We Have Demons #1
Lam discovers her father’s secret in We Have Demons #1, by writer Scott Snyder, artist Greg Capullo, inker Jonathan Glapion, colorist Dave McCaig, and letterer Tom Napolitano. We Have Demons is delightful from start to finish, with Snyder and company working their magic once again.
The basic gist of this story is Lam relating her life story to her neighbors, the Spoons. Her father was a preacher with a secret, and it caused her to leave home. Her stepmother calls her and tells her he’s dead. She goes to the funeral, where there are a bunch of people she doesn’t recognize. After the service, she finds a secret room in her father’s church, where she’s met by her stepfather, who tells her the truth about her father- he’s a demon hunter, part of a legacy that extends back millennia. She finished telling the Spoons this, using her father’s axe to see if they’re demons. It doesn’t light up, and she starts to fall asleep, just as they transform into demons. She is able to escape them but is cornered when her father’s partner Gus shows up and saves the day. Gus isn’t what she expected, though.
Snyder has a very certain way of writing, and he indulges that completely in this issue. There is a lot of exposition because he has a lot to explain, but the thing about Snyder is that when he does exposition, it’s with a style and panache that makes it absorbing and entertaining. So, sure, this issue is a massive info dump for most of its page count, but it’s so compelling that readers never notice. Snyder’s style is about building a giant mansion for readers to explore, but they only get access to certain parts of it, almost like a video game. As the story goes on, he gives them the keys and lets them explore more.
Snyder has built a great mythology with this issue. The world of We Have Demons is so very interesting, and it’s going to lend itself well to a series. He sets up so much in this book that is ripe for exploration. Lam’s voiceover tells the story to readers, and she’s such a fun character. It’s going to be great spending more time with her, learning about her. The reveal of Gus is an interesting one and how Snyder makes it work is anyone’s guess.
Capullo and Snyder have been working together for so long, and they understand each other very well. Capullo is the perfect person to draw this comic. He gets how to bring Snyder’s script to life and has a lot of experience drawing demons. There’s not a lot of action in this book, but there are a lot of killer visuals, and Capullo and Glapion capture them wonderfully. It will be great to see where the art teams take this book.
We Have Demons #1 is a perfect first issue. Snyder lays out intriguing mythology, sets the stakes, and lets it all loose. Capullo and Glapion bring it to life expertly. Honestly, there was pretty much no way this book wasn’t going to be great.