John Allison’s droll British wit is on full display in “Steeple” #1, the first installment in a five-issue mini series from Dark Horse Comics written and drawn by the Eisner-winning comic creator. Fans of Allison’s “Giant Days” and “Bad Machinery” should feel right at home in this Cornish countryside. Like a British Sunnydale, the seaside village of Tredrygen is a Hellmouth, where the forces of evil battle the clergy of an understaffed church for a foothold on its idyllic shore, but the arrival of a new priest in training and a meeting between the young Billie Baker and the silver-haired Satan-follower Maggie Warren seems destined to recontextualize a age-old fray.
Written and illustrated by John AllisonCover by John Allison
Colored by Sarah Stern
Lettered by Jim CampbellA supernatural tale of friendship, the devil, and moral gray areas. Two women with wildly different worldviews become unlikely friends as they navigate the supernatural happenings in a sleepy coastal parish–and soon find themselves forced to choose sides in the war between good and evil, facing demons, curses, and a miniature Rapture!
While some writers change up their writing styles, Allison appears to be destined to write stories about young people featuring wry and sardonic dialogue forever. With each successive series (including BOOM! Studios “By Night”), Allison’s often female protagonists are aging ever so slightly along with their creator, so there’s no sign of arrested development, just an uncanny ability to capture youthful voices and situations. While his characters often display a worldliness beyond their years, there’s also a naiveté that is the fulcrum for much of his work’s more poignant comedic beats. In “Steeple,” Billie Baker, dispatched by the diocese to a new parish rich with myth and tales of folklore, is embarking on a new chapter in life. Things don’t start out well for Billie as her car catches fire and explodes en route to her new job, a fact she is compelled to repeat to her new hosts who are equal parts distracted by a more pressing concern and mired in their own orthodoxy.
As the old scientific adage (and Paula Abdul song) suggests, opposites attract when Billie (coincidentally or not) crosses paths with Maggie who introduces her to the intricacies of her new town and delivers her safely to her steepled home. The fact is not lost on readers that the apostle of Satan is more welcoming than the followers of Christ. Allison makes every effort to point out that Billie is immediately pre-judged by the Reverend Penrose and the church’s caretaker, Mrs. Clovis while Maggie plies the young curate with free pints at one of the town’s pubs after her nickel tour of the intricacies of their little hamlet. While it could be surmised that this is a commentary on the nature of temptation, there is something different at work and the final pages reveal that this is not a passion play in the traditional sense. In fact, Allison seems just as interested in fleshing out Maggie’s character in this opening stanza as he does Billie’s, and Allison plants a fair share of seeds that will lead to the blossoming of their friendship. Don’t believe me? Just check out the too-revealing solicitation text that robs this first issue of some of its subtle charms.
Allison’s artwork, as in “Bad Machinery” and the occasional “Giant Days” story, is a treat as usual. His economy of line that still manages to express a full range of motion and emotions is the hallmark of a master cartoonist at work. His exaggerated and comical body language is humorously on point, and while there is a more hurried quality to this art than the less frenetic and more intricate “Bad Machinery” work, the story doesn’t suffer for it. Allison is clearly having fun already in his newly-constructed sandbox, and his clever easter egg-level details demand rereads for those hellbent on completing issues at a record pace. The soft color palette provided by Sarah Stern fits the atmosphere of a misty seaside village, and Jim Campbell’s clear and precise lettering makes Allison’s clever scripting even better.
If there’s a nit to pick it’s that this first issue ends too suddenly and without an effective punchline with an epilogue-like stinger page that takes place in the den of Maggie’s fellow Belial acolytes. While it does supply key insight into Maggie’s attitude toward Billie, it’s a bit too uneventful. But that’s really splitting hairs in a wonderfully presented setup issue. Readers should instantly be drawn to the bucolic setting and the weird climax that features a hell-spawned cyclops like some may have never seen before. Allison is so casually creative that his output almost seems effortless, as if it pours straight from his clearly active mind to the page fully-formed. It’s an enviable trait that makes his books lively and immensely readable even for those of us across the Atlantic. “Steeple” has all the hallmarks of being yet another enjoyable experience from Allison, and it should be a treat to follow the adventures of Billie and Maggie to their satisfying conclusion.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – “Steeple” #1 finds John Allison back at the helm of another series about young people on the cusp of change. Fans of Allison shouldn’t dare miss it, and anglophiles unfamiliar with Allison’s work could do worse than this introduction to his quirky humor and accomplished cartooning.
