a spherical window like a giant camera lens. A thin, eldelry man in a suit tells the thief that it will hurt. The machine begins to flash as the thief screams and we see his body taken in slices of blood, bones, nervous system, and then returns to his normal form smoke pouring from his body. The wealthy man says he has made the thief perfect. He gestures to the doorway and out comes a distorted, negative form of himself, moaning, with red heart and veins. The magnate asks if he believes in ghost stories. Strange, violent, a very adult supernatural story. 

The next story, “Shepherd”, is by Marc Bernardin, writer of the graphic novel, Messenger: The Legend of Muhammad Ali, and Ariela Kristantina, also the artist for Chain, a graphic novel thriller. It is the future of Los Angeles in 2114 at the Abrams Thermodyne Hospital. Audrey is resting in a hosptial bed and she hears the conversation of Professor Seaton. She says she has been awake for three days. There is a closeness to the two. Excellent facial expressions. He begins the process atttaching his headset and holographic screens. Professor Seaton tells the people gathered at the screens about the achievements of leaving the solar system. The exodus cruisers are troubled by pirates. 

The pirates break into ships of sleeping colonists to steal and human guards haven’t stopped them. Seaton’s solution is the enhanced Shepherd, we see Audrey attacking the pirates! A superhero, cyborg type of female warrior, but a robotic defense might be more efficient. The sci fi and supernatural stories with adult content makes me think of Heavy Metal. Expect anything. “8 Rules To Make It Out In One Piece” is a stylish, spy action piece by Elsa Charretier, she is the illustrator of the Image Comic, Love Everlasting, joined by co-writer, PK Colinet. A splash page has a tropical hotel filled with vacationers, men with guns, and a blond woman in a bikini hand grabbed by a thug in Hawaiian shirt. Sleek artwork with simple lines. 

The rules go by as casual as the agent strikes down toppling the waiter’s flaming cocktail to burn the bodyguard’s hair!She flips backwards to bash another guard. The agent knocks out another guard, takes out his gun, and uses his body to catch the bullets of other gunmen. She dodge gunfire to leap into a drink hut. The boss, Mr. Corzo, is on an inflatable tries to get his bodyguards to stop shooting. Instead, the agent shakes two bottles to pop two guards in the face! She dives into the pool and then out come the deadly shish-kababs! The spy action has James Bond action mixed with the tropical resort setting. Violent, kinda funny, and sexy. 

The next story, “What’s Mine is Hearse” is by Stephanie Phillips, writer of the Grim Image horror comic, and Joelle Jones, artist for the thriller comic, Lady Killer. This is a very twisted story even for adutls. We start with a closeup of an eyeball being surgically extracted! We see it is a morgue with a pathologist woman with short, pink hair. She is fascinated by the corpse of the man, his chest a triangle of skin stitched up. She touches the body and then goes in for a kiss. The scenes are hinting at more, told in shadows and behind curtains, and a pinkish figure of the woman. Then, several policemen pull her off the body. Mirka Andolfo, writer/artist of Sweet Paprika, has a new tale of a demon in “A Blessed Day.” 

There is a religious building across from the room where what looks like a man, Mr. Levey, wakes up. We see in the mirror his demonic eyes and fanged mouth. Mr. Levey works out, twisting his head, two bloody marks on his back. He takes a shower of blood. He takes out eyeballs from a jar in his refrigerator and then puts on his gold watch and glasses. Mr. Levey calls himself the best talent manager of actors and singers. This includes the singer-songwriter, Clelia, who has legions of fans. Paradise is taken by the demons which has a substance called Mystic Ecstasy. A dark twist on religious iconography, a little jab at pop idolatry with some manga touches in the art. The stories are great teasers to comics with more on the characters and situations! The Devil's Cut has a number of genre pushing stories with some of the top comics creators! 

Four Shish-kababs out of Five!   

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