Hexed is Boom! Studios’ new series created and written by Michael Alan Nelson with art by Emma Rios. The kind folks at Boom! sent me an advance copy to take a look at, and I have to say that this is quite a different sort of comic. The first issue will have covers by series artist Emma Rios as well as one of my personal favorite artists, Joe Pekar. I actually have several Pekar art prints on my office wall, along with a couple of pieces of his original art in my collection, so it was a cool surprise to see his paints gracing this cover.
The story comes from the viewpoint of one Luci Jenifer Inacio Das Neves, or “Lucifer” for short. The first issue does not give us a lot of background or explanation about Lucifer, but we do learn that she is a thief specializing in nabbing paranormal and mystical artifacts. Additionaly, she is somehow mystical herself, possessing the ability to trap demons in little plush toys and to magically open locks and bypass traps. There’s no explanation just yet as to what Lucifer really is or how she came to be the magical pilferer she has become, but all of that is incidental to the story at hand.
When the series opens, Lucifer is on assignment, stealing a relic from the back room of a rock concert at a club. She’s working exclusively for a kindly art gallery curator named Val, but it doesn’t take long for Lucifer’s surely storied past to catch up with her. She soon runs afoul of a nasty guy named Dietrich, to whom she owes three hundred thousand dollars. Forced into a job to help repay her debt, Lucifer ends the issue by literally stepping into one her new mission in one of the most surprising and disgusting ways imaginable.
Boom! Studios publishes a number of original properties, but their biggest comics have sprung from licenses such as Warhammer or from tried and true horror and fantasy concepts, leading to releases like their hit Cthulhu Tales and Zombie Tales series. Hexed is an original story and feels like it could become a flagship title. The story is intriguing, the concept is novel, and the art has a loose and sketchy quality that, combined with Cris Peter’s colors, gives the comic a dreamy and appropriately magical feel. The first issue hits stores in December, and it’s definitely worth checking out.
Here’s a look at the first two pages (all I’m allowed to show right now) of issue #1.
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