Exorcism Island Issue 1 Review: Priests Vs Demons, a Tense Round 1
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
The first few panels of ‘Exorcism Island’ instantly brought to mind the horror series ‘Midnight Mass’, which also centers on terrifying events unfolding on an isolated island after the arrival of a charismatic priest. But in Jordan Thomas’s comic, the twist comes early: two priests fly to a remote island already overrun by the possessed. Hence, the literal title.
No time’s wasted in setting up the basic premise of this horror comic book series. Colorful panels introduce a priest aboard a flight, a memory of a young woman clearly possessed by something Satanic, a flashback of him reporting his experience at the Vatican, and a present panel showing a small plane headed to an ‘evil place’ somewhere in the Caribbean. Of course, the reader is meant to assume it’s the Exorcism Island.
This is the opening scene of ‘Exorcism Island’I thought this was a fantastic first issue for a horror comic, where the creator pits a small posse of priests against a group of the possessed on ‘Exorcism Island’. Sure, the story uses familiar tropes, like foul-mouthed demons riling up God-fearing priests with expletives, but it also has some entertaining fresh twists.
The colorful artwork is animated and engaging, and I love how the comic book uses different colors for different timelines and settings. This helps avoid confusion and readers don’t have to scratch their heads over what is happening when. For instance, the scenes on the exorcism island are drenched in fiery orange shades, at least for this first issue.
Among the primary characters is Father Amato, a young priest skeptical of the supernatural, yet sent by the Vatican to a desolate island where a group of weary exorcists struggles to contain a horde of possessed individuals. All the other priests seems to be much older than Amato, and even though it’s too early to distinguish them, it’s easy to see that they all have their own distinct personalities.
In just 27 pages, Exorcism Island delivers multiple possessions, demons, deaths (yes, plural, if you count the animals), and a creepy twist that occurs far from the island… at Vatican City. So we’re promised a big horror adventure. I’m pretty excited to see where this comic book series goes.
Rating: 5 on 5 stars! Exorcism Island is on Kindle Unlimited.
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