Review – Kiss Me, Satan #5 (of 5) (Dark Horse)

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Victor Gischler
Artist: Juan Ferreyra
Release Date: 15th January 2014

At last, the time has come for the eagerly-anticipated finale of Dark Horse’s supernatural horror-themed action blockbuster, Kiss Me Satan. This issue sees our square-jawed bicep-flexing antihero Barnabus Black lead his assault on his lycan nemesis, and provides what is easily the best chapter of the series.

While it crept up on me gradually, the character develop of Black has actually worked extremely well, particularly during the last two issues where we finally got to see a little more of his true nature. And while I still contend that the earlier chapters – which were bogged down by the gradual removal of the pointless ‘eye candy’ characters – could have easily been missed out (or at the very least sped up), Gischler’s writing truly shines once we find ourselves trimmed down to just Zell and Black.

Unsurprisingly, Juan Ferreyra absolutely kills it in the artwork department once again, utilising a series of spectacular double-page spreads to depict the sheer carnage of Black’s final assault on Cassian Steele and his army of followers. And what an assault it is, featuring mages, demons, brutal eviscerations and mini-gun wielding werewolves (yeah, you heard me). Subtlety is most definitely not the order of the day here, but what we have instead is an absolute onslaught of beautifully kinetic violence, featuring some terrific one-liners and one particularly memorable ‘twist’ along the way. If you were putting together a showcase of just what Ferreyra’s artistic strengths are, then you really couldn’t do much better than this issue.

All the loose plot threads are tied up in a neat, tidy bow, and the series ends with a pleasing amount of finality. Thankfully however, it still manages to leave plenty of room for a potential follow-up miniseries (or, fingers crossed, an ongoing title) later down the line. And with Barnabus Black and his powers and motivations now firmly established, I for one would love to see him get his teeth into yet another mission, particularly if it means more Ferreyra-depicted violence.

As a series, Kiss Me Satan was a bit of a slow-starter, and seemed to be moving a little slower than was advisable for its five-part length. However, as a final issue, this is a top-notch comic for lovers of breathtakingly visceral violence, and of the action-horror genre as a whole. And I get the impression that this tale will read a whole lot better as part of a trade paperback, so I thoroughly recommend that you pick it up once it becomes available.

Well worth a look, and based on this issue, Ferreyra continues his rapid ascent up my ‘favourite artist’ list. Just a stunning piece of work.