‘TWO SISTERS DRIVING ACROSS TEXAS, TRYING TO FIND THE DEVIL SO THEY CAN GET THEIR SOULS BACK.” Well, with a premise like that, how could this book possibly be bad?
Written and Illustrated by Kevin Mellon
Opening with one of the most gratuitous, yet completely silent, fights in recent comic memory, “Suicide Sisters” #1 sets itself up as a bloody, violent, and just generally disturbed book. As the tagline on the credits page says, “Suicide Sisters” is about two siblings, Cora and Pandora, who are tracking down Satan in order to reclaim their souls, which they gave up during a rather compromised situation. This first issue does an excellent job of setting up the premise and creates so much intrigue around the characters and situation, while at the same time retaining enough information to make the reader want answers as to the world the story takes place in. There’s a lot of stuff left unexplained, but every thing that is explained is done so rather niftily and with no gratuitous infodumps. It’s a really well written introduction to a really interesting world.
Of course, all the ideas that make this world so interesting are, well, incredibly effed up. Aside from the incredibly well drawn fight scenes, which feature as much explosions and dismembered body parts as you’d expect, there are some moments that are just genuinely disturbed. Not just disturbed for the sake of grossing out the reader either. All of these moments have the potential to induce sickness; but they’re integral to the plot and never feel extraneous. That doesn’t make them any less scarring. Personal note, I read this before going to bed the other night and images from the scene in the bathroom ended up recurring in my dreams. May not have been the best night of sleep I’d ever had, but if that’s not a sign of a comic fulfilling it’s purpose I don’t know what is.
Of course, all that mental scarring comes from the disgusting nature of Mellon’s art. It’s gross, grimy, and fantastic. The art definitely captures the feel of the story and makes it feel less like “Supernatural” and more like an uncensored episode of “Sons of Anarchy.” Plus, the storytelling in Mellon’s art is just so well done, as specifically exemplified during the silent fight scene in the opening of the issue. Also, the character designs for the titular sisters works well too. They’re not exactly conservatively dressed, but their clothes and figures are a lot more realistic than most women in comics. There are also some really cool effects done throughout the book, such as a flattening of colors whenever the plot spirals into a flashback. It’s easy to see that Mellon is pulling double duty on script and art, as he does such a wonderful job of bringing the two together to form one consistent vibe.
Now, as much horror and shock as this comic has, there is also quite a bit of heart to even things out. The relationship between Cora and Pandora is so sincere that their interactions anchor the rest of the book and its exploding guts with some heart. Not only that, but this is one of the few times in a comic where a southern United States accent, a Texan one nonetheless, is written in an actually believable manner. This helps a lot in delivering the character’s, sometimes funny; more often messed up, dialogue. It’s incredibly refreshing to read a violent book that has some brains behind all the violence, and “Suicide Sisters” delivers.
“Suicide Sisters” is one of those books that matches its mature content with mature story. This first issue sets up a playground for Mellon to romp around in for the forthcoming issues and it’ll be incredibly fun to see how he uses his deranged mind to mess with his characters’ lives even further.
Final Verdict: 8.8 – Buy
Digital issues of “Suicide Sisters” can be purchased online at www.suicidesisters.com for one dollar. It’s worth it.
