Heaven and Hell have always had problems getting along. It’s not like they’re not trying to keep the peace, though. The leaders of both domains have worked something out in an attempt to keep the peace. The celestial child Zachary Halo and the infernal child Rose Hornsby are being given to adoptive families on Earth. What could possibly go wrong? The adventure begins in Hornsby & Halo #1. Writer Peter J. Tomasi and artist Peter Snejbjerg are joined by colorist John Kalisz in the first issue of a promising, new series that mixes the supernatural with a solid coming-of-age energy.
Rose was the future queen of the inferno. Zachary was also highborn. He was a future archangel. Years later, they’re both in high school. They’re both on their way back home from the same high school. Zachary’s hanging out the window of the bus. Damn near half his body is out there. Meanwhile Rose is trying to min her own business drawing while someone sitting behind her is giving her a hard time. Perfectly normal morning in falloff a couple of kids who couldn’t possibly know what’s coming for them. It’s the same story for every kid on that bus and everyone like it all over the world. Only for Zachary and Rose...it’s a little bit different...
Tomasi delivers a clever turn on the traditional coming of age story. The contrast between the two teens is fun and enjoyable. The politics in heaven and hell seems a little bit more sophisticated and they usually do in traditional contemporary fantasy fiction. This is good and evil or anything like that. It's just too massive forces that are at odds with each other that are trying to get along. It's a refreshing change of pace from the usual good versus evil sort of a thing.
Snejbjerg’s rendering keeps everything very realistic throughout...even in the early scenes involving the totally surreal upbringing of a couple of infants from heaven and hell. Magic hits like lightning at the end of the issue. I had a strong contrast between the very real sense of emotional drama that animates so much of the series and the more fantastic magical elements of the story. It's a nice contrast that serves the series’ opening chapter quite well. it would've been all too easy to wrap up the story individual trappings that would be more striking and surreal throughout.Snejbjerg manages a respectable amount of complexity in the visuals for the first issue.
The nature versus nurtures sense of the story seems to be the center that author and artist are reaching for. It's a bit upsetting given how complex everything else is. The obvious choices made for the contrast between angel and devil feel a little bit too on-the-nose. thankfully, there's a rich complexity through the script and to the art vet manages to steer pretty clear of really obvious choices with respect to be overall theme. Hopefully they can manage to maintain that even if the overall premise feels like it might be a little bit too, hard in the direction of the obvious.
