By Zack Quaintance — It’s slowed down, but for a good while there was a trend in monthly comics that saw creators unite on Big 2 projects before going off to do (more exciting) creator-owned work. For example, Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie from Young Avengers to Phonogram/The Wicked + The Divine; Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino from Green Arrow/Old Man Logan to Gideon Falls/Primordial, or Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda from X-23 to Monstress. This week we have a new addition to that list, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo/Jonthan Glapion going from Batman/Dark Knights Metal to the new monster-hunting action-horror series, We Have Demons, with We Have Demons #1 out now.

And friends? After one issue, I am very into this book. Like those aforementioned series, this one opens with a sense of giddy unrestraint, a feeling that both Snyder and Capullo are freed to do whatever they like, be it design a demon character in a more exaggerated and cartoonish way or intermingle expanded narrative captioning with page design and character reactions in panel. The usual superhero conventions are gone, and this creative team is loving it in this comic. The result is pulpy monster-hunting adventure comic of the highest order that knows exactly what it wants to be — a gritty grindhouse-tinged good time.

The unrestraint in We Have Demons #1 is evident from the book’s start, which opens with a risky page design that lets Snyder stretch out as a writer, which he does really well, without ever feeling overly wordy or indulgent. Several pages early in the comic use white captions floating in black space beside a vertical column of panels. These captions are all well written, a great reminder that Snyder paid his dues in the serious and difficult world of short literary fiction. Snyder is not a comics writer dabbling with clunky purple prose; he has actual literary credentials, and he deploys them in this book to great effect.

Within the first half dozen pages, the story has established its main character’s voice as well as the one thing in the world that matters the most to her — understanding and honoring the single father who raised her. A common structural pet peeve I have for many comics is they have plotlines that rely on character, yet instead of building said character in their earliest pages, they try to hook readers with mixed up chronology and giant explosions. This often ends up being confusing or diminishing the clarify of the story. Personally, I’ll take a character orienting the reader with a strong narrative voice/ backstory any day, especially when it’s done as well as it is here.

We Have Demons #1 really takes advantage of comics as a medium with risks like that, as well as with the Capullo/Glapion artwork interacting with the quick hit, staccato pacing of the captioning, rich as it is with a light-hearted tone that makes it clear this book isn’t meant to be taken too seriously. The page layout may look like a lot of text on first blush, but if you take those pages alongside books wherein characters attempt to do deliver exposition lifting via clunky dialogue, it’s not any more than that, but it does read better because it’s all well done.

I also enjoyed this book leaning into a pulpy horror-tinged adventure story concept. For all the great horror comics being made these days, it remains a fairly self-serious genre, light on fast pacing or visceral fun. The Capullo/Glapion team here is operating aesthetically with a sharp take on grindhouse grit, serving up a look that synchs perfectly with the concept of a book titled We Have Demons. It’s a book that reads the zeitgeist well, with a bonkers sensibility similar to that found in this year’s buzzy slasher horror film, Malignant. There are big reveals, secret societies, age-old conflicts, and giant gross monsters to be dispatched. It’s a pulpy madcap romp from start to finish.

These are all great choices for a series timed to spooky season, just a few weeks shy of Halloween. It all reminds me a lot of one of my favorite arcs from the Snyder/Capullo Batman run, where with sales booming the pair seemed to be given maximum creative rope…and they used it to put Jim Gordon in a mech and fight a kaiju plant man. It was amazing, one of my favorite Batman arcs of not only that run but of my lifetime.

In the end, We Have Demons #1 is without question a book I’d recommend to fans of the Snyder/Capullo comics at DC, especially those who enjoyed one

Overall: Scott Snyder and long-time collaborators Greg Capullo with Jonathan Glapion are clearly having a blast in their first creator-owned project together, and the result is a madcap grindhouse monster-hunting horror romp that I highly recommend. 9.6/10

REVIEW: We Have Demons #1

We Have Demons #1
Writer: Scott Snyder
Artist: Greg Capullo
Inker: Jonathan Glapion
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Publisher: ComiXology Originals - Best Jackett Press
The conflict between good and evil is about to come to a head when a teenage hero embarks on a journey that unveils a secret society, monsters, and mayhem.
The first creator owned collaboration from the superstar team of writer SCOTT SNYDER and artist GREG CAPULLO! After block-buster work on titles like DC's Batman, this best-selling team brings their talents to comiXology!
Part of the comiXology Originals line of exclusive digital content only available on comiXology and Kindle. Read for free as part of your subscription to comiXology Unlimited, Kindle Unlimited or Amazon Prime. Also available for purchase via comiXology, Kindle and in print via Dark Horse Books.
Price: $4.99 or free via comiXology unlimited

Read more great graphic novel and comics reviews!

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.