- March 23, 2022
We Have Demons #1 Review
Written by: Scott Snyder
Penciling by: Greg Capullo
Inking by: Jonathan Glapion
Coloring by: Dave McCaig
Lettering by: Tom Napolitano
So this first issue collects the first three chapters of We Have Demons #1. For that reason, I can’t quite give my opinion on how it reads one chapter at a time. I do find that point to be incredibly relevant because chapters 1 & 2 are incredibly exposition-heavy. Chapter 3 of We Have Demons has a lot of exposition, but there’s enough action and moving plot that it’s easier to forgive.
Greg Capullo’s art carries so much of this. It doesn’t quite capture me the same way it did when he drew Batman and Spawn, but it does something much different. It captures people as people, which is important when some people turn out to be demons. Rather than stunning me, it pulls me into a sense of false security, until I learned that was a mistake. Anyone and everyone feel like both the most normal people in the world, but also like they’re monsters itching to get out of their skin.
When it comes to the script… it’s not Batman or even Justice League. It honestly reminds me a lot of Dark Knights: Death Metal which is not the best thing. Scott Snyder had a way of capturing Batman’s inner monologue, and he took his time to build the stakes and the characters. The Court of Owls is a slow-burn story until the end. This first issue is rushing to get to the action, and while I appreciate getting to the good stuff, probably would have been better to start there.
Dark Knights: Death Metal had a lot of similar problems in that respect, and with this original comic, I would have thought there was more freedom to take it slow. Maybe I’ve looking for the wrong thing from this comic. That happens a lot, and that could very well be happening here.
The thing the writing nails is when the action starts. This is when the few finer curtains that the creatives laid down are pulled.
Also, We Have Demons #1 does capture the horror aesthetic even more than in American Vampire. Among Scott Snyder’s recent catalog of original works, which one is your favorite so far?