“We Have Demons” #1

Scott Snyder and various DC Comics collaborators come together in this new series delving deep into his love of atypical horror stories!

Cover by Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, and Dave McCaig

Written by Scott Snyder
Illustrated by Greg Capullo
Inked by Jonathan Glapion
Colored by Dave McCaig
Lettered by Tom Napolitano

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!

First, let us clarify something. This entire creative team has worked together with Scott Snyder before. As such, examining it comes with the thought process of seeing it after previous collaborations between the writer and various combinations of artists, be they for pencils, inks, colors, or lettering, primarily through DC Comics. Penciler Greg Capullo and inker Jonathan Glapion return from 2011’s “Batman” run, “Batman: Last Knight on Earth,” “Dark Nights: Metal,” and “Dark Nights: Death Metal;” while colorist Dave McCaig returns from “American Vampire.”

Now then, with that disclaimer out of the way, let’s start the examination of “We Have Demons” #1 with Scott Snyder’s writing. No stranger to horror, having used it in the likes of “American Vampire” and “Wytches,” as well as the relatively recent “Nocterra.” That prowess for deeper lore building and creation of horrifying monstrosities is on full display here, along with his ability to quickly create sympathetic, loving, yet flawed families and even slivers of black comedy if you squint (mostly aimed at repetitive mentions of Liam Neeson).

Within the debut alone, Snyder establishes a wide mythos that is, while intriguing, also simple. For all its focus on the past and present, on angels and demons through a wildly different approach, the core of “We Have Demons” #1 seems to be about a relationship between a young woman and her father. There is love, anger, fear, torment, and many other things beyond, along with the classic “dark family secret.” The script feels utterly human even with the use of quasi-magical armaments, and in that way if feels relatable in a strange way despite not every reader being able to physically relate to the status of Lam, our protagonist.

On the downside, much like some of his work with DC Comics, Snyder’s narration of “We Have Demons” #1 is extremely wordy. The opening is cut between walls of text on the left hand side and actions on the right, and his alternating between one and the other seems somewhat random and a bit difficult to follow. Even after that, there is an extreme abundance of exposition, though perhaps it is a little easier to handle given it is within the panels rather than alongside them.

As interesting as the massive exposition drop across the entire debut can be to readers, it can veer dangerously close to making certain members of the audience disinclined to follow the story through to the end. Hopefully this is not a recurring pattern across the entire work, and is more restricted to this debut rather than relying too much on massive amounts of text across the piece from start to finish.

Greg Capullo has quite a resume of action-horror and religious works, most notably “Spawn,” but his illustrations for DC Comics from roughly 2011 to as recently as a few months ago are perhaps more recognizable in “We Have Demons” #1. Smooth, young faces contrast against distorted, aged ones or even monsters, similar to Bruce Wayne compared to Doctor Death or the Joker, but exaggerated and exacerbated. The implicit “beauty” as connected to goodness or purity of intention is of course problematic, but the use of monstrous entities is simple enough to allow the copious exposition to sit easier with readers.

Capullo uses perspective very well. From extreme wide lens to see a massive arrangement with silhouettes to close-ups of individuals’ eyes or mouths, he is an expert at understanding exactly how to get readers to feel exactly how Lam does, or to feel empathetic to her situation. The way in which he incorporates apparent terror, shock, anger, or apathy into various panels and people, coupled with how each one is framed around one person or another, gives life to the terrifying situations at hand in “We Have Demons” #1.

Jonathan Glapion’s inking works marvelously alongside Capullo’s pencils, as it always has. As with his work on “Batman: Last Knight on Earth,” he uses combinations of thin and thick lines in the ink to draw viewers in or take a long view, creating intricate details as monstrosity makes itself known.

Dave McCaig’s colors on “American Vampire” are likely how people will judge his work on “We Have Demons” #1. Using relatively pale colors outside of the darkness of blood and violence, McCaig helps to show the monsters of the daylight hours, not so far removed from much of the work in that other series. The darkness of the infernal elements is in direct contrast against the bright light of the quasi-holy, creating a sense of both science and magic at the same time in a way that leans forward the latter with a significant hint of the firmer alongside it. In all, the impression given by the colors is one of despair, but also a faint, yet significant ray of hope that pierces through, one that may possibly fight back the creatures that threaten the world at large.

Final Verdict: 7.5– Despite some potential overuse of exposition and odd paneling at the start, this debut definitely has some major potential.