From Aspen Comics, Greg Pak, Tony Parker, Wes Hartman, Josh Reed.
Good God the first two pages of this comic are incredible. There is just enough time in between issues for me to forget how good it is and then the next issue comes along and knocks me on my ass. I am stunned by the opening and everything in the book gets even better after that.
While other issues have had equally great original ideas, issue 5 raises the bar with the kind of frightening horrors only hell can provide. There is no shortage of prison stories detailing what has value for those who may never be free again. That idea is taken to the extreme for a prison in hell. Possessions are meaningless but the human soul is limitless. Innocence and purity are gold and contracts are only valid with blood.
Tony Parker does some incredible work here and makes Pak’s demons horrid. Not just the obvious ones either. To be fair, the creatures and denizens of hell are grotesque. Some brilliant designs on every page. But then there is also the human element. While true worth in hell may come from what morality shines through, the dark potential inside those same humans is the truest and most frightening of all the terrors inside this comic.
The end of this issue is a huge tease. The next issue could be the end, or just the beginning. I really believe that Greg Pak is only beginning to show off this under world and hope for much more of Dead Man’s Run over the years.
